The Secret Life of Mary White

Marsten debuts with a tense drama of courage and superstition in 17th-century New England. In 1637 England, eight-year-old Mary White has the family gifts of healing and intuition. Her grandmother tells her, “Someday you will do great things with your gift,” but after her father, John, moves the family to Maine, the local Puritans are suspicious of Mary. She was near a sheep when it died, guided a lost hunting expedition out of the woods, and was suspected of harnessing the devil’s power after waking an unconscious man who was assumed dead. After a series of earth tremors, Reverend Burdett claims Mary needs to be burned, and John spirits her away to Boston while her mother stays behind. There, Mary befriends the innkeeper’s 14-year-old daughter, Freegrace, who encourages Mary to expand her knowledge of healing before she’s reunited with her mother. As Mary becomes an adult, she learns to heal and help, but also to hide from those who want to harm her. Marsten does a good job evoking the colonial period, and though the story moves slowly, it culminates with a convincing triumph of perseverance. Fans of historical fiction should take a look. (Self-published)