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I'm reading Massacre on the Merrimack by Jay Atkinson, a recounting of the Hannah Duston story. She was taken captive in a late 17th century Indian raid. This fits one of my challenges for this year and also is of high local interest.
It's a shame, really. This is a crackling account of the issues and conflicts between the natives and settlers on the New England frontier, but it's marred by a few flaws. The author goes a little too far in the fictional gloss he gives to the action, which the story doesn't require (don't tell me that someone spat on the ground!) and he clearly doesn't know the difference between a rifle and a musket, which terms he uses interchangeably. That error got my hackles up in the first few pages, as it's the kind of thing which makes me wonder about the level of understanding the author brings to his material. No one in 17th century America had a rifle!
The raid took place 320 years ago tomorrow; it'll be a good tale to while away a snowbound day.
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