Hatfield 1677, at its core, is a simple love story. However, on its thinner outer layers, this new piece of historical fiction, written by Laura C. Rader, is a novel about a series of events that happened after what is known as (among other monikers) “King Phillip’s War,” a three-year skirmish that has been proven to be one of the bloodiest conflicts in Colonialist American history. Using real-life people as protagonists and antagonists as well as a hefty amount of dramatic license, Rader produces a romantic epic story reminiscent of, but not exclusive to, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie, in that readers tangentially experience the perils and hardships of a time when Netflix, Smart Phones, and Tik Tok, our contemporary creature comforts, did not exist.

Much of this colonial tale of survival and sojourners is narrated by three reliable but stressed storytellers who are inextricably linked together by gory battles, immense suffering at the hands of others, and a boundless need to forage for life-saving resources to assist them on their travels, forced upon them or otherwise. Benjamin Waite is an English settler who witnesses the meaningless slaughter of innocent and friendly Native American men, women, and children, and feels guilty he did nothing to stop the massacre from happening. Martha Waite is Benjamin’s wife, and mother to his three children (with one on the way), who is resourceful, caring, and protective of her family, but also fell victim to a kidnapping at the hands of those Native Americans who lost family and friends in the carnage that was King Phillip’s War. Finally, Ashpelon is an ardent and proud Native American who is the kidnappers’ leader, and exhibits a great deal of compassion and sympathy for those whom he abducted. Throughout the novel, readers follow all three characters as they try to manage and, essentially, save their own lives and the lives of their loved ones, after being involved with the murderous events that took place against the River Indians, a tribe willing to peacefully barter and bargain with White settlers.

Hatfield 1677 is Rader’s debut historical novel, and to her credit, it is a strong piece of writing, most especially in plot structure. Although not a historian by trade--she has a BA in psychology and she minored in history while taking creative writing and literature classes at San Diego State University--it is clear Rader has a significant amount of knowledge about American colonialism and how the English language was spoken during that timeframe in American history. The storyline itself also flows nicely; the work is told using first-person point of views and is linear in its construction, so it makes it easier to follow while also getting immersed in the complicated lives of 1600s European colonial settlers and oppressed Native American populations. Rader, because of her ability to perform pain-staking research and to tell a comprehensive tale, fully understands the cultural mores, struggles, and confrontations that shaped the United States of America, no matter how gruesome or unethical the historical events were. The most compelling storyteller in Hatfield 1677 is Ashpelon, who is avenging the deaths of his peoples by taking European community members hostage. With a keen ear for dialogue and an understanding of the mind and how it works, Rader fleshes out what it was (and is) like to be Native American: what it must have been like to be living peacefully on your own lands for them to be suddenly taken away by opportunistic poachers and devious charlatans who come from across the ocean and claim to be friendly but end up being murderous thieves. With Rader’s work being introduced into a genre filled with other fantastic works about this stained period in American history, the idea that history is always told by the winners continues to be debunked, and audiences are now hearing the more interesting stories of those who lost everything, which in many cases included their lives.

Admittedly, it is clear Rader is not generally a writer of novels. Although an effective work, Hatfield 1677 does heavily depend on the dialogue to tell the story, which means exposition and details about the historical context sometimes get lost. Readers may want to learn more about King Philip’s War, for example; or, they may want to get a better sense of the setting and the timeline as to when events were happening. Even if readers know where the actions are taking place based on what the characters tell us (the book primarily takes place in Massachusetts and New York), ultimately, because of the substantial use of dialogue, it is hard to visualize everything that is taking place within the story. With that said, however, Hatfield 1677 is still successful at keeping the audience engaged and connected with the main characters and their respective sometimes dramatic, sometimes tragic, sometimes thrilling, journeys through the primitive American wilderness.

Quill says: Rader’s debut novel is an engaging, solid, well-researched piece of writing that could benefit from additional historical details.

In Rader’s 17th-century-set drama, an English settler in the New World attempts to rescue his wife, who has been kidnapped by Indigenous people.In the 1670s, war breaks out between English settlers who are arriving in the New World in increasing number and the River Indians who have been dispossessed of their land, led by Metacomet, whom the English dub King Philip. Benjamin Waite, who lives in Hatfield (part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony) with his wife Martha and his three daughters, is reluctantly drawn into the conflict and marches off to attack a neighboring Indian village—to his great horror, his band massacres the mostly defenseless natives, including women and children, in a grotesque slaughter chillingly captured by the author. “I wiped away hot tears and sweat from my face with my gloved hand. Men torched wigwams and watched them burn. The mighty river swept people and canoes over the falls, and the white water sparkled in the sun, mocking the horror.” In a cataclysm of retaliation, the River Indians raid Hatfield while the men are working in the fields and kidnap Martha and her daughters. Overwhelmed by fear and grief, and not even sure who is responsible, Ben attempts to organize a search party and retrieve his family before it is too late. Rader paints a stirring picture with the subtlest of brush strokes—this is no simplistic struggle between good and evil. Both sides have earned the right to some grievances, and both commit unspeakable atrocities. Martha, in particular, is an impressively drawn character, deep and complex; she is horrified, even while in captivity, by the terrible things Ben has done to her captors. The conclusion of the book may strike some readers as a bit tidy and even sentimental, but, overall, this is a moving work, dramatically compelling and historically searching.An engrossing novel that challenges stale narratives of colonial America.