Anne of the Fens

Gretchen Gibbs grew up in a small town in Massachusetts, close to Boston, named for the English town of Boston where Anne of the Fens takes place. Gretchen obtained her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Harvard University, which recently dedicated the Anne Dudley Bradstreet Gate in Anne¿s honor. As a psychologist, she taught, practiced, and conducted research for many years, and published books and articles in psychology as well as short stories, memoir, and poetry. Anne of the Fens is her second novel. The Book of Maggie Bradstreet was her first, written about Anne's granddaughter during the 1692 witch trials. Gretchen is descended from both Maggie and Anne.

In 1628, with England torn by religious conflict, Anne Dudley helps a young rebel escape from Tattershall Castle through the watery Fens. Pursued by the sheriff and his men, who regard her Puritan family as traitors to the king, Anne risks more than her reputation as the fifteen-year old daughter of the Earl's steward - she also risks death. Set in a troubling period when women and men were hanged or burned alive for their religion, the story chronicles a girl coping with a woman's feelings while questioning her own beliefs. Her spirit strengthens as she survives romantic turmoil as well as the political danger that forces her family to leave England for the Colonies. As she takes up her pen we glimpse the grown Anne Dudley Bradstreet, whose poetry is loved and honored to this day. From a talented new voice in YA historical fiction, Gretchen Gibbs' ANNE OF THE FENS joins THE BOOK OF MAGGIE BRADSTREET in the gripping Bradstreet Chronicles. The series - historical fiction based on written records about the author's own ancestors - can be read in any order.