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Start giftingThe Mayflower
The Families, the Voyage, and the Founding of America
Narrator
Kate Reading
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Length
15 hours 27 minutes
Language
English
From acclaimed historian and biographer Rebecca Fraser comes a vivid narrative history of the Mayflower and of the Winslow family, who traveled to America in search of a new world.
The voyage of the Mayflower and the founding of Plymouth Colony is one of the seminal events in world history. But the poorly-equipped group of English Puritans who ventured across the Atlantic in the early autumn of 1620 had no sense they would pass into legend. They had eighty casks of butter and two dogs but no cattle for milk, meat, or ploughing. They were ill-prepared for the brutal journey and the new land that few of them could comprehend. But the Mayflower story did not end with these Pilgrims’ arrival on the coast of New England or their first uncertain years as settlers. Rebecca Fraser traces two generations of one ordinary family and their extraordinary response to the challenges of life in America.
Edward Winslow, an apprentice printer, fled England and then Holland for a life of religious freedom and opportunity. Despite the intense physical trials of settlement, he found America exotic, enticing, and endlessly interesting. He built a home and a family, and his remarkable friendship with King Massassoit, Chief of the Wampanoags, is part of the legend of Thanksgiving. Yet, fifty years later, Edward’s son Josiah was commanding the New England militias against Massassoit’s son in King Philip’s War.
The Mayflower is an intensely human portrait of the Winslow family written with the pace of an epic. Rebecca Fraser details domestic life in the seventeenth century, the histories of brave and vocal Puritan women and the contradictions between generations as fathers and sons made the painful decisions which determined their future in America.
Praise for The Mayflower:
"[Fraser] is a careful researcher, fair and level-headed. She is also an excellent painter of characters; in judging them, she looks at their deeds with contemporary mores in mind. Even if the Mayflower shelf is a crowded one, this is a book that deserves its place on it." — The Economist
"Superbly written and enthralling...The Mayflower reads as though it were historical fiction, with a varied cast of characters and perspectives, fine details, background histories, and a holistic approach." — Booklist
REBECCA FRASER is a writer and broadcaster whose book, The Story of Britain, was described as "an elegantly written, impressively well-informed single-volume history of how England was governed during the past 2000 years.’" A contributor to the BBC History website, she is the author of a biography of Charlotte Brontë, and introductions to the Everyman editions of Shirley and The Professor. She was President of the Bronte Society for many years.
Kate Reading is the recipient of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards and has been named by AudioFile magazine as a “Voice of the Century,” as well as the Best Voice in Science Fiction & Fantasy in 2008 and 2009 and Best Voice in Biography & Culture in 2010. She has narrated works by such authors as Jane Austen, Robert Jordan, Edith Wharton, and Sophie Kinsella. Reading has performed at numerous theaters in Washington D.C. and received a Helen Hayes Award for her performance in Aunt Dan and Lemon. AudioFile magazine reports that, "With subtle control of characters and sense of pacing, Kate’s performances are a consistent pleasure."
Reviews
“Superbly written and enthralling . . . The Mayflower reads as though it were historical fiction, with a varied cast of characters and perspectives, fine details, background histories, and a holistic approach.”
—Booklist
“Fraser’s smooth storytelling provides a revealing look into the development of the [Plymouth] colony, the rise of the Massachusetts Bay Company, and the different outlooks on the community and the lure of land. The story of the Winslows is an effective way to experience the emotions and fears of the small band who dauntlessly sailed off to the New World.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A superb account . . . This book stands as a significant contribution to the already well documented field of Pilgrim history . . . a must read for those interested in the unique beginnings of America” – Cynthia Hagar Krusell, Historian and Author ofThe Winslows of Careswell in Marshfield
“Rebecca Fraser’s exquisitely researched book seems to offer something new to learn – and wonder over – on every page. . . . The Pilgrims believed that ‘the world could begin afresh in America,’ this gifted historian writes. As,eventually, it did. Deftly, indelibly, Fraser shows us the human cost.” – Penelope Rowlands, Journalist and Author of Aaron Burr's Second Act
“The author puts the reader into the period with a front-row seat as the story unfolds . . . Fraser’s attention to historical detail is excellent and enhances this riveting book!” – Judith H. Swan, Former Governor General, General Society of mayflower Descendants
“A well written and far ranging perspective on the Pilgrims and seventeenth century New England by a noted student of English history.” – Francis J.Bremer, Coordinator, New England Beginnings and Author of Lay Empowerment and the Development of Puritanism
"The story of the English Nonconformists who sailed to the New World in the Mayflower and founded Plymouth is given a more personalized treatment than usual, with the Winslow family as its focus. Narrator Kate Reading uses a comfortable, homely British accent appropriate to the people and surroundings described." -AudioFile