Guest Post from Sally Gunning, Author of Historical "Satucket Novels" The Widow's War and Bound

Today's guest post comes from Sally Gunning, author of The Widow's War and Bound, which was recently released in paperback. In her "Satucket novels," as Geraldine Brooks has dubbed them, Gunning writes about 18th century Massachusetts. In The Widow's War she wrote about the widow Lyddie Berry, a whaler's wife living in Cape Cod and in Bound she tells the story of Alice Cole, an indentured servant. I identify with Gunning below, when she talks of her fascination with indentured servitude. From the time I learned of this type of slavery in elementary school, I have long been interested in learning more about it and how it worked in 18th century America. A friend of mine recently contacted me to see if Gunning could speak to her book group as they had just read The Widow's War and I thought I'd ask her to write something for all of you, about the background to her most recent novel. The paperback edition of Bound includes several interesting new materials, including the original court documents that inspired the novel: arrest warrants, witness depositions, the jury verdict, and more. Read on to learn how Gunning came to write Bound. Be sure to check out the Bound reading guide, and if you are interested in inviting Sally Gunning to speak to your reading group by phone, email her at bookmail AT comcast DOT net. Be sure to visit her website for more information as well.

Many book clubs ask me what compelled me to write the story of Alice Cole.  In the course of some historical research that took me through a number of seventeenth and eighteenth century Cape Cod wills I discovered that slavery was widely practiced and little acknowledged in this part of the country.  My there’s-a-book light bulb went off; I felt that this particular part of New England’s history deserved to see the light of day.  But as I discussed the subject with my brother he said, “All the slaves weren’t black, you know,” reminding me of a related subject that had long interested me and greatly influenced the make-up of New England: indentured servitude.  I also remembered that I’d come across an intriguing story of an indentured servant in researching my previous historical novel, The Widow’s War.

Diarist Benjamin Bangs of Harwich (formerly Satucket, now Brewster) made the following notation in his diary in 1764, referencing a former indentured servant who had given birth to an illegitimate child while alone, and the child died.  In that era a single woman in such circumstance was almost always charged with infanticide, the assumption being that she would have killed the child to hide the crime of fornication.  The diary passage reads:

[July] 10: Tuesday: wind SW: hot: I went in my chaise with my wife to Bass ponds  visited Mrs Kelly and dind then went to see :Hannah: the black girl we brought up: who has had a bastard child alone at tom Ralphs: the [grand] jury brot in that the child died for want help  she is in fitts and weak and almost dead  an object of pity  the sheriff Stone has put a guard over her and intends to put her in goal if she lives  She lies lamenting her folly when sencible.

Several things intrigued me about this passage: first, of course, was the fact of the pending infanticide charge, but second, the fact that Bangs refers to this indentured servant as “the black girl we brought up,” as if she were almost a member of his family, even going to visit to her in her time of distress.  The literature on indentured servitude is filled with tales of abusive masters, but Benjamin Bangs was clearly of another type.

Even though Hannah was not one of the “white slaves” (Bangs alternately refers to her as “Indian Hannah” or “Black Hannah”) I decided to see what I could find out about her, and was fortunate to be able to locate the files for the case of “Hannah Nutup, a spinster from Yarmouth” in the archives of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.  The record contained three depositions from the women who arrived at the scene, each almost identical to the one by Sarah Burgess, Hannah’s arrest warrant, grand jury indictment, and trial jury verdict.

In reading the record of Hannah’s trial I knew that this was a story I wished to tell.  But as I began to talk to various people about indentured servitude I discovered that  although they all knew plenty about the exploitation and enslavement of Africans and Indians, few were familiar with the “white slaves.”  I decided I might best illuminate this unknown part of our history by creating as my main character a young white girl who came into service the same way so many of them had: she was bound out by her father in order to help pay for the family’s costly passage to America, a legal practice as long as the child had reached seven years of age.

So Alice Cole was born, and although her life converges with Hannah’s in some of its details, it sometimes diverges dramatically, and in at least one instance to Alice’s greater advantage: her path crosses that of someone the readers of my previous historical novel will recognize: the widow Lyddie Berry.

Comments

[jennygirl]

What an interesting tale! It's good research like yours that brings these stories to light.

[rhapsodyinbooks]

Sounds like an amazing story. Thanks for posting the interview!

[Michelle B]

This sounds like a great book club book.

[Carolina Gal's Literary Cafe]

I always love unknown new england history like this. Anita Shreve, wrote Weight of Water. Somewhat gothic and mysterious. which is loosely based on historical fiction. I have this author's first book. I have not read it yet. But hope to soon. Thank you for the post.

[Sairey Luterman]

Our book group just finished reading WIDOW'S WAR and had one of the richest discussions we've had yet in four years of meeting. Sally Gunning has a deft hand with the historical fiction genre - one can learn a lot without feeling clonked over the head with it. I expect BOUND to be the same kind of experience and intend to be nominating it for my Book Group when we resume in the autumn.

[Dawn - She is Too Fond of Books]

Isn't it interesting that the germ of the idea for BOUND came from this brief (but loaded!) passage discovered when researching another novel.

There is such fascinating information hidden in historical documents; it seems that Sally Gunning has turned that bit of history into a entertaining and illuminating novel.

[Diane]

sounds like a great discussion book; thanks

[Sheila DeChantal]

Ok.... so this is completely nothing about nothing.... but I see you have the Designer girl on the side of your blog. I use that too but can not find how to get the girl link to put on my blog.... what am I missing?

(Thanks for any help with this)

http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

[Sally Gunning]

Thanks, all, for the nice response. Carolina Gal, mind if I post your comment on my web site?

[Sally Gunning]

Oops! Reading this backward! Sairey Luterman, it was your post I was thinking to use -- adding a page for book group remarks.

[Annmarie Fontecchio]

I absolutely Loved The Widow's War and Bound by Sally Gunning.I could not put them down. Our Book Club is traveling to Satucket (Brewster) for our Book Club Meeting!