Woman wordsmith

ANNE BRADSTREET
Pilgrim and poet
By Faith Cook . Evangelical Press. 168 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978-0-85234-714-0

I suspect few of us are familiar with Anne Bradstreet, indeed Faith Cook acknowledges that she only recently became acquainted with her. It is not surprising that she is unknown, as many of us have little time for poetry so the life of a 17th-century poet seems irrelevant. This biography should make us view things differently.

Anne lived in turbulent times. Her family were among the first Puritan refugees to settle in America; she faced an uncertain political and economic situation, disunity and broken fellowships in church, long periods with her husband absent, illness, family bereavements and then she lost everything as her home was consumed by fire.