Before the Mayflower

Jennifer (Hallett) Sinsigalli, ’96. Choir Alley Press, November 2018. Available on Amazon. If you were living in civilized places like England or the Netherlands, why would you consider boarding the Mayflower, bound for the New World? The Atlantic crossing would be a nightmare, with the threat of storms, pirates, and cramped and dark conditions. Even if you reached land, you were destined for a wild place, lacking shelter and filled with uncertainty. Your odds of survival hovered at fifty percent.

Enter the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a time of transition from Queen Elizabeth to King James in England, and in the Netherlands, the Dutch Golden Age. The story of the thirty-three years leading up to the famous Mayflower voyage is told in this meticulously researched novel, combining known names like Brewster and Bradford, with the fictional family of printer Nicholas Okes.

The printing press connects the characters, with some obeying the King’s rules, and others printing forbidden works. Romance ripples through the families, leading them to the docks in Southampton, waiting in the shadow of the ship. Who will venture aboard, and will it be for love, land, or religious freedom?