Anne Dudley was born in Northampton, England in 1612. While she was still a small girl her father, Thomas Dudley, took a position as steward or business manager to the Earl of Lincoln. Then he and his family moved into comfortable quarters in Tattershall castle.

The great castle was a lively place to live with people coming and going. Anne and her brother Samuel greatly enjoyed watching the people and exploring the castle buildings and grounds. One of their early visits was to the castle stables, where they were allowed to ride a beautiful friendly horse, called Rebel.

Many exciting things happened to Anne at the castle. Once when she and Samuel made piles of rushes, she fell into the water and had to be rescued. At another time when she and Samuel were looking out a window at the top of a castle staircase, they saw highwaymen stop and rob the earl's mother in a carriage.

Often when the earl and his wife entertained guests the children hid in the shadows to watch and to listen. In time Anne became a great favorite in the castle and was privileged to read and to study in the castle library. When she was nearly grown, she learned how to do needlework at the castle.

While Anne was growing up in Tattershall castle, there was much religious turmoil in England. Many people, including Anne's parents, were Puritans, who disagreed with the Church of England. They believed in religious freedom and felt that everybody should have the right to worship God in his own way.

Anne married Simon Bradstreet, a young Puritan well educated for his time. In 1630 she and her husband, the Dudley family, and other prominent Puritans joined the Massachusetts Bay Colony and came to America. They settled at Salem, Massachusetts, where they found other Puritans who had come before.

In America, Anne Bradstreet led a lonely heroic life as wife and mother. Her father later became governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony and her husband also became a prominent leader. She turned to writing poetry for diversion, and became a cultured literary figure in New England. One volume of her poetry was published in England during her lifetime.

The author of this book, Montrew Dunham, has written three other volumes in the Childhood of Famous Americans Series. In writing this book she has vividly portrayed the story of Anne Bradstreet, who grew up in a castle in England, came to America as a Puritan, and became the first woman poet in America. 

From the dust jacket