It was a sunny day in 1703. Esther Wheelwright was gathering blueberries near her home in Wells, Maine, when suddenly she was seized from behind and carried off by a fierce Abenaki warrior.

Through forest and thicket, the frightened, protesting child was carried and dragged, until at length she arrived at an Indian encampment deep in the woods. War had broken out again between France and England. The Abenakis, staunch allies of the French, had raided the little coastal village in search of hostages who might bring rich ransom.

For several years, Esther lived among the Indians, learning their ways, speaking their language, and becoming a model Indian maiden. Soon her home in Wells was but a dim memory.

Then, one day, a Jesuit missionary arrived at the Indian village. To Esther, Father Bigot represented the great world beyond the forest. He, in turn, realized that here was no Indian maiden, but an English captive. He began to teach her the French language and her catechism, and to plan her rescue. He interested the French Governor of Canada, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, in Esther's plight, and after long negotiations she was ransomed and brought to the Governor's palace in Quebec.

Here was a world rich beyond anything she had ever imagined. She was enrolled in school at the Ursuline convent, where all were taken by her beauty and her winning ways. The son of the Marquis wanted to marry the little Indian captive, but Esther had other plans. Her dearest desire was to become an Ursuline nun. She fought the opposition first of the Governor and then when the war ended, and communication was again restored between the French and English colonies, of her own family in Maine. But Esther would not yield, and in 1714, she took the veil.

In the story of Esther Wheelwright, the distinguished biographer Marguerite Vance has drawn one of her finest portraits. Young readers will delight in the story of the Puritan child, who became an "Indian", and then the first English superior of the Ursuline order. The lovely pictures by Lorence Bjorklund are the perfect complement to the text.

From the dust jacket