Salem native Beverly Cooper Pierce has published her debut historical novel about the daily lives of Massachusetts women in the 18th century as they navigated the period’s culture of religious intolerance and rigidity.
The novel, which is called “The Rowans,” is the result of Pierce’s seven years of writing and deep research into the language, landscape, technology, foods, habits, and herbalism of the pre-Revolutionary period.
Pierce is an academic librarian, registered nurse, family historian, writer, and the seven times great-grandchild of John and Elizabeth Proctor.
Her novel follows the life of the great-granddaughter of Elizabeth Proctor, illuminating how familial and personal trauma of the magnitude seen during the Salem Witch Trials was felt through generations beyond 1692. Pierce chose to braid the familial history of the Proctors with the lineage of the Haskell family, specifically Susanna Haskell and her children who moved from their farm in West Gloucester after the death of her husband, eventually opening her own inn and tavern.
“This was actually the second time Susanna had been widowed, and she’d also had numerous children die,” Pierce said. “When I found that through my research, I was just struck thinking about how much Susanna had been through in her life. And I just thought about the courage and fortitude this woman must have had. I just kept reading it over and over, and that was the moment I knew I needed to write a novel.”
Susanna’s daughter Anna, who is renamed as Tamsin in the novel, serves as the protagonist of the story as she inherits the generational knowledge of herbalism while apprenticed to her grandmother Cat, carries on the work of her foremothers, and grows into womanhood amidst tension between the gifts she has inherited and the culture of religious intolerance.
“The witch trials are often viewed as if they were compressed into that one year of 1692, with a few things happening in early 1693, and that’s all there was,” Pierce said. “But community, family, and personal trauma of that magnitude must have been felt through children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-greats, and longer.”
In researching historical databases, historical journals, and other resources for details of the story, Pierce learned about specific practices and areas of research such as herbalism, tide mills, period-specific language, and more.
Through years of research, Pierce went from, for example, knowing nothing about tide mills, to joining the Tide Mill Institute and connecting with historians with deep knowledge of specific aspects of 18th century New England life.
“What I found is that people are so willing and glad to be asked questions, if you just ask,” she said.
The story is being published by Salem-based independent publisher Winter Island Press. For more information on The Rowans, visit beverlycooperpierce.com.
Michael McHugh can be contacted at mmchugh@northofboston.com or at 781-799-5202