The Heretic's Daughter

When Sarah returns home, she’s resentful and struggles to adjust to her family. She misses Grandmother Allen and is particularly angry at her mother, Martha, for separating her from Margaret. Once the epidemic ended, the selectmen wanted the Carriers to leave Andover, but Reverend Dane once again came to their aid. Sarah’s grandmother was respected in the community, and her final wish was that the Carriers inherit her farm and continue to maintain the property. Thus, the family remained.

The villagers live in constant dread of Indigenous attacks. Once smallpox ravaged the tribes, they began abducting young settlers to offset their own losses. Captives were either adopted into US tribes or taken to Canada. Their only hope was to be ransomed back. During planting season, the Carriers need additional help, so Thomas ransoms an orphaned girl named Mercy Williams, who was a captive for about three years. Sarah notes, “The skin on her face was pitted with pox scars, and, despite the washing, she had a smell about her of something sour, like milk gone bad or calfskin poorly tanned” (78).

Although Mercy is strong and a hard worker, she’s also sly and malicious. She soon begins to show an interest in the community’s young men, especially Sarah’s eldest brother, Richard.