THE HOUSE ON STINK ALLEY: A Story About the Pilgrims in Holland

by F. N. Monjo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 1977

If the usual consolations of fiction are scarce in Monjo's historical reconstructions, the intimate sense of how it was to be there is ample compensation for the child with a feeling for history as human experience. Without the frothy charm or humor of previous titles, this view of the Pilgrims in Holland envisions the significance of large events for William Brewster's eight-year-old son Love (short for Love-of-God, just as his brother Wrastle's real name is Wrestling-with-the-Devil). Father is a fervent Saint who rants against King James and his bishops, tells his sons some gory stories to support his wrath, and lectures them on the issues involved in the democratic sect's rebellion. In Holland Father prints forbidden material, which is smuggled back to Scotland in barrels (now ""full to the brim with stuff far stronger than any brandy or wine""); the deed is discovered while he is in England arranging passage to the New World, and there is a long period of hiding for him and tension for the family before they are reunited on shipboard. Monjo leaves readers with a new appreciation for the radical Scrooby Pilgrims--whose actions, he notes in an appendix, were so much more dangerous than ""burning the American flag today."" Quackenbush's black and blue illustrations, made to look like old woodcuts, are less forceful than heavy, but not altogether inappropriate to Monjo's relatively sober tone.

Pub Date: Oct. 17, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1977

Categories: FICTION