tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post1392761078243487689..comments2023-10-12T02:21:40.102-07:00Comments on English Historical Fiction Authors: The paradox of motherhood in seventeenth-century England: The interesting Quaker exampleDebra Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03256313302199653185noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-17914181628421963552013-04-23T06:01:23.663-07:002013-04-23T06:01:23.663-07:00Thank you Christy! Actually I'm fascinated by ...Thank you Christy! Actually I'm fascinated by Mary Dyer too. In particular, the statue of her on Boston Common really reflects a transformation--a beatification of sorts--if you note her calm peaceful expression and the way she sits serenely. There is nothing in there that suggests her radical past. Susie Calkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16023173142068702088noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-38637702453517663172013-04-22T23:36:15.261-07:002013-04-22T23:36:15.261-07:00Excellent article, Susanna. My WIP is a biographic...Excellent article, Susanna. My WIP is a biographical novel on William and Mary Barrett Dyer, she being famous for her civil disobedience and resulting execution in 1660. Many people have asked how Mary could leave her six children (aged 1.5 to 17), to return to England for almost 5 years. (Partly, there was the First Anglo-Dutch War that kept her in England until hostilities ceased.) And again in New England, she would intentionally provoke arrest and prison terms, and finally her death, when she had a family at home. Even her husband didn't understand her religious calling. She spent time with other Quakers, men and women, who had left their young children and followed God's call, unto death if necessary. My belief is that she irrevocably offered up her love of family as a sacrifice. She could have gone home to family and safety, but chose instead to spend her last months with Quakers on Long Island. Based on testimonies I've read of other Quakers, she probably saw herself as a true disciple of Christ, who had "left father and mother" and everyone dear, to take up her cross and follow him, and that God would be a better parent to her children. Christy K Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05988458745832012138noreply@blogger.com