I read this book when I was younger and I picked it up again a few months ago and reread it. I thought it was excellent! The story begins when Kit, an orphan girl from Barbados goes to Connecticut. She lives with her stern aunt and uncle there, and eventually becomes friends with her cousins. At first she has a lot of trouble fitting in. She's not used to hard work and living in a cold climate. She can't wear her old clothes either. Then one day she meets the Quaker widow, Hannah, who lives on the marshes. They become friends and soon she meets up with Nat, the son of the captain of the ship she came on. She winds up going to Hannah's cottage more and more, even though her aunt and uncle have forbade her to because Hannah is thought to be a witch. She becomes friends with Nat and gives secret reading and writing lessons to a neglected little girl. Meanwhile, at home, Kit and her cousins Judith and Mercy are having their own problems. Kit dreams persistantly of going home to Barbados. You sort of have a love triangle with Judith, Mercy and John. Then, a rich young man named William wants to marry Kit. Nat gets caught illuminating William's house with Jack o' lanterns, for obvious reasons to everyone but Kit, and is put in the stocks. It all comes to a head one day when people start accusing Hannah of practising witch-craft on their animals and children. Kit overhears and runs to get Hannah safely away on Nat's ship before the mob burns her house. Later the next day, she is arrested because people think she was the witch's apprentice. How will she escape? Will she see Nat again and mend things between them? And most of all, will she get her happy ending by going back to Barbados, or something much different? Read this book and find out!! It has everything: history, love, intrigue, danger, and lonliness. Go read it now, YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID!!!!

I think this book is too boring for kids to read.it is very tedious and continues with the same boring facts over and over for 224 pages in a row and when it finally does get to an ok part it only says 5 words on it.my favorite parts are few and far between.it also has incorrect information.what is the chance of a person from the barbados,which are further south than the bahamas and very close to the equator,having no tan whatsoever and speaking perfect english?I rest my case.

I had to read this book for school (literery circles, and I made the mistake of picking this think) I'm in 8th grade, and I thought this book was rather stupid. The basic plot was fine, but the thing was like a soap opera, where everyone was with the wrong person, and of course, everyone was ever so happy at the end. I would have found this a more enjoyable book if the ending had been Kit marrying Willam, Judith becoming an old maid, and Nat marrying someone else. (Still John with Mercy though, because they deserve it.)

The reason I gave this two stars is that readers 8-10 would probably enjoy this, but if you're a teenager or even an older preteen, I wouldn't recomend it.