The Abduction of Sarah Tarbell: As Her Soul Remembers by Stuart Ledwith – Review by Jennifer Gordon

The Abduction of Sarah Tarbell: As Her Soul Remembers by Stuart Ledwith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a well written and extremely detailed historical novel about a young girl, Sarah Tarbell, living in 1707 and it’s the story of her life and abduction by Mohawk Indians. I struggled with how to rate this book as it has a complicated narrative, on one hand I read it as a well researched novel of life for a young girl from a Puritan family living between 1707 to 1710, however, if you look at the title it says, “as her soul remembers”. Now I am fairly open minded and come from a family who’s Grandmother was a member of a Spiritualist Church and I have been to a seance, so the author, Stuart Ledwith saying he has a “gift best described as a sense of ‘knowing’”, is not completely strange to me and the idea of those that have died being able to speak to those left behind is not a new one. However, I am sure that for some readers believing that the book has been written by Stuart via Sarah Tarbell’s soul maybe a little too strange, unrealistic or unbelievable. In the end I rated it as a five star read, but I understand that the novel may not be as popular with some readers. In the Preamble, Stuart, explains that souls like Sarah are able to communicate with him, “by her voice, her feelings”, as well as showing him, “snapshots of a person, place or thing”, Sarah can also show Stuart, “action sequences”, which allow him “to describe and delineate their meaning”.
The book is written in Sarah’s voice, the narrative is of someone looking back on their life and remembering, and what a life to remember. The storyline, recounting Sarah’s life is fast paced and full of drama and adventure. Sarah is abducted at the age of fourteen and then adopted by a Mohawk family following a long and dangerous trek. She learnt their language and even fell in love with her captor before being sold to a wealthy French family. From there she then lived with the nuns of Lachine and eventually became a healer for the Mohawks and other locals and travellers to the area. Following her lovers death she took her vows to become a nun herself. Sarah lived such a varied and in a way exciting life, although also a scary and uncertain one, having to overcome so many obstacles and hardships.
Stuart Ledwith took me on an emotional rollercoaster and I definitely needed a box of tissues handy whilst reading this novel. I was fully immersed in Sarah Tarbell and her story, so much so that once I had started this book I finished it within the day. Stuart says, “She hopes you enjoy the journey” and I definitely did. I recommend this novel and advise that you read it with an open mind.

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