Book Review: Priscilla by Joseph Banvard

Priscilla Or Trials For The Truth: An Historic Tale Of The Puritans And The Baptists (1854) BY: Joseph Banvard

Priscilla is a historical novel that tells the story of a young girl, Priscilla Eaton, as she leaves Europe with her family due to religious persecution with the hope of freedom in the new world of the Americas. The Eaton's were puritans who narrowly escaped imprisonment from the European state church before fleeing to America. From the opening chapter, the Eaton's suffer one hardship after the other for their faith.

Without giving too much away, the puritan family in the American colonies are confronted with another type of persecution; this time the puritans are persecuting those who do not share their beliefs, the Baptist.

The book combines historical events of John Clark and Obadiah Holmes with the tale of Eaton's at the same time examining biblical truth about salvation and the church, especially that of baptism. In the style of historical novel, with footnotes of the accuracy of the events, the tale of Obadiah Holmes public whipping and imprisonment for his belief in Baptist, believers baptism is an a challenging chapter. We tend to think of the new world as the land of religious freedom and persecution ended on the other side of world; but religious freedom wasn't free and persecution was alive and well in the new colonies.

The chapters are really short, the story is intriguing and overall a good book. There are a few things I am in disagreement with, but as a whole, great book. We read the book as a family after dinner, and it was suspenseful enough to keep my young sons (6 and under) interested in the story and gave us ample opportunity to discuss spiritual truths.

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Douglas Newell IV