2 h 16 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 2 h 16 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What holds a person together when war takes away the safety of home?
Taken from burning Lancaster, Massachusetts, during King Philip's War, Mary Rowlandson faces hunger, fear and grief as a captive of Native American fighters. For about eleven weeks, she moves from camp to camp through the New England winter and early spring. Her first-person account brings you close to the daily strain of survival, where food, weather and work demand constant attention.
Rowlandson is a Puritan minister's wife, and faith shapes how she tells her story. She reads her ordeal as a lesson from God, drawing on Bible verses to explain events. Yet she also watches the people around her closely. Held by Quinnapin and serving his wife Weetamoo, leader of the Pocasset people, she records work, trade and uneasy human contact.
What you’ll discover
- Survival in close detail Follow the search for food and endurance through cold, fear and deep personal grief.
- Twenty moves through wilderness Each section marks another camp move, giving the journey its restless rhythm.
- Faith under strain Explore how Rowlandson uses scripture to find meaning within an ordeal she cannot control.
- Life inside the camps Notice the work, trade and encounters that complicate her account of captivity.
- A voice of its time Meet a sharp observer whose religious language and harsh views of Native peoples demand careful reading.
Who will love it
Readers who love true survival stories, early American history and firsthand accounts will value this book. It also speaks to anyone drawn to faith tested by loss.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Lancaster burns in a single February morning
- A mother cannot save her wounded child
- The Bible becomes her daily lifeline
- Hunger rewrites what she can eat
- Work and trade keep her alive among strangers
- Rumors, losses and low points test her hope
- Ransom and the road home
- How she reads her ordeal and how to read it
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 15 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook and the audiobook open when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Récit de la captivité et de la délivrance de Mme Marie Rowlandson in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Récit de la captivité et de la délivrance de Mme Marie Rowlandson
by Mary White Rowlandson · 1682
A wounded Puritan mother carries her dying child through the snowy wilderness, and a Bible given to her keeps her going.
Medium levelUnder 2 hours to read2 languages
Learn a language with medium classicsEspagnolFrançaisAllemandItalienJaponaisPortugaisAnglaisHow we measure levels
Excellent
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
In short
What would you do if your house burned over your head and the only way out led into a wall of gunfire? On the tenth of February 1675, Mary Rowlandson faces that choice in Lancaster, Massachusetts.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Lancaster burns in a single February morning
On the tenth of February 1675, Lancaster wakes to gunfire and smoke. Mary Rowlandson watches from a fortified house as neighboring homes go up in flames. Her husband, the minister, is away in Boston, so she faces the attack with her children, her sisters and her neighbors.
The attackers fire from the hillside and the barn. After about two hours they set the house alight with flax and hemp. A man runs out and puts the first fire out, but the second one catches. When the family tries to leave, bullets rattle against the house like thrown stones. Her brother-in-law falls dead outside. A bullet passes through her side and wounds the child she carries. Of thirty-seven people in the house, twelve are killed and twenty-four are taken alive.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1682
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 1 h 25 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Rowlandson, Mary White. Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/narrative-of-the-captivity-and-restoration-of-mrs-mary-rowlandson.
Rowlandson, M. W. (2026). Narrative of the captivity and restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/narrative-of-the-captivity-and-restoration-of-mrs-mary-rowlandson (Original work published 1682)
Rowlandson, Mary White. Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/narrative-of-the-captivity-and-restoration-of-mrs-mary-rowlandson.
@book{rowlandson2026narrative,
author = {Rowlandson, Mary White},
title = {Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/narrative-of-the-captivity-and-restoration-of-mrs-mary-rowlandson},
note = {First published 1682}
}
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Récit de la captivité et de la délivrance de Mme Marie Rowlandson
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative about?
It tells how Rowlandson, a minister's wife, is captured in the attack on Lancaster, Massachusetts, in 1675. She spends nearly twelve weeks moving with a Native war party until she is ransomed.
Is the Narrative of the Captivity a true story?
Yes, it is a firsthand account written by Rowlandson herself about events in King Philip's War. It was printed in 1682 and is treated as a primary source on colonial life and the war.
What are the removes in Rowlandson's narrative?
Removes are her word for the moves between camps. She numbers twenty of them. The removes describe stages of travel, recounting hunger, hardship and encounters, often alongside the Bible verses that come to her.
The author
Mary White Rowlandson
1635–1711 · Colonial American captivity memoirist
American woman captured by Native Americans during King Philip's War.
More like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
Popular in biography & letters
See all
