Salt People of the Cloud Houses: The Story of Sarah Repalje by Fawn Brokaw Doyle

 

Summary (from the publisher): In 1625, the first European child born in New York was a French girl, raised among Native Americans, in a Dutch colony called New Netherland.

Growing up, Sarah Rapalje helps her parents run their tavern on the southern tip of Manhattan, serving merchants and fur trappers. She looks after her siblings and works alongside Natives to farm the land. But in the rowdy trade outpost, Sarah must grow up quickly.

Just as she thinks she’s found security in marriage, poor leadership propels the settlement to the brink of ruin, pitting her colony against her Native friends. As Sarah navigates personal loss and second chance love, she must start over, again and again.

One peril leads to another, forcing Sarah to question—are the biggest threats from the Natives, the English, or the Dutch West India Company that has failed to protect New Netherland? She must ensure the survival of her family, but at what costs?

It’s a coming-of-age story for a frontier woman, but also for the city that would become New York.

Review: A huge thank you to author Fawn Brokaw Doyle for an ARC of this novel set to come out in June!

This fascinating historical fiction follows the true story of Sarah Rapalje, who was the first European child born in what is now New York in 1625. In Sarah's story, the reader also gets the story of what would become New York, which was turbulent and rife with conflict between different countries, different opinions, and warring factions. Sarah was raised in what was then a Dutch colony. From an early age, she saw the value of collaborating with Natives and worked hard to help support her family, facts that would remain true throughout her life. 

This book was so meticulously researched, and it showed! The author has clearly spent significant time reading and learning as much as she can not only about the real-life Sarah and her family but about the world in which Sarah lived. For example, there are historical facts embedded throughout the work, such as when Sarah explains to her friend Phebe why men are dancing on top of beaver pelts: "A worn beaver pelt, the castor gras, is worth more money. They wear off the outer coarse hairs and their sweat makes the undercoat easier to scrape off and work into hats" (18). I feel like I learned a lot about the time period, including Sarah's biography, the lifestyle of early New York's settlers, and the political unrest of the time period through reading this book. By the end of her lifetime, Sarah would lose rights as a woman under English law, which was a fascinating and devastating bit of history to learn through her story. 

A defining aspect of Sarah's life was her huge family. Not only did her own mother have many children, but Sarah did as well. Much of her life was spent caring for and raising her family. Sarah ended up having sixteen children in twenty-eight years. I absolutely loved the personal connection the author had to Sarah Repalje, who was actually her eighth great-grandmother: "Repalje descendants are estimated to number more than one million Americans today," (345) including several famous Americans such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, Gloria Vanderbilt, Anderson Cooper, Humphrey Bogart, and Tom Brokaw. This is a true American story! I actually think it would be so interesting if the author also wrote a biography of Sarah and her family.

I loved the female friendship between Sarah and Phebe in this book. It was fascinating to learn in the author's notes that Sarah likely did know Phebe well, as three of their children married one another and one of Phebe's daughters married Sarah's brother. Sarah's character in this book is intent on building up and extending social ties both through family and friends. She consistently seeks inclusion and kindness to others, unlike many of the men in her social orbit. I also loved the depiction of second-chance love in this book. In those days, with many facing early deaths due to disease or accidents, many were forced to re-marry and I loved the way that choice was depicted in this book.

The title of this book refers to the Native name for Europeans, who believed they looked like "salt people who arrived in cloud houses." "We're all Europeans, pale as salt, who came from across the sea in ships that look like longhouses with billowing sails like clouds" (331). This was such a lovely image and beautifully sums up the complicated history as cultures collide in this book.

Because Sarah had such a massive family, it was hard at times to keep up with all of the characters or feel like I knew many of them well. I loved the author's dedication to historical accuracy! But sometimes it felt like it was at the expense of the plot, which could have been made smoother with omitting some characters/events. Occasionally the writing felt a tad choppy, especially when the book would jump forward in time with little explanation. However, I do hope my short list of critiques do not outshine the fact that this was an excellent debut and an outstanding, supremely well researched historical fiction and I was honored to have the chance to read it.

Stars: 4