A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson

A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson is a book by Mary Rowlandson, first published in 1682. Written after her experience during King Philip’s War in colonial New England, it recounts the author’s eleven-week captivity after a raid on the town of Lancaster, Massachusetts. Taken by a group of Native American warriors and forced to travel through the wilderness, Rowlandson describes the hardships of displacement, hunger, fear, and uncertainty while reflecting constantly on her Puritan faith and belief in divine providence.

The narrative follows her journey through a series of “removes,” the stages of travel she endured while living among her captors. Through these episodes, she records encounters with different Indigenous communities, the struggle to survive harsh conditions, and the emotional toll of separation from her family. Her reflections are deeply shaped by the religious worldview of seventeenth-century Puritan society, interpreting each event through biblical language and spiritual meaning.

One of the earliest and most influential American captivity narratives, the work became an immediate bestseller in both New England and England. Readers of the time were fascinated by its dramatic survival story as well as its powerful religious testimony.