A wonderful historical tale, rich with period detail, which shows the quiet, behind-the-scenes work and tribulations of the women who came to the New World. It’s a bittersweet story, knowing that the population was later to die out of starvation, but its strength is in the small moments–the joy of a healthy child, the heartbreak of death, the resolve to keep going, and the non-anachronistic portrayal of the role of women is enough to make one grateful for how far we’ve come.