Salt People of the Cloud Houses: The Story of Sarah Rapalje and Dutch Manhattan
Doyle’s debut is a fine introduction to the life and times of a lesser-known American foremother: Sarah Rapalje (1625-85), considered the first person of European descent to be born in the Dutch colony of New Netherland. The author counts herself among Sarah’s numerous descendants. This documentary novel dramatizes known facts about the real Sarah against an impressively researched backdrop, with imagined dialogue and scenes fleshing out the historical record.
As a child, Sarah is the pride of her parents, French-speaking Walloon refugees who run a tavern in New Amsterdam. She marries as a teenager and soon falls pregnant, beginning a cycle of childbearing that lasts for decades. In many ways, Sarah is an ordinary woman of her time, preoccupied with tasks at home and the family’s farm at the Waalebocht (in present-day Brooklyn) and dedicated to the safety and prosperity of her growing brood. But Sarah is multilingual, earns money by selling handmade lace, and continues her parents’ practice of befriending their Native neighbors. All these factors set her apart. The colony’s conflicts with local tribes play out tragically during Sarah’s early married life, and the novel explores political change within the colony until New Amsterdam is surrendered to the invading English and renamed New York.
Salt People of the Cloud Houses (the unusual title comes from the Native people’s nickname for the Dutch, traveling in ships with billowing sails) effectively has two protagonists: Sarah and her homeland. Of the two, the latter has deeper characterization. All the details on colonial society add considerable texture. The people could use more interiority, and Sarah’s many children and siblings are mainly names on a page, although we see Sarah grow into a confident, wise matriarch with her second husband’s support. Her path to letting love into her heart again is an especially fulfilling storyline.
