This is one of what I believe were Anya Seton's two most outstanding novels. I'm sure others here have the same opinion, since the cover of a recent reprint edition of
The Winthrop Woman graced the home page of the old forum for a couple of years! The other is
Katherine. Seton was a favorite author of mine when I was a teenager, and her books were almost impossible to find for many years. They are deservedly back in print.
When I reread
The Winthrop Woman recently, I was afraid I might find that my fond memory of it was no longer justified now that I am older and wiser.

I was very happy to find this was not the case. It's a carefully researched novel about a niece of John Winthrop, one of the Puritan founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. When Seton first published it, the novel did not get the respect it deserved, because it was viewed as historical romance. It isn't, really, although Seton writes very well about women's feelings about men. I've reviewed it at
http://www.HistoricalNovels.info/Winthrop-Woman.html.