Catherwood

by Marly Youmans

Returning home in 1678, Catherwood Lyle and her one-year-old daughter lose their way in the dense woodlands outside Albany, New York, and spend the summer traveling through the treacherous landscape. Reprint.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Survival, Novels, Female Authors, American, The United States Of America

165 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

"Youmans (pronounced like 'yeoman' with an 's' added) is the best-kept secret among contemporary American writers." --John Wilson, editor, Books and Culture

MAZE OF BLOOD (Mercer University Press, 2015.) Novel. Inspired by the life of Robert E. Howard. Profusely decorated by artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins. Literary / fantastic. "...A haunting tale of dark obsessions and transcendent creative fire, rendered brilliantly in Youmans' richly poetic prose." --Midori Snyder

GLIMMERGLASS (Mercer University Press, 2014) IndieFab BOTYA Finalist. Art by Clive Hicks-Jenkins. Novel. "It’s brilliantly well-written, shockingly raw, and transportingly—sometimes confusingly (but not in a bad way)—weird. Glimmerglass shimmers on the boundaries of the real and the unreal, of poetry and prose, of the ordinary and the fantastic. It’s down to the caprice of the individual reader, therefore, to decide exactly what sort of story it’s trying to tell. It’s difficult to overstate the emotional effect that Glimmerglass has had on me. This is a beautiful, complex, moving book. Marly Youmans’s prose flows like clear water, and every image is, as Cynthia observes, “full of meaning” (p. 39)." -Tom Atherton, "Strange Horizons"

A DEATH AT THE WHITE CAMELLIA ORPHANAGE (Mercer University Press, 2012) The Ferrol Sams Award for 2012; Silver Award in fiction, The ForeWord BOTYA Awards. Novel. "It is seldom that a novel from a small university press can compete with the offerings from the big houses in New York. A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage may be the best novel this reviewer has read this year. Its quality and story-telling remind one of The Adventures of Roderick Random, Great Expectation and The Grapes of Wrath among others. The winner of the 2012 "Ferrol Sams Award for Fiction," A Death has the potential to become a classic American picaresque novel. / One wishes, however, that this novel will not get shunted into the regional box and be seen only as a Southern novel. Its themes and the power of its language, the forceful flow of its storyline and its characters have earned the right to a broad national audience." 30 July 2012 ABOUT.COM Contemporary Literature, John M. Formy-Duval.

THALIAD (Montreal: Phoenicia Publishing, 2012.) Post-apocalyptic long poem combining elements of the novel and the epic. Art by Clive Hicks-Jenkins. In THALIAD, Marly Youmans has written a powerful and beautiful saga of seven children who escape a fiery apocalypse----though "written" is hardly the word to use, as this extraordinary account seems rather "channeled" or dreamed or imparted in a vision, told in heroic poetry of the highest calibre. Amazing, mesmerizing, filled with pithy wisdom, THALIAD is a work of genius which also seems particularly relevant to our own time. --novelist Lee Smith

THE FOLIATE HEAD (UK: Stanza Press, 2012.) Art by Clive Hicks-Jenkins. Collection of formal poetry.

THE THRONE OF PSYCHE (Mercer University Press, 2011.) Collection of formal poetry. "Youmans is a writer of rare ability whose works will one day be studied by serious students of poetry." Greg Langley, Books editor, The Baton Rouge Advocate, October 2, 2011

VAL/ORSON (P. S. Publishing, 2009.) Novel. "Book of the Year" for 2009 Books and Culture Magazine

INGLEDOVE (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005) Fantasy, y.a.

CLAIRE (Louisiana State University, 2003) Collection of poetry.

THE WOLF PIT (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001.) The Michael Shaara Award. Short list, Southern Book Award.

CATHERWOOD (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996.)

LITTLE JORDAN (David R. Godine, Publisher, 1995.)

Reviews

[Lori Keeton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a slim novel with a harrowing story of frontier America in 1676. Beginning with a difficult ship encounter to cross the seas from England, Gabriel and Catherwood Lyte wind up in the wilderness of New York near Albany deciding to stay here to place roots rather than heading for Virginia, their original destination. Briefly we experience their homesteading, clearing and planting and building of a place for their family. But the most riveting part of the story is a nightmare of being lost in the wilderness when Catherwood and her 18-month-old daughter cannot find their way on the trail home after visiting cousins. Can you even imagine what that would be like especially during this period of time?

Catherwood has knowledge of herbs as well as some flint and a knife that prove helpful in her efforts to stay alive. Hungry and hoping that Gabriel will be able to find them, one season becomes another and finally it is winter. Months of wandering and providing keep Catherwood mentally aware. This story of a mother and child’s bond is sweet and tender but the survival element takes a modern reader’s breath away!

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sometimes wish I could make a tree (like a family tree) that links my books from one to another. Much of the time my reading one book has no connection to the book before or the book after. I find a book I like, read it and move on. But every now and then there are books that send me looking for a particular next read.

I found Catherwood because I read The Quality of a Hazelnut by Fae Malania. After finishing that book, I wanted to know more about Malania. It turns out she died in 2007. I found a lovely obituary on Marly Youmans' blog. She was good friends with Fae Malania. Youmans herself is a published author and so I looked to see what books by her were owned by my library. It turned out there was only one title, this one. I doubt I would have ever found this book on my own.

Catherwood is set in 1676 through 1678 - two short years. It is the tale of a young woman, Catherwood, who leaves all in England to be a settler in Virginia. Circumstances put her in New York and the reader learns a great deal about conditions in 17th century British colonies. The story moves quickly and I couldn't put it down until I knew exactly what happens to Catherwood in the wilderness. This is an amazing story.

I found Youmans' language beautiful and quirky. She uses words and phrases that helped me see what Catherwood was seeing and feel her feelings. Youmans has also published poetry and that was evident in this novel. I may have to find another book by this author.

I recommend this book to those who are interested in colonial history, those who like short books and to any reader who enjoys seeing words used well.

The delights of serendipity showed up one more time while I was writing this review. I looked on Youmans' blog to see if she said anything about how she came up with this story. Although nothing was on the page about that, it turns out that one of the reviews that Youmans' quotes is from Fred Chappell whose book I just finished. The links in my reading continue...

[Diane Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving this 3 stars because it was not at all what I thought it would be, which of course is not the author's fault but my own. It had a fairy tale feel to it and the ending was very abrupt and I'm still not sure it wasn't part of a dream.

Getting lost in the woods with a 1 year old child is a horrific scenario, and trying to keep herself and her child alive for several months while wandering in the wilderness trying to find her way out and hoping for rescue was almost unbelievable until you consider the time period of 1678. I may think about this novella for a while, it's haunting.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suspect this is going to be one of those books that will come back to haunt me at later dates. It is hard to describe the emotion it evokes when Catherwood is lost in the wilderness with her child. I have been lost, for only a few hours, in a wood, and I recall how frightening it seemed to me to know that I had lost the trail and might not find it again. In my case, a search party would have been launched within hours, I’m sure, had I not returned; in this case, lost is lost and Catherwood must find her own path out of the true wilderness she has wandered into.

There is, it seems to me, a great symbolic arc to this story, along with the very realistic one of loss and desperation. I did not want the story to end as abruptly as it did, but I realized that the object of the tale had been achieved, and knowing more about what happened beyond that point might diminish, rather than enhance, the impact.

In the end, this book is hard to describe. It has a fairytale quality or an ancient folklore vibe. It has a poetic element that has nothing to do with rhythm, but with flow. The second half of it reads like it could be sung in Homeric ballad style. I seldom read anything that I feel is completely unique, but I would dare say this is.

The other odd thing about this book is that I stumbled upon it while just scanning through a list of books, never heard of it or the author, and picked it out of a list of some 200 titles. It was as if it called to me to read it, and read it now. I had no intention of doing so…my list of planned reads is long and pressing, and the time for reading this year is closing in. Then I came across it again in a friend’s 2022 plans. I felt compelled, so I abandoned the plans and read it today. Right book, right time. Occasionally, the literature gods smile upon us.

[Ann Klefstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book with an unreasonable passion. I can't explain it; it's a simple narrative, not terribly likely, a single arc. It's just that every word seems true, despite the unlikeliness of the plot. Youmans has never written anything else like it. It seems to have arrived like a visitation from a parallel reality. News of those is valuable to me.

[Laurie]

Perhaps the most haunting novel I've read. I read it about ten years ago, and every now and then it rises in my mind--what was that book? about the woman, in the forest, with her baby... and I think I've forgotten the name, but then I recall it. The last time I decided to read it again, and enter it here so that I won't forget. A beautifully written novel set in the early days of European settlement in the northeast. A very sad story of death and survival. Recommended, perhaps, for those who liked Year of Wonders.

[Jo Snowden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many years ago I picked this random book up at the library. It was small and hard covered and something about it spoke to me.
The novel was short and didn't take long to read but there was something about the story that stayed with me, about being a mother, about feeling lost in the world and being out of my depths.
Even seventeen years later those feeling re-emerge bringing flashes of memories, of tall trees and overwhelming loneliness. Beautiful.

[Stephen Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Youmans' moody -- and dare I say, sacramental -- evocation of New York's colonial frontier brought me back to my first time reading through The Last of the Mohicans, and this alone made Catherwood a deeply satisfying, if not also haunting read. But along with this, I was struck by Cath's quiet confidence in a life lived at the pace of the Prayer Book, regardless of the desperation of her varied circumstances.

"No," she said. "There may be much good in these dissenters, but the world and God be better than they dream. And to kneel on the skin of the world is meet, not to glare God down and batter Him with argument."

[Sharon Huether · Rating 3 out of 5]

The year was 1678 when Catherwood and her one year old daughter Elizabeth went for a walk in the woods. They walked and walked and got lost. They continued living in the wild, eating berries and
an occasional small animals.

Catherwood and Elizabeth found a sick man in the woods, then Elizabeth also became sick and eventually died. Catherwood did all she could to help her daughter. Catherwood found a different settlement, where they cared for her, until her husband Gabriel found her and left the settlement after three days.

The author wrote in such a beautiful and descriptive way.

[Zack Clemmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our sturdy Anglican heroine would rather brave the New England winter wilderness with no real provisions than suffer to live even two months with Dissenters.

Relatable.

Really beautiful. There were so many words I did not know. A foreign world in the familiar one. Beneath the tree a darker tree.

“No,” she said. “There may be much good in these dissenters, but the world and God be better than they dream. And to kneel on the skin of the world is meet, not to glare God down and batter Him with argument.”

[LeastTorque · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book. A fairy tale of early colonial times. The writing is special. Hard to believe it was so short, given all that it captured.

I liked it as much as The Land Breakers, and more than The Vaster Wilds.

[Kerfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little gem of a book.

A semi-feral girl is adopted, educated, civilized. Her beloved widowed mother dies, and she marries and sails with her new husband to the New World. It is 1676.

Although intending to go to Virginia, a storm forces a stop in (New) York, and there they decide to settle, in undeveloped lands north or the rough city.

While returning from a visit to neighbors with her young daughter, Catherwood becomes lost. The two wander in the wilderness for months. Because she has an intimate knowledge of the natural world and the skills and tools for survival in a harsh environment, she endures, returning to the sparseness of her beginnings, necessity guiding each action she takes.

Most of us today, under similar circumstances, would fare quite differently.

The story is simple, but the rhythm of the days and the emotional bindings that tie Catherwood to the world and sustain her are deep and complex. We are all similarly searching, all in need of both community and home.

[April Miska · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautifully written little heartbreaker

[Belle City Book Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

Catherwood was a nice quick read that could've easily been stretched into a longer novel but without the extra it's a good novel that packs a nice little punch to set your thoughts on once you close it.
Catherwood or "Cath" is a young woman who leaves England for America while the colonies are still being developed. From early on you can tell that Cath is a woman who "rolls with it", whatever "it" is. She will embrace it and make the best of it to survive it.
Their ship meets a bit of trouble on it's voyage and after having to settle in a harbor in the colony of New York for repairs Cath, her husband and several other couples decide to abandon their plan to settle further south for the rich undeveloped wilderness of New York.
We get to watch them all begin to build their new lives. They clear the land, build their homes, grow their gardens and learn how to live inside this wilderness.
Their little settlement in the wilderness becomes home to Cath and she and her husband eventually have a daughter. Comfortable in their new world they venture out to their neighbor's house; one of the families who accompanied them on their voyage. Cath, loving the outdoors decides to enjoy the beautiful day by walking there with their daughter while her husband goes ahead with his horse. Early on her husband had taken an axe to make notches on the trees marking the trails. It was by these notches that Cath and her toddler would make their way to their neighbor's. Unfortunately while exploring the new beauty of the wilderness in wonder with her daughter, she loses track of the notches. And they are lost.
From this point on we follow Cath and her daughter as they remain lost in the wilderness for over a year. Every choice, right or wrong, we go along with her as she resourcefully tries to keep her and her toddler alive for a remarkable amount of time. We experience a mother's love, and determination to stay alive and find her way home.
When she does walk out of these woods, she is a different woman. This is what I would have liked to have seen more of... Catherwood was very adept at coping with her lot. After such an experience, I wanted to see the long term effects on her and her family. Because although she was resilient and made it home, she did not come out of that wilderness whole. She was not truly home. I wanted to see if the survivor inside of her could eventually bring all of her home.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps my favorite book ever. Some books you'll read & years later you won't remember what they were about or if you ever read them. This book is Unforgettable.
A haunting story about the bond between a husband & wife and a mother & daughter.
Catherwood's desperation to keep her child & her faith in her husband is beautiful & heartbreaking. It's a historic tale set in UK & US about the impoverished, land-owners & pioneers. A story that shows how love binds family together.
Some books you keep. Some you share. Some you read over & over. This book is on the shelf next to my original copy of Island of the Blue Dolphins.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though I really enjoyed the book, I'm giving it only 3 stars because the first half of the book is rather difficult to read. The author seems to be trying to recreate the way they spoke back in the 17th century, and it makes for awkwardness. However, the second half of the book, where the main character is trying to survive in the wilderness with her baby, is absolutely gripping. The author currently lives in Cooperstown.

[MountainAshleah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a slender, odd little novel. It's so beautifully written and so evocative, it's almost like reading a prose poem. Or a lush fairy tale, furthered by a distant, fairy tale-like ending. Catherwood continues the tradition of the female utopia but it also breaks with the tradition, and not in a satisfying manner. At the end I was left thinking...so what? Especially with the rather disconnected epilogue. Recommended for the lovely writing and sense of historical context.

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere between a lush fairy tale and a survivalist adventure, this small tome was just my kind of read because it was also colonial fiction. Youmans writing is delicious- put me in mind of "The Trees" by Richter because you are magically immersed in the dialect and word use of another time. For me, the crowning touch was our protagonist, Catherwood's delicious relationship with her precocious one year old. It made me remember. Loved it.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am enchanted by this novel. I saved it and packed it and re-packed it for a few years over a few moves, partly because the size and feel of it was so nice. And finally read it and loved it. I don't always love colonial U.S. books, but this one captured me. The woman in the wilderness, the story from a historical snippet...Loved it.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book devastated me. It was so good, I moped around the house for two days afterwards.

[Linda C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catherwood and Gabriel leave England to settle in the Virginia colony. But a storm forces them north to Massachusetts and then an extended stop in NY for repairs. Gabriel and his 3 cousins hear of good land near Albany and decide to settle there. The second section of the book is 2 years later when Cath and her year old daughter, Elisabeth, get lost in the woods in early May on the way back from visiting a cousin. This is the main body of the story, their survival and wandering. This is a harsh look at living off the land in a vast empty space and the lengths a mother will go to to feed and care for her child. Very well written.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful. Clearly the earlier shadow of Charis in the World of Wonders and a much sparser story for that but still, another gem.

“Pray, bathe, eat,” she said aloud. Get on with living. Had she ever been so dank and filthy? After all, it seemed she cared, it seemed she lived again. -147

… the world and God be better than they dream. And to kneel on the skin of the world is meet, not to glare God down and batter Him with argument…- 158

[Susan Finck · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

I'm glad I stuck with this little book because it was good. I found the language in the first part, especially the letters Catherwood wrote to her brother back home in England, difficult to plough through and almost gave up on it. By the time I got to the second half I found I couldn't put it down. I didn't have a problem with the Epilogue, as some have mentioned. Recommend.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

To me this is reminiscent of Follow the River but more heartbreaking.

[Elyse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one will haunt me for a long time. Beautiful but heartbreaking, a mother's determination to survive the worst with her young child in early English settled America.

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 2 out of 5]

D. fiction, historical fiction; from stash, discard

[Andrea Renfrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool!

[K Khire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captivating. A 1600s book of survival and letting go of what you can’t save.

[Patricia Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautiful and heartfelt story. So much depth and feeling in only 165 pages. I will be up all night thinking about it. It will be one of those books I will never forget. It's that powerful.