Stink Alley is the tale of Lizzy Tinker, an orphaned Puritan girl living in Holland in 1614 with the rest of the Puritan exiles from England. It's not an easy life. Not only is there the challenge to live up to the expectations of the Puritan leaders, but as refugees, the Puritans are stuck working lousy, low paying jobs. Lizzy manages to land a temporary job with a Dutch family, and intertwined with her interactions with the family's obnoxious 8-year-old son, Lizzy shares the story of the Puritan group's difficult journey from England. The theme of the book--a spunky, young girl straining against a repressive culture--is all too common, but this peek into the lives of the Pilgrims before they sailed on the Mayflower is different. Ms. Gilson does do a nice job of conveying life in 17th Century Holland without hitting the reader over the head with factoids. Reading Stink Alley wouldn't be a bad way to spend the afternoon, but it's not good enough to make me want to rush out and buy a copy.
--J. ( )