Away Goes Sally by Elizabeth Coatsworth

First published: 1934; illustrated

Subjects: Family and travel

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Historical fiction

Time of work: 1790, just after the American Revolution

Recommended Ages: 10-13

Locale: The move from Massachusetts to Maine

Principal Characters:

• Sally Smith, the central character of the story, a young orphan girl who is loved by and lives with her three aunts and two uncles
• Aunt Nannie, the oldest aunt, an energetic decision maker
• Aunt Deborah, the “middle” aunt, who is cautious
• Aunt Esther, the youngest of the three aunts, who is twenty years old, pretty, and curious
• Uncle Joseph, the head of the household and the brother of Aunt Nannie, Aunt Deborah, and Aunt Esther
• Uncle Eben, another brother, who seems to have a good sense of humor and loves to eat

Form and Content

Away Goes Sally contains thirteen relatively short chapters with a poem written by the author, Elizabeth Coatsworth, at the end of each chapter. The poems generally concern nature and describe the season of the chapter. They appeal to the senses, conjuring up feelings of warmth. The book is written in the third person and contains much dialogue. Eleven full-page, black-and-white illustrations by Helen Sewell, adapting the technique of old woodcuts, can be found as decoration within the text. Many of them have a delicate, thin line decorative border. In addition, some pages of text contain illustrations pertinent to the story.

Sally Smith’s parents are dead, and she lives on a farm in Massachusetts with her mother’s three sisters—Aunt Nannie, Aunt Deborah, and Aunt Esther—and two brothers—Uncle Joseph and Uncle Eben—in a close-knit family. Aunt Nannie is the oldest of the sisters and is the most decisive, while Aunt Deborah cannot readily make a decision. Aunt Esther, the youngest, is pretty and curious. Aunt Nannie is the head of everything that goes on in the house, while Uncle Joseph is the head of everything outside the house, such as the farm.

Uncle Joseph receives a letter from Cousin Ephraim Hallet, who has moved to Maine. Ephraim invites them to settle there, where land is cheap and more opportunities exist for them than in Massachusetts. Uncle Joseph is in favor of going, and all the other family members eventually approve of the move—except for Aunt Nannie, who declares that she will never leave her own house or her own fire nor sleep in any bed but her own. Joseph is firm about going, but Nannie is just as firm about staying. She would like to relent, but she has taken her stand.

One winter day, Joseph arranges to have Sally and the sisters visit a great-aunt. When they come home, they see a strange sight. Unbeknown to them, Joseph has built a little house on runners, to be pulled by oxen, for Nannie. In this way, she can travel to Maine and never leave her own fire. Aunt Nannie is surprised and replies that she will go willingly. The rest of the book concerns what happens on their journey to Maine.

Critical Context

In Away Goes Sally, Elizabeth Coatsworth’s first period story, she uses terms appropriate for 1790 and for the setting. In setting her work in Massachusetts and Maine, she was writing about places that she knew well and loved. While Coatsworth does not delve into the psychological depths of her characters, they are believable nevertheless. She believes in using an economy of words and is precise, writing exactly what she means. Coatsworth displays considerable warmth in her storytelling, and Away Goes Sally moves along as leisurely as the little house on runners. Sally and her family reappeared in Five Bushel Farm (1939), in which the family is established on the new farm in Maine, and in The Fair American (1940). In the latter story, Pierre, a French boy of the aristocracy, boards an American ship in an attempt to escape the aftermath of the French Revolution. Sally helps to save his life when a French officer comes aboard to look for refugees.

Many of Coatsworth’s books of historical fiction deal with problems that are universal, not caught in time: moving to what is hoped to be a better place to live in Away Goes Sally, building and getting settled in a new home in Five Bushel Farm, and suddenly becoming a refugee and finding a place to belong in The Fair American.