Rite of Passage

Ten-year-old Sara Ann Clifton lives with her English Separatist family in Leiden, where religious freedom has come at the cost of distance from their language and homeland. When her father decides that the family will join a migration to America, she must leave familiar streets and friendships for an uncertain voyage. The leaking Speedwell forces its passengers onto the already crowded Mayflower, where Separatists and non-Separatist “Strangers” struggle to share confined space.

The Atlantic crossing exposes Sara Ann to sickness, storms, poor sanitation, fear and the tensions of a community trapped below deck for weeks. Family quarrels, children’s games and moments of kindness prevent the journey from becoming only an account of hardship. Seen through a child’s perspective, the voyage becomes a coming-of-age story about faith, belonging and the personal cost behind the founding narrative of Plymouth.