Wilderness of Spring [is] a large and intricate historical novel dealing with two brothers living in colonial Massachusetts in the early 1700s, whose parents were brutally massacred. Not at all political, Pangborn focused on a deeper level: his interest, once again, was in ethics and the nature of evil. One brother is attracted to the sea and the sleek modern ships the colonists are building. The other brother, more brooding than the first, is attracted to the field of science. Both are repelled by the repressive religious views of their colony and attracted to a more freethinking philosophy.