Calico Bush is set on the Maine coast in the pioneer era, and tells the story of Marguerite, a young French orphan who becomes an indentured servant on a farm.

According to Margaret Lane, "The inspiration for Calico Bush probably came from the story of Marguerite La Croix, who with her husband, John Stanley, moved from Marblehead after 1767, with their many children and became the first permanent residents of Little Cranberry Island.

The name "calico bush" is used for a mountain laurel native to the eastern United States, including Maine.

[4] According to The New York Times, "Adult readers as well as boys and girls will be grateful to Rachel Field for this fine and absorbing tale.

Children's literature expert May Hill Arbuthnot called Calico Bush "unusual and powerful"[6]: 152  It is, she said, a "model of sound historical fiction.