Daughters of the Witching Hill

No cover

Mary Sharratt: Daughters of the Witching Hill (Hardcover, 2010, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Hardcover, 333 pages

English language

Published Nov. 17, 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

ISBN:
978-0-547-06967-8
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
432985826

View on OpenLibrary

2 stars (1 review)

1 edition

This is a good book, but it isn't for me.

2 stars

A fictionalized retelling of the Pendle of The Witch Trials of 1612, inspired by true events. Sharratt’s Pendle is a town where Grandmother Bess and Granddaughter Alizon live below the poverty line. Locals suspect them of bad things happening to them because they are poor and vulnerable. To feed their small family, Bess provides healing, herbal remedies, and fortune-telling. Her craft is also being taught to Alizon and her neighbor Anne. The situation worsens as a magistrate manipulates Alizon into admitting to witchcraft.

Towards the end of the book, I wasn’t sure what I felt.

It explores the interesting idea of a thin line between religion and superstition, but does not provide a real conflict between the two. The book's treatment of accused women's witchcraft cannot captivate.

The author never explains the familiars. They seemed unnecessary to the plot. I found this story to be very relational, and I enjoyed …

Subjects

  • Witchcraft -- England -- Lancashire -- Fiction
  • Trials (Witchcraft) -- England -- Lancashire -- Fiction
  • Witchcraft -- England -- History -- 17th century -- Fiction
  • Lancaster (England) -- Fiction