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Daughters of the Witching Hill

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Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt is a must read for anyone who reads anything to do with Witch Trials. This was such an enlightening book from an author that has a real good eye for the details that will make you ever so happy that you are in a more forgiving time period.

This book actually takes place before the Salem witch trials here in the United States but with no less hysteria. To be caught up in such a horrible situtation and persecuted for just trying to help others and only do good it's no wonder that people of the time were so afraid of anything and everything.

This is a story that spans three prominent generations and still throughout the lifestyle of the people hardly changes. I guess being in the country at that time would keep things consistant and without change due to the fact that people were very poor.

I found this book to be more than I could have possibly expected and it played on every emotion with such intensity that I could not put the book down until my eyelids closed from exhaustion. This is a heavy read and not one for the week of heart. I truly feel blessed that the times have become so much more free and liberated so as not to have to live in such abject poverty that was common for this heartwrenching time.

If you are going to read just one book this year that is so close to historical fact that it just borders the lines of fiction/nonfiction, then I highly recommend this particular one. The author has gone well above and beyond to give us an encounting story of the truths behind greed, poverty, fear, hate, love, kindness and ever so much more that you will be in awe of the strength of the characters in this book.

I got an advance copy of "Daughters of Witching Hill" about the Pendle (Lancashire) witch hunt under James I. I was reluctant to read it - not only did it seem like a downer but the back blurb and publisher's summary spilled the whole story. But I was obligated to review it, so I started it yesterday morning. I was spellbound from the beginning and finished close to 300 pages before leaving to go out yesterday evening. I finished the last 20 pages on dragging in early this morning, unable to wait any longer to find out how things ended.

This isn't some woolly LOTR fantasy novel. It's a well-researched, well-written account of real people and the chain of perfectly understandable, logically coherent choices that led to their being accused of witchcraft...or Catholicism, these being conflated under James I's reign. There are some out-and-out bad guys, a few heroes, and a lot of just plain folks doing their best under difficult situations. (If you find yourself drawing comparisons to the present day, you won't be alone).

If you find the witchcraft trials of Salem to be of interest, this latest novel by Mary Sharratt will capture your attention as well. The Pendle Hill Witches are not as well known in this country and the author paints a detailed, engrossing and moving portrait of this family and the society and times they lived in and struggled through. This is not a fluffy novel by any stretch but a deeply emotional story that chronicles not only the art of the cunning folk but the struggle between Catholics and Puritans. Well done!

In the afterword it says that each of the characters in this novel were drawn from Court Clerk Thomas Potts account of the 1612 Lancashire Witch trials.

The story revolves around the family of Elizabeth Southerns, also known as Mother Demdike, her daughter Liza, and grandaughter Alizon. A family whose lot it was to dwell not only in poverty, but for much of each of their lives in shame. Mother Demdike was a blesser, a healer, like her grandfather before her.

She was a woman of such profound power, that she was admired by those she blessed, and feared by those who lacked understanding. Not only was Elizabeth..Bess.. a healer, but she had been and in her heart still was a catholic in a time when that was a dangerous thing to be.

From the time she Tibb her "spirit" came into her life, her ability to heal grew stronger with each season. Never did she turn her hand to using her gifts for ill purposes. Time passed and both her daughter and grand daughter found that they too, had the gift. There was a grand son, as well. James did not have the intellect to use his gifts well. Some called him idiot. This was to contribute to the downfall of Demdike's family, as well as some of her friends.

Before I knew that this story had its roots in history, I found the characters compelling, and their lives nearly unbearably sad. The author was able to draw me into the story so well that I felt the cold seep into my bones and the hunger gnaw at my belly. She brought me into Malkin Tower where they made their home. I felt the hopelessness and the moments of shining joy. Finally there was betrayal and death.

Fluff is what I expected, but it is surely not what I found.

This is one of the most engrossing and touching historical novels I've ever read. The characters are so vivid and the setting so well drawn that I felt I knew these people.

Set late in the reign of Elizabeth I and the earlier years of James I, the novel takes place in Lancashire, England in the Pendle Hill area. The protagonists are the family of Bess Southerns, a poor widow who has no land and no trade but her healing ability and some day labor. They live in stark poverty- almost nothing to eat most of the time, freezing in winter, rags for clothing. She, her daughter, and her daughter's three children live in a two room stone tower that they have the use of.

Bess has a familiar, a spirit named Tibb, as well as a lot of herbal healing knowledge and a reliance on the outlawed Catholic folk magic. In time, her daughter, her best friend Anne and Anne's daughter also come to have familiars and learn to work magic. But they aren't as set on using their magic to heal as Bess has been, and Anne and her daughter use `clay pictures' to work ill on those who have injured them. Finally Alizon, one of Bess's granddaughters, discovers that she, too, has magical powers - by accidentally causing a peddler to have a massive stroke- or at least yelling at him right before he has it.

The time and area was ripe for a witch hunt; King James was convinced there were evil witches all around him and had recently written a book about discovering them. Suddenly Bess, who has done her curing for decades unmolested, is arrested as evil. Many lives are shattered when accusations fly and spite indulged in.

Based on a historical record, The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster, these people were real. And that is part of what makes it so heartbreaking to read. But even though you know from the start how this book must end, it's still a cannot put it down read. The joy these impoverished women can feel in family and nature, the fierce strength of some of them, the horror of their situation at the end leaps up off the pages and engulfs the reader. If you have any interest in witch trials, folk healing or that era, you need to read this book. It'll stay with you a long time.

I liked the book and enjoyed the twists and turns in the plot. What saddened me is that it didn't keep me enraptured. I struggled to finish it. It took me over a couple of months. So while I liked the book, it was very dry and I had a hard time reading for large parts of time. I would recommend this book to anyone who is really interested in this topic. If you are just curious or if you are looking for a good thriller--this book is probably not for you.

This is a very compelling story with substance, one with strong women characters that resonates intellectually and emotionally. It's based on the true story of the infamous and well-documented Pendle witch trials of 1612. The story is filled with atmosphere and poignant relationships showing not only the very human side of these women being accused of witch craft, but also the religious zealotry that fueled the fear. There is also a timelessness to the human flaws demonstrated in this book provoking thought on two spheres; the unspeakable actions of the past and the steadfastness of human nature. The story is told from the perspective of Bess, also known as Mother Demdike and later in the book by her granddaughter Alizon . It's interesting to see and compare how each interpreted their craft and the world they lived in. Highly recommend for historical fiction fans or anyone who has an interest in witchery. Fans of Phillipa Gregory or those who enjoyed "The Heretics Daughter "will not want to miss this one.

The Salem Witch Trials were taught when I was in high school and I often find myself drawn to stories revolving around them. The Pendle Witches are a new topic for me even though these trials occurred over 80 years before Salem.

I liked how the all of the women in this novel were strong, but each in their own ways. The witches were shown not as evil or completely free from guilty, but in the gray area of trying to do right by the ones they love.

Daughters of the Witching Hill is beautifully written. The book captures the voice of a time centuries past in its dialogue, action, and emotional tension. It does this without relying on heavy description and unnecessary background that can often weigh down historical fiction of this kind. The story drew me in and held my attention to the very end. Mary Sharratt has taken the historical accounts of a witch trial and created a story of the events that lead up to it, answering questions I wasn't even aware I had.

In her novel Daughters of the Witching Hill Mary Sharratt imagines the story behind a real-life drama, the 1612 Lancashire witch trials. Her major characters come from the pages of a court clerk's account of the proceedings. Bess Southerns, also called Demdike, is a "blesser," who calls upon the now outlawed Catholic rites and folk remedies of her childhood to comfort and care for the sick of Pendle Forest. Her vocation is dangerous in a world in which one's neighbors are quick to cry "witch," and when an accusation is too often tantamount to a conviction. Demdike has a son and daughter and numerous grandchildren, among them Alizon, on whom much of the story centers. Daughters of the Witching Hill follows Demdike's career through the good times, when her powers were appreciated enough to keep food on the table, and the worse.

The world Sharratt describes--and she makes it a breathing thing--is frightening even when things are going reasonably well. Anti-papism has driven priests underground, what passes for justice is risible, and human compassion is in short supply. But the last quarter of the book in particular makes for difficult reading, like watching a nightmare. And it goes on for a while, the details fully explored, so one's discomfort is extended. Sharratt's book is, in short, an excellent, well-researched (as far as I can see), beautifully-written account of horrible events that are, unfortunately, historical. I am quite sure that some images from the latter part of the book will stick with me indefinitely. Certainly I'll never think of witch trials in quite the same way again.

-- Debra Hamel

This is not a fantasy novel or a Barbara Walker-esque screed on the "Burning Times". The Southerns family were real people in 16th and early 17th century Lancashire, England. The matriarch of this impoverished little clan was Elizabeth, aka Mother Demdike, a woman with a gift as a "blesser". Mother Demdike was a practitioner of the Old Religion you see, namely Catholicism.

Mary Sharratt lives in the Pendle area of Lancashire and the novel is based on 1612 witch trials. The charms Mother Demdike knows and teaches to her daughter and granddaughter are out of folk Catholicism. The novel is earthy and full of a sense of place.

There is a fair amount of exposition because the novel covers over eight decades. Despite this, it never feels rushed and it slows even more at the most important things, namely, Mother Demdike's joy and love in her grandchildren as well as her heartbreak when her best friend turns to black magic and her disappointment when her daughter and granddaughters fail to pick up the mantle of local cunning woman.

Unfortunately, they learn just too much to get them into trouble....

Mary Sharratt did her research painstakingly and her connection to the locality comes through on every page. I wish I hadn't waited so long to read this, and I'll be passing my copy along so others read it as well.