Customer Reviews

The White Witch of Rosehall

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To many Jamaicans, the White Witch of Rosehall is considered fact, not fiction.

Having travelled to Jamaica on numerous occasions and studied Carribean Studies, particularly plantocracy, I felt compelled to read this novel.

In my opinion, the book is a combination of both fact and fiction - with some folklore thrown in for good measure.

It is a fascinating read leading up to the slave rebellions in 1831 on the island, focusing on Rosehall Estate and it's mistress, Annie Palmer. Legend says Annie murdered all three of her husbands and that she was a witch.

If any truth lies in this novel, which unfortunately, I suspect it does, Annie Palmer was a wicked woman, who relished the physical and psychological torture of her plantation workers. Their eventual uprising, although disturbing (because similar events really happened during this time period) was gratifying.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has travelled to Jamaica, particularly Montego Bay - which is the closest city to the estate. Regardless of fact or fiction, the book offers an interesting slice of Jamaican history.

De Lisser did a magnificant job of capturing the story of Jamaica's infamous witch Annie Palmer. Based on a true story, which actually took place on the island of Jamaica. This was the most scariest book I've ever read being the fact that I am West-Indian, and I'm quite familiar with the story. De Lisser certainly set out to do what he intended; to scare the living daylights out of me. The White Witch of Rosehall is a brilliantly written fictional account of a true story which took place over a century ago on the beautiful island of Jamaica. De Lisser's captivating telling of this story will leaving you shaking and at the same time, it will leave you with a sense of knoweledge of part of the history of Jamaica's infamous Annie Palmer,"The White Witch of Rosehall."

For more on Annie Palmer you could visit Rosehall in Jamaica. Good Luck! Let me know how it goes.

As a Jamaican I must confess that this book is an excellent read from a local writer. I was actually amaze to learn that the book was first published in 1929.

This book neatly weaves fact and fiction together. Indeed there is a Rosehall estate. Annie Palmer was a slave owner in the dying moments of slavery in Jamaica and her 3 husbands all died under mysterious circumstances and she was found strangled in her bed room.

The book is set against the backdrop of the impending emancipation of the slaves in Jamaica in 1834 and the simmering under-current of revolt fueled by the belief in the slave population that emancipation was already granted from the UK and that it was the planters who was withholding their freedom. The 1831 slave uprising in Jamaica did in fact happened and out of those events came one of our national heroes - Sam Sharpe.

What this book does so well is to give some explanations (fictional though they may be) to the Annie Palmer legend and to her eventual death. It also paints her aptly as part witch, part slave overlord and all woman who despite her tough exterior wanted to be love unconditionally. In enters the dashing Mr. Rutherford. The books also shows that despite the curelty of slavery people of all class and colour in Jamaica in that time could love, be happy and in some way co-existed if not out of an uneasy pact.

The author allows the read to feel for each character and understands what drove each of the main character to the things they did be it out of love or sheer necessity. It was a great read for me and I would recommend it to all.

I recently traveled to Jamaica and visited the Rosehall Great House. It is amazing and enchanting. Our guide told us a similar tale as presented in this book, although it's obvious that the people there still fear the White Witch very much. Her ghost is said to linger and haunt the people on the plantation to this very day. I recommend a visit to anyone who has read and enjoyed this book as much as I did.

Although I enjoyed this book it was not the one that I had been searching for. It is written in early Jamacia about plantations and their owners. It includes some VooDoo practices and owner/slave interaction. Some of the words are spelled in old English which was interesting. It is of course fiction and follows the adventure of a young man who is seeking to make his fortune in sugar cane. Its different but I did like it.

When I first heard of this book I was doing some research on potential beaches to visit and Jamaica was one of the options. Having read numerous reviews, opinions, and interesting articles about it, I decided to purchase the book from a small Bookstore that sells rare books located somewhere in Kansas. Perhaps it was my anticipation, but the book did not satisfy my curiosity for what I was looking for. There is something interesting about the so called "White Witch" and following through her antics is somewhat fun (considering I'm a cynical and sarcastic person, or because the Witch reminds me a lot of my sister in character), but absolutely not believable. The main character is your typical "stud" on a novel, and of course, he has the typical "friends", i.e. the drunk guy, the nice guy, and a couple of people he comes across. Furthermore, if you are a rational type of person, you would be able to figure out what's exactly going on in the book (as the author's relationship to the main characters or anyone, for that matter, is pretty vague; thereby HEARSAY). If you're a good judge of character, then you'll be able to tell that too much alcohol and a heightened sense of supersticion (sp?) may indeed make this woman seem quite dangerous. The book bases most of its mystery around the belief that this "may" and I reiterate that some people believe that it "may" have been a true story -- written on hearsay, must I remind. However, research by several individuals, including the questionable unavailability of supporting official documents have shown that no one with the same description ever owned the estate on Rosehall. Additionally, please note that there is also a "belief" that ghosts still roam the estate which indeed exists, but the current Rosehall is just an attempted replica after it was completely burned down to the ground (and with limited eye witnesses to attest to its accuracy). Therefore, personally, I would label this book a fiction or "urban legend" based upon the story of one or a couple of drunk men. Very readable, short, thin, and definately a quick read (if you're a fast reader, perhaps a few hours). It was an interesting read, definately entertaining, nothing explicitly sexual (though back in the days, the implication must have been -- similar to the implications made on One Flew over the Cookoo's Nest), and if you think you've missed something, read it a second time because the implications are very subtle. Entertaining, it was definately perfect for an airplane ride...

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