The Manningtree Witches
As seen:
By A. K. Blakemore
avg rating
2 reviews
WINNER OF THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE
Fear and destruction take root in a community of women when the Witchfinder General comes to town, in this dark and thrilling debut.
England, 1643. Parliament is battling the King; the war between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers rages. Puritanical fervour has gripped the nation, and the hot terror of damnation burns black in every shadow.
In Manningtree, depleted of men since the wars began, the women are left to their own devices. At the margins of this diminished community are those who are barely tolerated by the affluent villagers – the old, the poor, the unmarried, the sharp-tongued. Rebecca West, daughter of the formidable Beldam West, fatherless and husbandless, chafes against the drudgery of her days, livened only by her infatuation with the clerk John Edes. But then newcomer Matthew Hopkins takes over the Thorn Inn and begins to ask questions about the women of the margins. When a child falls ill with a fever and starts to rave about covens and pacts, the questions take on a bladed edge.
The Manningtree Witches plunges its readers into the fever and menace of the English witch trials, where suspicion, mistrust and betrayal ran amok as the power of men went unchecked and the integrity of women went undefended. It is a visceral, thrilling book that announces a bold new talent.
TweetReviews
This was an interesting book - borrowed from my child's A level reading pile. It has good historical narrative based on solid research and a fascinating insight into the lives of the people accused of witchcraft during the Puritanical age. Its definitely one for older children due to its content matter, but it does not romantise too much the day to day drudgery of the women left home as the men are off fighting.
An interesting, enjoyable and beautifully written fictional account of the Essex witch trials, full of dark humour and darker truths about the persecution of women in the 1600's.
