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 the emphasis on friendship, family, and loyalty. Also, the author handles the arrests and trials of the suspected witches. She presents an accurate portrayal of the legal system in that era in her text.

The bad news is that it wasn’t the right choice for me.

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What an amazing book. It is gripping in its style, its language, its subject matter, and just kept drawing me in. And it had to, given that the trials of the "Witches of Pendle Hill" were a tragic, actual event in Lancashire in 1612. Given how much I've read about Thomas Cromwell and the Wives of Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I, this volume shows the tragedy that the dissolution of the Abbeys under Cromwell brought about. And is a good balance to the lives of the rich and royal.

It is written in two voices, Bess Southern ("Demdike") and her granddaughter, Alizon. Bess remembers the Old Ways, when life was still hard for the poor but there was Whalley Abbey and its monks to provide food and alms, and the Feast Days and the Saints to provide some joy and beauty in life. What we now call "work-life balance." The juxtaposition between Bess' earliest girlhood memories and the life under Puritans is stark. And harsh.

Bess recounts those years and goes on to describe how she met her familiar, Tibb, and how he brought her joy and light in the dark years after her girlhood. This information was recorded at her trial, so the historical record is accurate in its description. Once she meets him and is able to understand how he can help her, she begins to use her new-found powers for healing and comfort.

Her girlhood friend is Anne ("Chattox") whose personality is quite different. Both women are single (Bess abandoned, Anne widowed twice over) and they struggle to raise their daughters on their meager begging. Anne's daughter attracts the eye of a nobleman's son, and Bess teaches her how a clay figure could be used to balance the scales in her favor. Which draws Anne into Bess' work with charms and potent magic, and Anne's personality is more given to redressing grievances.

The second part of the book is the growing up of Alizon, Bess' granddaughter, who is raised in a much different household. The effects of Puritanism are all around her, familiars and healing work are seen as bad things, even though her grandmother heals, and Alizon's "Mam" wants nothing to do with these little magicks. So Alizon tries to be good and does not learn from her Gran, and realizes too late what such learning could have meant for her life.

Written in the cadence of what Bess and Alizon and their neighbors might have spoken, all of which furthers the drawing into the events. And the tragedy is not the final entrapment, imprisonment, and trial; it is also the ending of ways that the changing of the Church brings about, due to one man's lust for power and a new wife. ( )

Many people know of the hysteria and events surrounding the Salem Witch Trials, but for those readers in England this novel predates those trials by 80 years and takes place in Pendle Lancashire. Until reading this, although I was aware of witch trials taking place in my homeland, I was not aware of how differently they were conducted to those in the Colonies.

This novel is told in the voices of the two main protagonists, both actual historical figures which adds weight and substance to them as the reader follows their story to its conclusion. As always when actual people are placed in fictional works some liberties are taken with them, but this in no way takes away from the book, in my opinion it just adds an extra dimension to what is in the pages. Through the eyes of the two women we can enter the world of the poor in the early 1600’s. As the reader journeys through their world with them, they are able to experience all the happiness and heart break that came into their lives. Regardless of the poverty and hardship of the period, these are two strong women characters that, despite their lack of formal education, resonate with intelligence and compassion.

More than anything this excellently written book could be seen as a lesson in dominion. Catholicism is been forcibly replaced by the Protestant faith, but rather than have the enlightening effect intended it makes society become more superstitious and paranoid as their lives are now filled with contestant threats of damnation without the solace offered by the Catholic faith of that time. Because of the extensive research the Author has so obviously done, not only on the witch trials but the ‘pulse’ of society at that time makes this an engaging retelling of the poor of the Pendle region, if not of the whole country.

I would highly recommend this novel to anyone with an interest in the subject matter, or who loves to read historical fiction. I would definitely read more by this Author.


Originally posted on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/08/18/review-daughters-of-the-witching-hill-mary...




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The first half of the book is from the point-of-view of Mother Demdike, an elderly healer in mid 1500s through early 1600s Lancashire, England. She gains a familiar and uses the knowledge and magic of now-illegal Catholic rites (this is during the reign of Protestant Elizabeth I) and other charms to help her small village survive during famine and the hard life of every-day Tudor England peasants. Her son marries and moves away with his family while her daughter, born out-of-wedlock and with a lazy eye, is seen as evil by the superstitious villagers but Demdike gains their trust by being a formidable healer and elder and manages to help them both survive.
The latter half of the book is from the point-of-view of Demdike's granddaughter (from her daughter), who has also been gifted with healing prowess, but which ultimately leads to the village's downfall.
This is a gripping, well-written look into the lives of those who are mostly forgotten (peasants and country-folk of bygone eras) that seems to be very well researched with just enough of the supernatural to make it more than a historical narrative.
As it says in the afterword, it's based off of a real witch trial in Lancashire, which characters based off of the actual women and men who were wrongly accused of witchcraft and subsequently tortured and killed for their "crimes". ( )

Witch hysteria never fails to fascinate me and this book certainly captivated me too, to an extent. I didn't know much about the Pendle witch trials previous to reading this book, so I tried to soak up the fictionalized account. Unfortunately the book was slow-moving and the use of 2 points of view (especially considering what happens by the end of the novel) got to be long-winded and monotonous at times. Still a book worth reading, but I can't say as I will go out of my way to recommend it to others. ( )