Review and Giveaway: Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt

Bess Southerns lived all of her eighty plus years in Pendle Forest, a wise woman and herbalist who used old Latin prayers to bless and heal the sick. The Catholic rites and feast days had melded with the ancient pagan traditions and the two were inextricably entwined in Bess. She could not tell for sure where her power came from, the Virgin Mary or the Queen of Elfhame. But she vowed early on to use her ability only for good and never to delve into the dark side of her gift.

Such a promise proved hard to adhere to. The lives of the poor were very hard in the Puritan England of Elizabeth I. With the dissolution of the monasteries and convents went the aid to the poor that those houses provided. When power mad landlords oppressed and even abused their tenants, Bess was unable to refuse to help her lifelong friends, even if it meant delving into the black magic that shook her very soul.

Still, she and her family and friends were left alone for many years. She wielded her own sort of power, so that most were afraid to cross her. As her granddaughter Alizon grew, Bess was thrilled to see the family power passed down. Alizon was not, she wanted nothing to do with the family "gift". She only wanted a normal life.

With Queen Elizabeth's death came King James...and he was far less tolerant of Catholics than Elizabeth had been. Catholics became nearly synonymous with witches, making it easy for those in control to rid themselves of those that were unwanted or troublesome. And so, finally, Bess and her family and friends found themselves accused and imprisoned.

Pendle Hill

What a fantastically woven tale this is, hung on the threads of reality and brought to life by the wonderful imagination of Mary Sharratt. While the facts of this particular case are well documented, it takes a historical novel like this to allow the casual reader to appreciate the atmosphere of time and place, to understand the political and social undercurrents that have long been lost. This is where a historical novelist truly shines, as the author certainly does with Daughters of the Witching Hill.

Daughters of the Witching Hill is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, ISBN 978-0-547-06967-8

Visit Mary's website for more information about the author and all of her books!

I have an extra copy that will go to the randomly drawn winner! For one entry, just leave me a comment here. If you would like extra entries there are instructions below. Giveaway open through midnight eastern time on May 9th. The winner must have a US or Canada mailing address.

+2 Follow this blog any way you choose (Google, Feedburner, etc) and leave a comment...if you already do, include that in your comment
+2 Tweet or blog this giveaway and leave me a comment to let me know that you did

Good luck everyone, thank you for visiting and entering!