Literature -- 4 stars
Beth Southerns has a reputation as a cunning woman, a spinner of spells, and a healer. She teachers her granddaughter, Alizon, to carry on the tradition. When a peddler has a stroke after having an argument with Alizon, the local magistrate, who wants to make a name as a witch hunter, works the village into a frenzy of suspicion. Inspired by England's 1612 Pendle witch trials and the records documented by court clerk Thomas Potts of a trial that ended in the hanging of seven women and two men for witchcraft. Well written and atmospheric with fascinating, fully realized characters.
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