Witch Child (2000)

I don't think I was really in the mood for this. It's a fairly straightforward historical fiction, with a fairly standard frame story of a found diary type deal. It's very easy to read; definitely aimed at young adults, if not at kids. Probably that's part of it -- it was so easy there was nothing to hold onto. The set-up is interesting enough, and for what it is, it's well-written, but there wasn't enough substance for me. ( )

Like many women my age, I grew up reading Scholastic paperbacks about the Salem Witch Trials, all with the same underlying message: how terrible that the innocent were (and are) persecuted simply for appearing slightly different. Rees takes this laudable enough idea and stretches it farther - what if the girls really were witches, and therefore, by the standards of a Christian society, not 'innocent' at all? Still not ok to persecute them, right? And to take it yet another step further, what if one of these girls did what all of us young readers hoped those doomed Salem victims would do, and decide she didn't want to just sit around to get crushed with rocks or hanged, and fought to save herself? 100 percent historically accurate it may not be, but MAN this book is a satisfying read. And re-read. ( )

“Words have power. These are mine.”

Mary Nuttall was just sixteen years old when her grandmother Eliza – the only family she’d ever known – was murdered. Accused of practicing witchcraft, the old woman was tortured, stripped naked, bound, and “floated” - tossed into a river to sink or swim. Her buoyancy taken as a sure sign of guilt, Eliza was pulled from the water only so that she could be hanged in public. Once trusted to heal their loved ones, Eliza’s friends and neighbors in this rural English town proved eager witnesses to her execution.

Rescued from similar persecution by her long-lost mother, Mary is sent away to the “New World” in search of a better life. She’s to travel with a group of Puritans bound for Salem, where they’ll join their brethren and pastor. Upon arrival, the group is dismayed to discover that their kin have moved on, to the isolated town of Beulah. After much deliberation they decide to follow, forging ahead into the wilderness with two Natives – of the Pennacook tribe – acting as their guides.

Unsurprisingly, Beulah couldn’t be further from the safe haven Mary’s mother envisioned for her child. Ruled by a Puritan preacher so strict and demanding that he proved unwelcome in Salem, Mary is in constant danger, just by virtue of being a newcomer to the community. Though she tries hard to stay under the radar, her “transgressions,” real and imagined – which include befriending members of the opposite sex; spending time alone in the forest to gather food and herbs; harboring anything more than uncharitable thoughts about the “heathen” natives; and proficiency in transcription – don’t escape the notice of Reverend Johnson. When items suggestive of witchcraft are discovered in the forest and several of the town’s teenage girls start exhibiting strange behavior, Mary’s worst fears are realized.

All of this we learn from Mary’s journal, which spans roughly a year from 1659-1660. Urged to burn it by her protector/surrogate mother Martha – its opening sentences (“I am Mary. I am a witch.”) alone being sure proof of guilt – Mary instead hides its pages inside a quilt. Discovered more than three hundred years later by one “Alison Ellman” (one of Mary’s descendents, perhaps), Mary’s journal stands testament to the horrors she and her kind endured.

In Witch Child, Celia Rees has created a work of historical fiction that’s perhaps more honest about the misogyny, racism, and religious bigotry of the time than are many high school textbooks. Women who threaten the patriarchal power structure – those who have special skills or knowledge, such as healing or above average literacy, or who are independent and live outside the bounds of marriage – are threatened with the specter of witchcraft to ensure compliance. Likewise, Puritan attitudes about the native inhabitants of the land are every bit as cruel and barbaric as they accuse the indigenous people of being. Where Reverend Johnson sees the land that will become Beulah and thinks that God has set it aside especially for him, Jaybird and White Eagle recognize it as the summering lands of their people, cleared and cultivated by them and ransacked and stolen by the Puritans while it lay vacant in the winter.

Chilling and captivating, Witch Child is suitable for readers young and old. Though the story drags a little at the beginning – the slowest part being the voyage – the pace picks up once the colonists reach America. While the reader has a vague idea of how the story will end (Mary must survive to have at least one child), this doesn’t detract from the feeling of suspense and urgency. In fact, Mary’s narrative ends rather suddenly, in a jarring conclusion that left me wanting more. Luckily, there’s a sequel (Sorceress) – which I ordered not a half hour after finishing Witch Child.

Trigger warnings for copious amounts of racism, misogyny, and speciesism. In particular, the scene in which Mary sees the whales for the first time broke my heart. Her friend Jack’s reaction to this magnificent sight?

“’One day, I mean to hunt them.’ He mimed picking up a harpoon and flinging it over the side. ‘I mean to have my own ship and I will hire men to go after them, for they are here in abundance and there is great wealth to be made from them….’ […] Maybe it was the sea glittering beneath him, but his eyes seemed full of coins.” (page 78) ( )

Must have been tough to live during the times of witch hunts, especially if you were a real live witch. That’s the essential premise of Witch Child. It’s 1659, and Mary, a young English girl, finds herself on her own and under suspicion after her grandmother’s witch trial. Then, an ever-so-helpful soul sends Mary off to the New World with the Puritans. Talk about going from the frying pan to the fire.

Anyone who has read Arthur Miller’s The Crucible knows how this story is going to go, but for some reason I couldn’t stop turning the pages. Rees is a captivating story-teller, and she’s created a strong and smart character in Mary.

Mary is certainly no Puritan pansy, just waiting for them to come for her with the ropes and the implements of torture. She’s a survivor.

The “magic” in Witch Child is understated. Don’t expect any fantabulous displays, but the more subtle approach gave the book a more realistic feel and helped drive home its messages about intolerance and cruelty.

Now, the ending ticked me off a bit because it is so open that it made me feel like this book isn’t complete in itself. I like series, but I feel a somewhat robbed when the first one isn’t a whole story in itself. So if you let Witch Child cast its spell on you, you are going to have to read the next one too: Sorceress.

*Note: the version I read came from my local library and was published in 2000. The version currently on Amazon was published in 2009. ( )

This book is about a girl is a witch. She is trying to get away from the people. She can flow and other things can witch does. She is confused about her family because her parent arent witches. So how is she a witch she thought. She lives with in the woods and she goes to school. I like this book because the charcter has great feelings. This book has alot of action and mystery about her in the book. ( )