The book begins with a witch hunt which results in the hanging of Mary's grandmother. Now more or less an orphan, she is sent to join the Puritans in their journey to the New World. Aboard the ship, Mary makes new friends but has been warned to keep her own history and supposed powers to herself. On the one hand, Mary is happy to have a new family among her friends Martha, Rebekah, Tobias, and Jonah. On the other hand, she never quite feels that she fits in with the Puritan beliefs and lifestyle. After a horrible journey on the ship, during which some people begin to suspect that a witch is aboard, Mary finally makes it to the New World. Unfortunately, she and her companions soon realize that life there is not as wonderful as they had been led to believe; food and shelter are still scarce, and the friends and family whom they had planned on meeting up with have already moved onward. Ultimately, Mary and her companions move into the forest and join the Reverend Johnson and his people. There, Mary thrives in an environment that is similar to the one she grew up in, making frequent trips into the forest to find herbs and make friends with the natives who are so feared by the other Puritans. Soon, rumor begins that she is up to supernatural things, and the 'Godly' Reverend Johnson basically threatens her life! The book ends as it began, with another witch hunt. A group of younger girls is suspected of performing witchcraft in the woods, but some are also quick to point the finger at Mary. Mary's journal ends mid-sentence as she flees...

Richie's Picks: WITCH CHILD by Celia Rees, Candlewick, July (Friday the Thirteenth) 2001

"...My grandmother was brought forward for all to see. She was held, arms pinioned behind her, then pushed to the foot of the ladder that leaned against the gallows tree. She ignored the eyes on her, looking over the upturned heads, searching for me. Her eyes found mine and she smiled. Her glance went sideways to Obadiah Wilson, self-appointed Witchfinder, trying to staunch the blood pouring from his nostrils, and she nodded very slightly, as if to say well done. She nodded again to someone behind me.

That was the last I saw of her. The hangman stepped forward. He held a hood raised to cover her face, and at the same time a cloak closed around me. I was taken down one of the steep alleys leading from the market and was pushed into a waiting carriage just as I heard the crowd's roar..."

It is 1659. Mary Newbury, who has been raised by her grandmother in England, ends up in a Puritan settlement, carved into the wilderness, inland from Salem, Massachusetts. There are few in the settlement whom she can trust or call friend. While the colonists' suspicion of her slowly mounts, she is treated with great respect by a pair of Native Americans, a grandfather and grandson, with whom she secretly rendezvous.

This powerful and beautifully written historic novel is already a bestseller in Britain. Candlewick outbid Scholastic in a hotly contested auction for the American rights. Candlewick also brought the book's charming author, Celia Rees, to Chicago for Book Expo last week. (This week she's in Amsterdam for the Dutch release.) Celia has already finished the sequel.

I absolutely could not put down WITCH CHILD, and I am anxiously awaiting that sequel. I finished reading it before flying home from Chicago and couldn't wait to began reading it aloud the next day. You'll be in luck on Friday the 13th next month if you reserve yourself a copy.

Richie Partington
Richie's Picks
BudNotBuddy@aol.com ( )

Right at the beginning of this remarkable novel, Mary's grandmother is tortured, tried and dies for being branded a 'witch'. Rees lets you know exactly what was in store for the poor women who as healers, herbalists and midwives, were routinely denounced as witches when something went wrong in the superstitious Puritan times.

Mary is helped to escape a similar fate by joining a bunch of settlers going to America. She slots into a group with an Apothecary, Jonah and his son, and Martha, a widow who herself has some skills as a midwife. Mary is unused to being confined on the ship although her writing skills, (unusual for a woman at that time) are in demand. When the settlers reach the New World, she is happy to travel on with the others to the settlement which the previous shipload of this congregation had established. This is when she meets her first native American, Jaybird and his father guide them, and she is intrigued. Once they have roofs over their heads, she starts to venture into the forest, helping Jonah to research for medicinal plants, but also often meeting Jaybird. But tongues start wagging, and Mary finds herself again the centre of speculation over her wayward ways ...

The novel is written as diary entries 'The Mary Papers' that had been found sewn into a quilt. It shows us what a hard life it was to be an woman with unusual skills in those days; living in a society in which the fear of God was omnipresent, through the ministrations of the Puritan clergy. The settlers life was not easy either, that first year of building, battling the long snowy winter and taming the land to get crops in was particularly hard and many died.

I found this novel richly evocative, it seems very real. It is shocking to encounter the bigotry of the Puritan leaders - their small-town thinking and belief that they are "God's chosen people, just like the Israelites". No wonder it bred the paranoia of the witch-hunts, along with an total disregard for the Native American Indians. This novel was spell-binding (!) from start to finish, as good an adult read as for teens. ( )

The story starts in the year 1659, and tells about the turbulent life and the numerous journal entrys of Mary Newbury a young woman who has to overcome many struggles.

The thirteen year old Mary lives happily and simple-hearted with her grandmother in a small village in England. Her grandmother is well-known for her knowledge about plants and herbs. If someone is injured or sick most of the time Mary’s grandmother can help. But as the years pass, instead of thanks, more and more suspicion is given torwards her. Finally the villagers accuse her of being a witch. She denies the acusations and then the torture begins. The villagers eventually hang her.

Now Mary is left alone but becomes saved by an unknown and mysterious woman, who presents herself as an old friend of her grandmother. Finally it become clear that this woman is no one else other than Mary’s mother. But she can’t stay with her because her mother is in danger herself. She brings Mary to a harbor and leaves her there entrusted in a Puritan family’s care. Mary shall travel with them over the ocean and join their community in America.
But will she really do this step and what will happen to her next? Read Witch Child to find out!

I expected to be bored sometimes because it is based on so much history but right after reading the first page I had to admit, I was wrong. The book totally sucked me in and in record-time I read trough the 304 pages. That the book is written in diary-form is a big plus and helps you to understand Mary’s feeling and deeper thoughts. Celia Rees was able to mix a fantastic story with much knowledge and I learned a lot about the Puritans, settlement, Native Americans and of course witch hunt.

I recommend this story to everyone, who likes fiction stories about old times with a touch of history, and I promise you will enjoy it. ( )

Witch Child is a fun read about the witch trials that plagued the nation before. After reading another YA book about the witch trials, The Burning Time by Carol Matas, I've been interested in the subject. The whole situation then must have been a stressful one, where you'd always have to watch your back. If someone doesn't like you, then you're a witch. If a boy likes you, but you get married to someone else, guess what you're a witch as well. If a baby dies while you are the midwife, you are a witch. If you look at the cattle in the wrong way and it dies, then you are a witch and a very evil one at that.

As I said before, you'd always be wary because you don't want to be called a witch and you definitely don't want to be tortured, because the torture methods for determining who was a witch or not was gruesome and completely stupid.

Despite all that, the witch trials were very interesting to read and I was excited to read this book, which I won from Evagation. Witch Child is told in diary form, which sometimes poses as a problem since you feel like you don't get the whole story, but Mary is a very observant young woman and that problem didn't arise. Mary is a good narrator and her journey from Britain to the States is one filled with hardship and many trials. Including the death of her grandmother, the only family Mary has ever had.

Mary travels to the States, hoping to be spared from the witch hunts but soon realizes that she'll have to be even more careful in this new world. Her new friends provide some comfort, as well as the Indians, but Mary soon finds herself in the middle of an angry priest and a group of spiteful young women.

Mary starts her diary off by saying she is a witch, which I liked, because I thought it brought her back to her grandmother. However, Celia Rees does give Mary some powers and as well as giving Mary's grandmother some perks. This part didn't sit well with me, because I expected Mary to be a regular girl trying to survive and not be an actual witch. It took me out of the story a little bit. Mary is also very open-minded and isn't too afraid of the Indians, or dressing up as a boy and heading out into the woods alone. I didn't mind this so much, but considering the context of the story, it did seem very foolish on Mary's part. Almost like, she wanted to be caught.

I did like the book and think it would be great for those who love YA novels, I just wish Mary was a regular girl.

3.5/5 ( )