First off, I was not tremendously moved by this book. Celia Rees effectively created a realistic world for the 1600's, but the pace of this book was very slow leaving my mind to wander. Mary being an orphan and a witch was a couple of the very few things that we know about this main character leaving this book lacking in character build up. Over half of this book is dedicated to the killing of Mary Grandmother and her travel to America; which is not the main plot so in most cases I would have given up trying to finish this book. That being said I did complete this book, but it is nothing that I would recommend or want to continue the series. ( )

Mary Newbury is forced to leave her home in England after her grandmother, a healer, is tried and hanged for practicing witchcraft.

With the help of a woman who turns out to be her mother, Mary boards a ship to America with a group of Puritans also bound for the New World. Mary soon realizes that she is in just as much danger in her new home.

She keeps a secret diary that begins, "I am Mary. I am a witch." Mary's fascinating story unfolds in her own words.

Excellent. I just ordered the sequel! ( )

This book was an excellent read.

I loved this book and read it in only one day. I couldn't put it down. This story would not only captivate young adult readers (14 and up), but could also cross over to adults because of the historical element. In fact I was enthralled more with the time period, mid 17th century, rather than the whole "witch" element. I felt like I was traveling along with Mary as she leaves Europe for the New World, across the Atlantic. Even though the main character is female, I think the story would interest males and females alike. I can not wait to read the sequel. ( )

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. ( )

Fascinating look at America during the Colonial period. English religious paranoia meets native culture and the resulting clash catches the protaganist, Mary, in the middle. ( )

Recommended by a student and am I glad she did! At the beginning of the book Mary’s grandmother who raised her is being burned for a witch in England , she sends her to the Colonies, by the book’s end Mary is chased out of her Puritan community for being a witch herself. She runs to the woods, where she has an Indian friend. She can scry the future, she can see people’s animal guides, but it is petty teenage girls who call her a witch, not because they think her able to do things, but because she’s a possible rival. There’s another book to come with more of Mary’s story, including her many times granddaughter in the present. That should be fun! ( )

“Witch Child” is written in a diary format. Mary is a young girl living in the 17th century, during a time where religious fervor reigned and witch-hunts were a frequent. As a young girl, Mary witnesses her grandmother’s demise when the town’s people accuse her of being a witch and burn her at the stake. Mary is rescued by a mysterious noble woman, who sends her to the New World so she does not suffer the same fate.

Mary takes on her new “pilgrim” life and tries to conform to society’s expectations, but she finds it difficult to suppress her true nature. Mary falls under suspicion when she begins to explore the “dark woods,” makes friends with the native Indians, and is accused by her rivals of being a witch.

Overall, I think this is a good book. I think teens will enjoy it. I found the historical details in the story to be accurate. Many of the diary entries were realistic and sometimes shocking when you realize these things actually happened. However, the ending left me a bit unresolved. I felt it ended abruptly. I would have liked the author to expand a little bit more on the events that take place in the last chapter. ( )

Eliza Nuttall is a victim to the horrible witch hunts in England during the 1650’s, and her granddaughter Mary is left alone in the world of hateful people she had once called friends and neighbors. Mary escapes the vile stares, disguises herself as a Puritan and boards a boat to America. But she must keep her true identity hidden or the past will repeat itself and she will have to flee once more.
Rees writes this story in the form of a diary. In doing so, she brings us mentally and emotionally in contact with young Mary as she try’s to start anew. Witch Child is skillfully written, with realized setting and appealing characters. It has somewhat of a cliff hanger ending and leaves you longing for the sequel. ( )

ummm... I thought it was boring until the end.
I'm not into all this witch craft stuff soo I thought it was kind of werid.
it wasn't bad, just not my kind of book.
it was to out dated I guess I don't like history like stuff.
I thought it was kind of cool thought like when she hid that book away from the people that would you know kill her. ( )

Unsatisfying. The premise of the book was great, but it just didn't seem to work as a story. There are far better books about Puritan's views of witchcraft. As a children's book - I don't think it would be engaging enough to keep younger readers entranced. ( )

This book is pretty boring in my opinion. If you've read much about the Salem Witch Trials or if you've read The Crucible, don't bother with this. It's so similar as to not be worth your time. If you don't know much about the time or the crazy ideas they had, then it would be interesting. ( )

Rees’s vivid descriptions of the voyage and the setting in America add richness to the story. The characters are well-drawn and illuminate the fear that leads to hysteria in the colonies. The premise of the journal entries being written by Mary and preserved by sewing them into a quilt will be intriguing to readers. Mary’s extra-normal powers and her relationship with Jaybird, young Pentacook Indian, are particularly interesting aspects of the story. ( )

I really enjoyed this one. Ran out immediately to get its sequel, Sorceress.

I like the bit of historical fiction I choose to read and this was one of them. Mary flees England after her grandmother is a victim of the witch hunts. She joins the Puritans on a voyage to the new world and lives on the fringes of their society. Does she have the gift/curse or are others looking for a scapegoat?

I like the Blair Witch techniques thrown in and Rees writes very smoothly and keeps it interesting.

Also, this is irrelevant, but one of my favorite covers. Haunting. ( )

OK, if you suspend all reality and ignore basic history, this is a good read for a teenager. Heck, it's even a good light read for an adult. One of my friends thought I'd like this because I'm interested in the Salem Witch Trials and I quilt. Now, I know this sounds nit-picky, but the author needed to do a fair bit of research on quilting history, because she fouled it up miserably. If the quilt weren't so central to the plot, I wouldn't even bring it up. ( )

This book is good, but not the best. I had a hard time staying hooked and the begining is rather confusing and boaring. Until the very end i could have put it out and not finished it. But, im reading the sequil so it must be ok. ( )

A mesmerising young adult work that also intrigues the adult reader. ( )

I couldn't put this book down, it is a really good read. The sequel wasn't as good, but I still enjoyed it.
I tells the story of a woman falsely accused of witchcraft. She writes a diary that she hides by sewing it into the pieces of a quilt. totally absorbing. ( )

Set in 1659, where witch trials were common and violent, Mary Newbury's grandmother is hanged for witchcraft. Mary escapes persecution by sailing to America, where she poses as a Puritan and lives with a welcoming family. Mary's fascination with the forest leads girls who are jealous of her relationship with a young man, to accuse her of being a witch, as she has secret gatherings in the woods. Mary's struggle against these accusations show the nature of human faults and jealousy. This book is sad, but supplies a very interesting view through the journal entries of a girl haunted by the infamous witch trials. ( )

This is a great story about how witch hysteria affects a young girl's life. I'll definitely keep an eye out for the sequel to this when I'm at the library. ( )

Disappointing. This book was an excellent set-up, with spare but authentic and evocative prose, that ultimately went nowhere. Mary is a sympathetic narrator, the Salem witch trials have always been an interesting subject, and this book has the added wrinkle that Mary clearly does have some kind of power, unlike her predecessor Kit from Witch of Blackbird Pond, but she's not persecuted for that power, she's persecuted for being unpopular and an outsider (exactly like Kit). This was also one of the few books I've read that were supposed to be diaries that was believeably written in that format and voice. However, this book is a long build-up to essentially nothing; of the 260 pages in my edition, the action begins on about page 250. There's no resolution (it only barely gets into the conflict!); the book quits just when it gets good. ( )

In 1659, 14 y.o. Mary Newbury keeps a journal of her voyage from England to the New World and her experiences living as a witch in a community of Puritans, near Salem, MA.