About the book: “This woman was one of the most impudent, scurrilous, wicked creatures of this world; and she did now throughout her whole trial discover herself to be such a one. Yet when she was asked what she had to say for herself, her chief plea was that she had led a most virtuous and holy life.” —Reverend Cotton Mather, 1692
USA Today Bestselling author Heather B. Moore brings the life of her 10th great-grandmother to center stage. Susannah North Martin, accused of witchcraft in 1692, joins five women in the Salem Jail, all sentenced to death for their crimes. Amidst tragedy, Susannah finds hope and compassion as she remembers a well-loved life, and readers discover that love reaches far beyond the grave as Susannah faces the magistrates in Salem.
My review: This was one book I was looking forward to reading. Just last summer, I discovered that our kids had ancestors who were hung in these same trials, they had one on each side and the women were actually hung the same day, so they most likely would have known each other. So crazy!
I really enjoyed the way this book was written. Some of it was kind of hard to read, but I loved the way that the hard to read parts were balanced out with the memories of Susannah's happy life before she was accused of being a witch. I liked that it bounced back and forth between the two time periods.
I also liked that there were quotes included from the time period and specifically about Susannah. It made me remember that she was really a person and that these events really happened to her and the other women that were incarcerated with her. I can only imagine how horrific life was for them in the jail. Especially knowing that most of them would likely be condemned and would die for no crime. It's really a hard thing for me to understand that these people would have believed the claims of teenagers, who simply didn't like these women for whatever reason.
I really enjoyed this book. I'm going to have to do some checking and see if I can find any of these kind of stories about our ancestors who were in these trials.
I was sent an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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Labels: clean fiction, Heather B Moore, Historical fiction
