Daughters of the Witching Hill

Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt is based on a true story about Bess Southerns, a poor old widow in a poor family of cunning women (and man).  Around turn-of-the-17th-century England, people are persecuted for being anything but the status quo - a time to be fearful like never before, as Protestants are pitted against Catholics, and neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend.  Fear that is driven on by fear and each side's lust for power.  The "old religion" makes a showing here, referring to Catholicism mixed with the superstition and lore of witches, including the belief in familiar spirits, which is where the trouble in the Malkin Tower of Pendle Forest, England begins.

I really loved this book.  The relationships between family members, neighbors, friends and enemies are as transfixing as the suspenseful sense of dread that will keep you turning the pages, even though you already know how it ends.  The perfect pacing and the choices of perspective serve the story well, showing us believable, sympathetic characters that you wouldn't normally associate with the good guys - these women are cunning women, after all, not falsely-accused Christian martyrs - and I fell in love with them.  This story of the brave, doomed family of Bess Southerns will not leave you for a long time, but force you to wonder at the horrors experienced, and committed, by ordinary people within a terrified community.