I love how beautiful and magical this book is from the outside and this continues straight away with the map on the inside which gives an indication of all the key places that we will learn about in this story which is set in 1612. I love getting a sense of location in this way.
Fleetwood Shuttleworth, age 17 is whose perspective this story is told from. She lives with her husband Richard at Gawthorne Hall. Fleetwood has found a letter from the doctor, written to her husband advising that if she falls pregnant again she will not survive childbirth. Fleetwood is currently pregnant and when we meet her she is exploring in the woods near to Gawthorne Hall. I am intrigued to learn more about Fleetwood and also to find out who the golden-haired woman is she stumbles across on the woodland floor, laying next to dead rabbits which she is adamant she didn't kill.
It is so sad to learn that Fleetwood has already been pregnant 3 times but each baby has not survived. Each time before during her pregnancy her husband had bought a gift and this time when we meet him for the first time he has returned with a rattle. Fleetwood uses this opportunity to ask Richard if there is anything he wants to tell her after she says she has read the latest letter from the Doctor but he changes the subject and says he is going hunting. I am intrigued to find out if he does know more than he is saying and whether he knows this latest pregnancy could kill Fleetwood.
We also briefly learn of Alizon Device, who is 17 years old and in the custody of Roger, a magistrate and a man who is like a father to both Fleetwood and Richard. He explains to Fleetwood that Alizon has admitted that her and her family are witches and she has said they have committed murders. I wonder if Alizon is related in some way to the young woman Fleetwood saw in the woods who definitely had a mystical quality to her!
In only a few pages I have been enraptured by the scene setting and the characters introduced. I can't wait to learn more in what looks to be a magical debut novel.
Fleetwood Shuttleworth, age 17 is whose perspective this story is told from. She lives with her husband Richard at Gawthorne Hall. Fleetwood has found a letter from the doctor, written to her husband advising that if she falls pregnant again she will not survive childbirth. Fleetwood is currently pregnant and when we meet her she is exploring in the woods near to Gawthorne Hall. I am intrigued to learn more about Fleetwood and also to find out who the golden-haired woman is she stumbles across on the woodland floor, laying next to dead rabbits which she is adamant she didn't kill.
It is so sad to learn that Fleetwood has already been pregnant 3 times but each baby has not survived. Each time before during her pregnancy her husband had bought a gift and this time when we meet him for the first time he has returned with a rattle. Fleetwood uses this opportunity to ask Richard if there is anything he wants to tell her after she says she has read the latest letter from the Doctor but he changes the subject and says he is going hunting. I am intrigued to find out if he does know more than he is saying and whether he knows this latest pregnancy could kill Fleetwood.
We also briefly learn of Alizon Device, who is 17 years old and in the custody of Roger, a magistrate and a man who is like a father to both Fleetwood and Richard. He explains to Fleetwood that Alizon has admitted that her and her family are witches and she has said they have committed murders. I wonder if Alizon is related in some way to the young woman Fleetwood saw in the woods who definitely had a mystical quality to her!
In only a few pages I have been enraptured by the scene setting and the characters introduced. I can't wait to learn more in what looks to be a magical debut novel.