I am passionate about the Pendle witches and all things Lancashire and was desperate to read this book. However I was deeply disappointed. The writing is not rich at all as promised, the dialogue is not credible. I had very little sense of the seventeenth century or the great hall that the shuttleworths lived in. I found it completely unbelievable that a heavily pregnant woman would be riding all over Lancashire on a horse wearing a farthingale to save her friend incarcerated in Lancaster jail, and don’t doubt for a minute that Roger Nowell would probably have incarcerated her as well once he found out what she was up to. I was expecting the frequent mention of her dog and the title to imply that this would indeed be the accusation. The one thing, sadly only one small thing, that thrilled me, was the sight of Alizon Device on Nowell’s horse. She came across as truly terrifying. But the rest of the characters were lifeless and by page 300 I had to force myself to get it finished. I read up about the shuttleworths afterwards and there is so much more that she could have done. She is hailed as the new Hilary Mantel. Sadly that couldn’t be farther from the truth.