The story takes place in 1612 in Lancashire and the main character is a young woman, Fleetwood Shuttleworth (what a name!) who is married and pregnant. Having miscarried her previous pregnancies she worries this one will be the same so she enlists the help of a girl (Alice) she meets in the woods, who claims to be a midwife. At the same time there is a witch hunt taking place in Lancashire and Alice is also accused of being a witch as well as almost a dozen other women and they are all trialed in the now famous Pendle witch trials.
The story was very well written and I read it very quickly as I just couldn't put it down. I liked Fleetwoods character as she wasn't just another downtrodden women and had her own mind and went against her husbands wishes which is practically unheard of in those times! Although it is a fictional story, some of the characters are based on people who were alive during the witch trials and the places are real. I would have liked to have heard more about the trials in the story, but as it was told from Fleetwoods perspective we only had a brief page about this from her husband. It has made me want to learn more about them though. If you haven't read this, do it now! It is a great piece of historical fiction.
The story was very well written and I read it very quickly as I just couldn't put it down. I liked Fleetwoods character as she wasn't just another downtrodden women and had her own mind and went against her husbands wishes which is practically unheard of in those times! Although it is a fictional story, some of the characters are based on people who were alive during the witch trials and the places are real. I would have liked to have heard more about the trials in the story, but as it was told from Fleetwoods perspective we only had a brief page about this from her husband. It has made me want to learn more about them though. If you haven't read this, do it now! It is a great piece of historical fiction.