Daughters of the Witching Hill, by Mary Sharratt

Daughters of the Witching Hill
by Mary Sharratt
978-0-547-069678
352 pages
April 7, 2010
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt


They call her Demdike, her name is Elizabeth Southerns, Bess to some, and she lives in Pendle Forest in Malkin Tower. She is a poor woman known to many as a healer, a blesser, but to others she is feared as a witch. In concert with her familiar spirit Tibbs, she uses her folk magic to heal the sick, both man and beast. She can foresee the future.

One day her best friend Anne, pleads with her to share her charms to use against a man who has taken advantage of her daughter. Reluctantly, Bess agrees, realizing only too late that her friend has harnessed the power for nefarious plans. She soon recognizes that her friend is “unstoppable.


Over the years, Bess tries to pass her healing craft along to her granddaughter Alizon, a reluctant recipient. Ironically, as Alizon takes a walk one day she encounters a peddler on the road. She intends to purchase pins from him in order to mend her threadbare clothes. She becomes incensed when he refuses her, and calls her a beggar and thief. Brandishing threatening words of malice, she lashes out in anger declaring, “The Devil take your mean heart.” As the peddler proceeds along, he is felled by a stroke causing Alizon to freeze in disbelief. Could she really be the instrument of his malady?

A local official eager to bring the coven of witches to justice proceeds to investigate this incident leading to his discovery of many other unexplained happenings in Pendle Forest. Through countless interviews and clever manipulation of friends and relatives, Roger Nowelle seeks to bring the accused to the hangman’s noose.

Daughters of the Witching Hill, provides an historical fiction account of the actual Lancaster witch trials of 1612. The main characters and the story are taken from the actual records filed by the court clerk, Thomas Potts in 1613.

In her novel, Mary Sharratt has uncovered an alarming tale from this pre-Reformation period England. A story of powerfully strong women, friendship, betrayal and forgiveness, it unfolds like a magnet of intrigue shedding light on how easily the lines can become blurred between Christianity and folkcraft/witchcraft, leaving the innocent to suffer with pending death. An elegiac story, historically rich and hauntingly memorable.

Review-Every Boat Turns South, by J.P.White

Every Boat Turns South
By J. P. White
Permanent Press
240 pages
1-57962-188-0
September 2009


Every Boat Turns South Every Boat Turns South is the story of two brothers. Hale the shining star with all the promise a parent could hope for and Matt his younger brother who lives in his shadow. One night ignoring his intuition, Matt follows his brother on a trip even though he feels a sense of foreboding. The dye is cast and the fate of Hale is sealed when the clandestine plan suddenly backfires.

Unable to cope with the memory of his brother and the circumstances of his death Matt disappears. Three years later, Matt arrives on his parents’ doorstep looking like “something the raccoons forgot to eat.” He carries with him more baggage than the two plastic bags in tow with a readiness to unload his guilt. His father Skip is a skeleton of his former self. He is dying a result of congestive heart failure. He has tenaciously held on, unable to give up the ship.

There is little doubt that his mom loathes rather than loves him for Matt has come home to tell Skip what really happened to Hale that night. He has come home to tell Skip about his adventurous trek of escape and survival.

This may appear to some as a simple story of an adventurous drifter running from a lot of guilt and memories over his brother’s disappearance. However, it is more than simple, it is complex, an intricate composition of themes that twist around each other as you follow the undulating currents. The book is written in alternating narratives, one is Matt talking to his father, and the other is Matt’s journal or captain’s log. The characters never appear to be who they are, adding more mystery and intrigue. “ And sometimes I have seen what men have thought they saw.”

White’s compass rose takes you on a meandering voyage that will keep you guessing until the last sail south. The poetic lyrical motion of White’s writing is spiritually uplifting with a lilting cadence. Reading is an effortless indulgence as his prose embraces the reader. With the skill of an artisan in Venice his imagery is precise beauty on paper intended to captivate the audience.


Highly recommended.

Sweeping Up Glass, by Carolyn D. Wall

SWEEPING UP GLASS, Carolyn D. Wall, Poisened Pen Press, 2008, $24.95 US/C, £15.95 UK, hb, 278pp, 978-1-59058-512-2


After reading Sweeping Up Glass, by debut author Carolyn D. Wall I could not move. This book is terrifyingly real and haunting of racial bias imagery of the past.


It is 1938, some say the coldest winter ever in Kentucky. Olivia Harker and her grandson Will’m discover that someone is killing silver faced wolves on their property. Olivia has an idea who is responsible, but doesn’t know why they are targeting them.
Olivia and Will'm live behind Harker’s Grocery, yet her ma’am Ida, lives in a tar paper shack out back. Olivia had her husband Saul settle her there many years ago unable to forgive her for the years of neglect and physical abuse while growing up. On the other hand she is very close to her pap, Tate Harker, a self made veterinarian.
One day with Olivia is driving with her father when they have a horrible accident. This becomes life altering for Olivia. After a long recovery she learns her pap is buried in an unmarked grave next to the outhouse, but she always yearns to move him someday.
During a time of shameless segregation, Olivia befriends Junk, Love Alice and other members of the black community. One night, Olivia stumbles upon a covert gathering of white men. Hidden from view, she listens to the conversations from community leaders who emote racial hatred and bigotry. The disappearance of young black men in the community has raised fear and an acute awareness of racial boundaries.
This significant historical mystery offers a twisted tale with a shocking secret, betrayal and mistrust with a bit of romance. Ms. Wall has a talent for shaping distinctively original southern characters with unique personality traits, some quirky, some hated, some loved, but all memorable. I guarantee they all will stand the test of time.

Wisteria Leigh