Book Review... Two Thumbs UP!

The Heretic's Daughter

A Novel

By Katheleen Kent

Genre:
Historical Fiction

First published in USA:
Little Brown & Company; Sep 2008.

"You cannot have grown to womanhood without hearing the embittered whispers of Salem Village, and of me and my parents. But in your love for me you have never asked me to reveal the dread happenings of my youth. The name Salem even now causes grown men and women to blanch with fear." A passage taken from a letter, lovingly written to her granddaughter by Sarah Carrier Chapman in 1752, sixty years after her own mother had been convicted and hung on Gallow's Hill for witchcraft.

The book, The Heretic's Daughter begins with this letter as a prologue to her telling her own personal history to her granddaughter. The events of the book take place mainly during the years 1691 and 1692, during the fervor and accusations that pitted neighbor against neighbor and family member against family member, in many cases. Although the book is historical fiction, the book is based on fact and Ms. Kent is a direct tenth generation descendant of Martha Carrier, the mother of Sarah our story's narrator, and one of the first women convicted and hung for witchcraft. Ms. Kent does a fascinating job weaving the historical fact with the fiction and draws us in with her vivid descriptions of life in seventeenth century New England.

Sarah, a young girl during the time of the story, and her family are new to the Andover, MA area near Salem. Having arrived during an era when the community is living in fear of Indian raids, and plague, not to mention the religious superstitions of the day. Her father has a mysterious past, her mother is cold, one brother becomes ill with small pox and Sarah is sent along with her younger sister to live with family members in a nearby town. Sarah finds a closeness with her aunt that she didn't share with her mother and finds a new best friend in her older female cousin, and she feels she has found the family she has longed for all her life. Eventually, she is sent back home, and this is where the story really begins to gain some depth. The hysteria is beginning to sweep communities outside Salem, and Sarah's mother Martha becomes one of the accused.

Ms. Kent does a beautiful job telling the story of how Sarah finds her way back to her mother, and also shows what an amazingly strong role model Martha Carrier was to her children, and not to be tossed aside is the character of the father, a strong silent type with a very interesting mystery of his own, in addition to his deep and abiding love for his family. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in this time period in our history, or who is interested in historical fiction. It is an easy read with fabulous visualization.

I was deeply interested in reading this book, as I too am a direct descendant of one of the nineteen "witches" hung in 1692. Susannah Martin. I am thankful Ms. Kent took the time to research the trials and paint a picture for us of everything from everyday hardscrabble life on the farms to the horrendous conditions of life in the jail.