Witch hunting is one of the most embarrassing pieces of human history. ‘The Witchfinder’s Sister’ is a fictional tale where the author conceives a plausible viewpoint of Matthew Stafford’s sister. This isn’t based on a true story since, while these characters were real, so little is known about them. We do know that during the Essex witch trials between the years of 1645 and 1647, that hundreds of women were investigated for witchcraft and many were murdered as a result of it.

Beth Underdown is spot on for the dreary and run-down writing tone fitting the bleak storyline for her debut novel. Beautifully written, haunting, moving, the prose fits the plot perfectly and uplifts it to another level. Written poorly, this story wouldn’t have worked nearly as well since the atmosphere was such a key part of the experience, and that can only be achieved with lyrical writing that suits it.

The story follows the sister Alice who must return home humiliated and penniless after her husband died. Her brother accepts her with open arms, kind of, but she soon finds out that the twisted relative has somehow managed to sway the town under his spell. It’s not just his lust for power or terror of women, but she finds out another secret that may explain the psychology of why he became so demented in the first place.

Alice is a worthy enough character on her own, although at times I wanted to shake her. I know she was stuck because of the people she was trying to protect and because of the lack of choices women had back then though, but she found her backbone anyway and lived to carry on.

The side characters that helped strengthen her amped the story up well – Bridget, the run-down housekeeper with a strong moral balance but little defenses was especially effective. The author doesn’t give her an unrealistic personality to suit modern politics as some historical pieces with women characters dare to do, and that makes the story feel even more genuine and moving.

I dig that the author introduced the actual possibility of real magic into the storyline too, making even Alice doubt that supernatural forces may be at play. It makes sense that even if they thought Matthew was wrong, small doubts would start infecting even her, so I liked this realism on human fault.

The author did an admirable job of capturing the oppressive and struggling atmosphere the women must have experienced, and she doesn’t shy away from the details of the tests, trials, imprisonments, betrayals, and twisted facts of the case. Even the small details are covered to loan authenticity.

It’s a slower paced book at times, but the bulk of it is needed to fit the storyline’s emphasis on the demented fanaticism that ruined so many lives so cruelly, so senselessly.

Recommended for fans of drama, whether they favor historical time pieces or modern ones – it’s a moving account of a horrific time in human history that we shouldn’t ever forget.

The Witchfinder's Sister, the debut novel by Beth Underdown, is the story of historical figure and witch hunter Matthew Hopkins told through the perspective of his fictional sister Alice. Because of the slow pace and the narrator of the story, the book does not give the broader historical picture and feels like a sideline view of the main plot. The atmospheric writing is my favorite part of the book and makes me look forward to seeing what Beth Underdown writes next.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2017/07/the-witchfinders-sister.html

Reviewed for NetGalley

Fascinating read. I have read several books on the Salem Witch Trials. It was interesting to read from another area of the world. How did people gain so much power playing on the weaknesses of others? Matthew Hopkins was a real man who did some seriously awful things (or watched as they happened). Estimates on how many women he let be executed range in the lower 200s.

This is a story from his fictional sister's viewpoint and sheds light on how much power men had and how little women were able to fight.

I loved this book. The story was great and kept me interested and so were the characters. Great job

Well this book was... a Lot. But it was good. It really sucked me in more than I thought it would. It was also a bit graphic at times, which was in line with the story though, seeing that it was set in the mid 17th century, before the Salem witch trials began. But by far the most horrifying part of this book, apart from the details of how the trials and 'questionings' were done, is the fact that Matthew Hopkins was a REAL person who took it upon himself to become a "witch finder", assisting in the deaths of over 100 women because they were accused of being witches... And his cases are very well documented as well. Even though it's not certain if he had a sister at all, I think the artistic liberties taken were necessary and really help bring the horrors of this story to life. At the end what I came away from this is that men can be horrible, vengeful people, and probably shouldn't be given absolute power like Matthew Hopkins was able to get. 

TL;DR TRUST NO MAN!!!!!!!!!!!

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Thank you, NetGalley, for the advanced copy of The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown.
While this is not a historical time period that I usually read, I did find the content interesting. Underdown created a fictional story about the English witch hunts of the 1640s led by Matthew Hopkins which would be a nice companion to Arthur Miller's The Crucible. The telling of this story from his sister Alice's perspective makes the story work well as it is clear in the opening that she is a captive. Part of the suspense, I felt, was finding out if she had been accused as a witch and not put to death because of her brother. At the novel's conclusion, her fate in America is left untold but also creates some irony.

I was really excited for this book because I have always been intrigued by the Salem Witch Trials. However, this is not what I was expecting. First off - shame on me for not realizing Matthew Hopkins was a real person before reading. I think that would have helped me enjoy it a bit more.

Overall, though, this book was suuuuuper slow paced. I also thought Outlander was slow, and I could see people who like Outlander enjoying this book. I was hoping for a gripping read, and I just glossed over the pages waiting to finish the book. I felt like it was a surface-level read, and I didn't feel connected to any of the characters or their stories. There were bits and pieces of exciting happenings, but then it just fizzled out.

Not enough happened in this story to intrigue me. Maybe it just wasn't for me. If you like historical fiction/dramas, I think you would be interested. But if you're hoping for a crazy witch-hunt with psychological drama, twists, and lots of legal battles, this is not for you.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Random House/Ballantine for the ARC, for which I have given an honest and unbiased review*

As I read this story, I was pulled in by the characters, the story, and the facts that were intertwined. Although the story itself may be fiction, many of the actions and activities, and some of the characters are, in fact, pulled from history.

Alice Hopkins is forced to return home, to a small town she had previously escaped. As both her mother and her husband had recently passed, Alice is forced to depend upon the generosity of her brother, Matthew. And oh how Matthew has changed. Once a boy who stayed in the background, Matthew is now feared and revered. He is responsible to gathering evidence against those accused of being witches. He passes no judgement beyond determining if there is enough evidence for a trial as that is beyond his "responsibilities". And Alice soon learns that she must either follow Matthew's rules or risk punishment.

Ms. Underdown created a tale that was both believable and engaging. I loved Alice and Bridget, and I even enjoyed Matthew, although perhaps not as much. The book was well written and adhered to the speech and facts of the era in which it was based. Well done.

I’ve had a fascination with the Salem Witch Trials since I first heard about them, ages ago. So when I saw The Witchfinder’s Sister available on NetGalley, I thought this was a perfect read for me. It may not be the Salem witch trials, but they were still witch trials.

The Witchfinder’s Sister is based upon a real man named Matthew Hopkins who actually did put over a hundred women to death. This book is a fictional account of what happened, told from the first person perspective of his (fictional) sister, Alice.

This book started out solid. I loved the details of Alice’s life, from before she left home, while she was away with her husband, and then as she returned, a (secretly pregnant) widow.

But while the details of this story were engrossing, the plot never completely came together for me. Alice is, for the most part, an outsider watching her brothers actions but unable to do much. After all, she was just a woman and in the 1600’s they had no power. It’s possible this story could have benefited from being told in 3rd person, because then we could have seen past Alice’s limited view, but I honestly don’t know if that would have helped.

What I did really like was the way the author weaved a possible explanation for Matthew’s actions. His mother (Alice’s step-mother) is described as basically having a mental illness of some sort. Of course, back then, that wasn’t a thing. However, Alice at one point wonders if their mothers “weakness of mind” could have passed on to Matthew. Of course, there are also supernatural possibilities thrown in as well, but those never felt completely valid to me.

Overall, for a book that promised to be “haunting” and “spellbinding”, it really wasn’t. There was minimal interaction between our narrator and the accused witches. The one accused she did spent time with, never really seemed like a woman who had just been, essentially, sitting on death row. The feelings never felt genuine. I never felt the fear or the anguish of those who knew they were going to die, and most of that was because we very, very rarely saw it happen. I suppose you could say, for a book about women being accused of witchcraft, the accused were very secondary to anything else.


Would I recommend this book? Eh… not really. I mean, if you have interest in this particular witch hunt and want to read a fictionalized account of Matthew Hopkins, you might enjoy this. But for this reader, it was unfortunately pretty forgettable.

A solid, compelling novel- a perfect entertaining beach read for those looking for a dose of historical entertainment. I really enjoyed it!

I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I can't believe I finished reading this nature book. I kept reading hoping it would get better, but it never did. Overall this book was just a disappointing witch hunt, literally.

Did not finish reading. I found this story difficult to hold my attention.

I was set to love this book. I enjoy historical fiction and I don't shy away from difficult subjects/time periods. But something about the story, characters, or subject made me feel reluctant. The pacing of the book is slow, but that makes sense since the events of the witch trials in England would have had to build up over some time. I couldn't get invested in the main character, the narrator Alice. I felt like all she did was make excuses for how she became involved in the events surrounding her local witch hunts. If she had drawn me in, I am sure I would have found the book compelling. I felt a sense of dread when reading about the unfolding events and the imprisonment of women accused of being witches by neighbors with grudges and then forced into confessions by torture (sleep deprivation, forced into painful positions for extreme periods of time, etc). Perhaps the book improved, but I only got about halfway through it. I just couldn't get invested enough to care how it ended.

I want to thank NetGalley for letting me read this book. It was one of those books I think everyone should read.

We know what happened, Salem Witch Trials and all. As a human being, this topic should make you sick. As a woman, you should see all the warnings of letting anyone think they know better for you than you know for yourself. As a religious person, you should be wary of folks that don't read the whole book and think they are hand in hand with the deities. This whole subject screams that scripture that should most be used "Judge not lest Ye be judged." And in the case of most of these thumpers of parts and not other parts of the Holy book, my dad quoted better than anyone. 'The Bible is God's Word. SO "Judas hung himself." "Go Ye and do likewise."' Too bad he wasn't around to speak his mind to people like the brother in this book.

As much as I think this is a good book for everyone to read, it is so HARD to read. It wasn't the fault of the author. She did a fine job with her research on the subject and kept the story moving. I loved her ability to give the old English feel to the story without making it boring. You knew what was going to happen virtually hiding your eyes because you don't want to see, but still wanted to see how the author was going to pull it off. She didn't disappoint.

Ironically, the reason I was interested in this book was because I had just watched a Netflix documentary that talked about Matthew Hopkins. Overall, the book felt a bit disjointed. In places of the story, the combination of fact and fiction just didn't blend well for the story. The heroine wasn't particularly likeable either. So much trouble could have been avoided if she hadn't kept so many secrets.

DNF -could not get into the pace, though I could see the potential. It just wasn't for me.

I was given an advanced copy of this novel from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

This novel follows a fictional story about a real person whom was part of the beginning of the witch hunts, although not in America, these are the witch hunts that began in England. This novel is written from the point of view of the sister (obviously) as she is watching her brother utterly terrorize not only their own town, but towns all near them as he is looking for women who are 'committing the sins of witchcraft' and so forth. Historically speaking, in the end, this wave of a witch hunt did cause over 100 women to be put to death. And we see it all from his older sister's viewpoint as she slowly sees her brother go mad with power.

This novel was interesting to look at it from the England point of view before the famous Salem witch trials (although their is a connection, but I won't spoil that for you!) and where the witch finder doctrine began. This novel does feel a little slow at spots but it was never a novel I felt like I just did not want to read, it always kept me interested. As you get further along it gets more and more twisted and interesting. I love the little nuisances from the author of showing familiar things that occur that make you think, is this witch craft around me? As well as the connection of potential witch craft in their lives, whether they realized it or not. Good novel, eerie at times and very interesting to get another point of view than just from Salem.

Historical fiction with a touch of paranormal. I could not put this one down. Seriously, I read the whole thing in under twenty-four hours and it was worth the lost sleep. You're swept into the whirlwind of a life turned upside-down from the first chapter and the twists do not stop until the end. The pacing was just right, the characters well-rounded and interesting, and the first-person narrative was intriguing. It is a masterful weaving of fiction and fact that is not hindered by either.

There is just a hint of paranormal, a slight tingle on the back of your neck that makes you wonder what is real and what is not, much like the protagonist herself. It was a nice touch. It would have been so easily overdone but the author balances so well between a realistic tale and one that makes you question your own beliefs about those things you cannot see. Also, and I won't spoil it, this book has the BEST last line I've read all year! Well done to the author on that one. I look forward to more from Underdown after this amazing debut.

I usually live historical novels that have real life characters and events mixed in fictional stories, but in this case, I could not, as much as I tried, immerse myself or enjoy it.
Perhaps because the language is too modern (despite the visible research done by the author) I couldn't for a moment truly believe the story was happening so long ago. The protagonist's way of speaking and even her personality never convinced me as belonging to a woman in the 17th century.

Apart from that the whole narrative, alas, bored me. I couldn't care much for the happenings and kept reading just so I could finish it.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me with an ARC of this novel on exchange for my honest review.

This book was a dnf for me. I got almost halfway through and was so bored that I actually put it down and started reading something else.