I taught Arthur Miller’s The Crucible for a long time at the school where I used to teach, so I’ve dug into the Salem witch trials more than once. Parts of them still resonate: misogyny and class conflict, greed and corruption, and (of course) witch hunts both literal and metaphorical. Miller saw in the witch trials an allegory for the McCarthy trials and the obsession with unearthing communists in 1950s America, and they definitely can stand in for many modern obsessions.

A.K. Blakemore’s The Manningtree Witches deals with witch trials in a 17th century English town, and while I’m sure there’s symbolic resonance there, too, it’s the sheer humanity of her novel that struck me. Through much of the book, the voice and point of view we’re following is that of Rebecca West, the daughter of a single mother who has spurned any chance of popularity by her irreverence, her cruelty, and her refusal to follow the rules of the town. Rebecca is more willing to please than her mother, but she’s got strength and independence of her own. Rebecca’s voice is vibrant and funny and wicked; her intelligence is apparent, as is her search for identity and love and comfort and companionship.

When a stranger moves to town and begins asking questions about some animals who’ve died, some women who’ve miscarried, a boy who falls ill, it doesn’t take long before the town begins to catch his fervor, and, as always, it’s mostly women—and mostly single women—who are the focus. Rebecca loves her mother but doesn’t always like her, and so at first, the scrutiny satisfies her own cruel thoughts that result from her mother’s casual unkindness. But soon, Rebecca realizes that the accusations are insidious, weaving their way through the minds of the townsfolk.

The events of the novel follow a familiar pattern, but their execution makes this a new and unique account. Blakemore builds brilliant characters who are trying to find small bits of happiness despite difficult circumstances, who revel in their friendships with other women who live lives similar to theirs. The writing is fantastic (I marked so many quotations!), and Rebecca feels just absolutely real.

This is a confident, compelling debut novel, and I’ll definitely be looking out for Blakemore’s next book.

Set in early 1640’s England, we follow the brave and young Rebecca West and a group of women in their small village, Manningtree, just as a stranger named Matthew “Witchfinder General'' Hopkins enters the town and stirs up speculations about witchcraft and covens. A thoroughly researched historical-retelling, while simultaneously delivering a contemporary narrative. Blakemore delivers a bone-chilling, true-to-history novel meant to educate and shock readers on the harsh realities of the English witch hunts that ultimately led to the infamous Salem trials in the U.S.
Be Prepared for some ambiguity on whether or not these Manningtree witches were actually witches; this story is more about the trials, torture and horror laid upon this town by Hopkins hand.

The Manningtree Witches by A. K. Blakemore is a captivating novel set in the 1640s as witch hunts continued. The novel is based on real events and focuses on a group of women from a small community. The Manningtree Witches is a must-read for paranormal fans.

In The Manningtree Witches, A.K. Blakemore takes historical references and adapts it into a linear storyline. We follow Rebecca, a low income girl living in Manningtree and see how quickly her life changes when she is accused of being a witch. The language in this book lent itself to the time period it was based on (1600s) and took a bit to get into but until around the 30% mark, I was very much interested in the story. Slowly after that I just became exhausted by the story. The entire second half of the story felt very dragged out and the pace really slowed down. I felt completely disconnected from every single character, and was never fully engrossed in the story. By the end I was happy it was over because of how much of a slump it put me into. I do think this book is for a very specific (someone really into 1600 witch trials) and maybe a more sophisticated reader than myself.

Book Review- No Spoilers

This is an historic novel set in the 1640’s town of Manningtree in England. This time period was ripe with witch accusations, and Manningtree did not escape the paranoia. A figure emerged during this time that came to be known as “The Witch Hunter”. This novel focuses on a small set of women from the town and the Witch Hunter that was obsessed with declaring people to be witches, even with scant evidence of this claim.

This book had a lot of vocabulary that was unfamiliar to me. It truly seemed like it was written by someone from that time period. I think it even had 1600’s slang in it. All I know is I’m glad I read it as an ebook so I could quickly look up the words while reading, although some words didn’t come up in the dictionary at all. The language was that old. But it didn’t disrupt my flow of reading too much and I got used to it.

But man, this story is bleak. I mean, it is about a brutal time in history, so there isn’t going to be romance and happy endings. Not AT ALL. That being said, the characters are well developed and even the evil ones were interesting. I give it 3.5 stars.

I went into this one <i><b>so</b></i> enthusiastically, and I was compelled for quite some time, more than 50% of the way through, to keep reading.

I had no doubts until I had doubts.... several weeks in, which was the most telling aspect of my experience. I loved the language and the telling... until it all just became too much and I couldn't manage to pick it up again.

I know this is all contradictory, and I'm having difficulty myself understanding my ultimate response to this one (for a long while, I was certain it was going to be the novel to turn me from the growing-dislike-for-historical-fiction path I've been hurtling down the last year or more).

There was so much difficulty inherit in the author presenting this child with an illness of some sort that presented in bizarre behavior and physical symptoms, and also ultimately doesn't explain for the reader's edification what his condition could logically be. This means that we're left with never fully being able to commit a conclusion towards whether Hopkins and (some of) the townspeople are hysterical and are stereotypical-historical-witchhunting-simply-because-the-accused-woman-is-strong-and-independent or whether there could be something supernatural going on and perhaps the persecutors have some justification for their actions (at least in their eyes). This may be - and I'm guessing probably is - intentional, but it didn't work for me, for whatever reason (I think my logical brain needed some sort of path to follow for character empathy, etc.).

I'll also add, as other reviewers have, my increasing reluctance with the language (which I originally loved) and the way it felt too over-the-top to sustain the frequently of its use and throughout the length of a novel. As well, the POV switching between the primary protagonist and then the other characters was disorienting and - I wasn't always sure whose POV it was supposed to be, and then I believe sometimes the narrative was intended to be a court transcript?

ARC provided by the publisher, Catapult, and Netgalley.

Honestly, if I come across something in the future by this author, I could actually be tempted to consider trying again. There were strengths and cleverness, here, but I was just unfortunately let down by the overall execution.

I loved this so much I preordered it! Excellent writing. Captivating storytelling. Compelling character development. I loved everything about this! Can’t wait for my physical copy to join my shelves.

The writing style of this book was definitely different, although I have yet to decide if that is good or bad. I will say that I've never read anything like it in that sense. The dialogue is accurate as far as I'm aware of the time period it is set in (1643). However, I wasn't a huge fan of the style, but the plot and storyline are done well.

The Manningtree Witches is a well written, thoroughly researched, fictionalized account of the witch trials that occurred in civil war era England (mid-1600s). Blakemore centers the reader solidly in the time and place, uses first-person accounts and trial transcripts to examine the horrific persecution of ordinary men and women at a time when accusations of witchcraft required only a suspicious or vengeful bent and a belief in flimsy superstition. Through literally no fault of her own, protagonist Rebecca West finds herself swimming and drowning in a sea of hateful misogyny, imprisoned and accused of imaginary crimes. Blakemore's talent ensures her readers are with Rebecca every maddening and frightening step of the way.

This is an imagined retelling of true events amid the frenzied witch hunt era during the English “civil war” during the mid-1600s. The dispute is consuming scarce resources (able-bodied men, food, money) leaving farms to the care of women and children. Mother Nature exacerbates things by serving harsh winters, flooding, and doses of pestilence to ruin the struggling crops. Poor nutrition, an increased workload, and disease have caused a noticeable increase in miscarriages and childhood deaths. With the central government distracted, it is the perfect setting for the superstitious, fanatical, Puritans to take matters into their own hands to root out the cause of God’s ire on his people and exact punishment on those responsible. After all, the Devil has to have human accomplices in their midst.

The author’s world-building is very good - the use of period’s terms and language adds to the place setting. She also recounts the techniques used to extract confessions and weaves in documented testimonies used by Matthew Hopkins and his partner, John Stearne, who were largely self-appointed witchfinders ultimately responsible for over 200 convictions (deaths). From four-hundred-year-old notes, she created rich, full-bodied characters - both the prosecutors and their Manningtree victims - each with personality, spunk, conviction, and wit. At the center is a young girl, Rebecca West, her widowed mother, Anne (Beldam) West, and their neighbors who unfortunately are widowed/single, poor, illiterate, independent (and outspoken) women -- easy and obvious targets in a patriarchal (and a bit misogynistic) society -- it doesn’t take much for them to become the town’s pariahs. This could easily be a study on human nature as we read how neighbors bear false witness against each other as the accusations against these women grow more absurd and preposterous with each telling. The madness and perversion from the sexually oppressed Puritans continued when the accused were subjected to body searches and probing questions surrounding “copulation with the Devil.”

While coverage of witch trials has been done before, A.K. Blakemore offers a robust take on a familiar story. Fans of historical fiction will not be disappointed.

Set in the 1640, during England's Civil War, A.K. Blakemore's The Manningtree Witches is, without a doubt, the most perceptive, most beautifully written novel exploring witch trials that I've read. While not a huge genre, there definitely is a core body of witch trial novels and Blakemore's novel rises above all of them.

Why?

• It's historically informed, drawing on trial transcripts, legal documents, and other writing from that period. The characters based on historical figures appear to be true to their lives as documented in the historical record.

• The language it's written in is historically appropriate and downright beautiful, without heavy-handed pretensions.

• While modern readers can identify with Rebecca, the central character, she hasn't been turned into a present-day everywoman. Blakemore creates her as a woman of her time.

• It isn't a clear cut, good guys/bad guys novel. Some characters are more sympathetic than others, but none of them are the sort of self-assured caricatures that often populate with trial fiction. Even the characters we hate because of their certainty have occasional doubts.

• The novel allows readers to reflect on their own time, but never lets them forget that their time and the time of the novel are substantially different.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher; the opinions are my own.

[I will also be posting this review on Edelweiss and LibraryThing.]

I was unable to get into this novel. The premise interested me but moved at a slower pace. It is a book I may try to pick up and give another at a later date.

"Wolf Hall meets The Favourite in this beguiling debut novel that brilliantly brings to life the residents of a small English town in the grip of the seventeenth-century witch trials and the young woman tasked with saving them all from themselves.

England, 1643. Puritanical fervor has gripped the nation. And in Manningtree, a town depleted of men since the wars began, the hot terror of damnation burns in the hearts of women left to their own devices.

Rebecca West, fatherless and husbandless, chafes against the drudgery of her days, livened only occasionally by her infatuation with the handsome young clerk John Edes. But then a newcomer, who identifies himself as the Witchfinder General, arrives. A mysterious, pious figure dressed from head to toe in black, Matthew Hopkins takes over the Thorn Inn and begins to ask questions about what the women on the margins of this diminished community are up to. Dangerous rumors of covens, pacts, and bodily wants have begun to hang over women like Rebecca - and the future is as frightening as it is thrilling.

Brimming with contemporary energy and resonance, The Manningtree Witches plunges its readers into the fever and menace of the English witch trials, where suspicion, mistrust, and betrayal run amok as a nation's arrogant male institutions start to realize that the very people they've suppressed for so long may be about to rise up and claim their freedom."

I always like a modern sensibility on another time period so long as it's done right.

The Manningtree Witches is historical fiction, but boy oh boy did I learn a lot. Matthew Hopkins was the jerk Witchfinder General in real life, the Manningtree Witch Trial really happened and the unfortunate women were really hanged. Ms. Blakemore puts it all together in a way where we really care about these people. Well, maybe not Hopkins who really was a jerk. Blakemore has an epilogue that explains the real history behind the story.

With the hangings, she doesn't spare us. They didn't know back then how to snap a neck quickly, so the many hundreds, if not thousands, of people (mainly women) died slow, painful deaths of suffocation. I've seen too many historical fictions that get this wrong, but not Blakemore. But, she did get the word wrong. People are hanged, not hung.

Speaking of words, I learned a lot of new words. A few weren't even in the dictionary, at least not on the kindle dictionary. There's lot of looking up to be done while reading this. This is how we learn stuff, right?

Here's my favorite new word. Pay close attention. The protagonist's mother was called The Beldam. The Beldam West. Beldam is French for "beautiful dame" or "beautiful woman." It was used ironically, though, to mean an old ugly woman. I really like that word. The Beldam.

So, I've decided to call myself The Beldam. I, personally, hope it means "beautiful dame" but if you want to use it to mean ugly old woman, I don't want to know about it.

At first, I thought the story was a little slow, although the protagonist has a sly sense of humor. Once the action got going, it really got going. Exciting and horrifying. Poor Vinegar Tom! Beautiful language, too. Picture a book that is both literary and scary.

Thanks to Publishers Weekly "Grab-a-galley" and Netgalley for allowing me a digital ARC in return for an honest review.

Novels revisiting the murders of women and men as witches in the 17th century have been popular for a long time now, but few offer up the highly detailed and very real world that A. K. Blakemore creates in this book. By telling the story of a woman who is accused and tortured but finally reaches a deal with the men in charge of the witch hunt and must carry the burden of her deeds thereafter, we get a different, interesting perspective. The gritty realism of the protagonist's narration, the intricacy of village relationships, and the infinite number of disruptions that all bring things together in a frenzy of misogyny are all on point here.

The setting for A. K. Blakemore’s novel, The Manningtree Witches, is England during the First Civil War. The Puritans were waging a war against Catholicism while advocating purity and piety. According to Matthew Hopkins—in his book The Discovery of Witches--it was while in Manningtree during this time that he began his career as a Witchfinder General.

From 1644-1647, Mathew Hopkins is thought to have overseen the execution of between 100-300 women and men for Maleficium: act of witchcraft. With John Stearne and female assistants, allegations set forth by the aggrieved were investigated utilizing witch-pricking (jabbing needles into sores and marks. If there is no pain or blood, they are a witch). Master Hopkins was often compensated for his services, sometimes earning 23 pounds which today amounts to 3,800 pounds ($5,373.57).

Women accounted for the vast majority of people accused of witchcraft. They were the spinsters, old, independent, needy, educated, etc. of the community; the ones that did not fit the paradigm of wife or mother. As such, they were seen as being unfeminine and expendable; a threat to the patriarchy. As Rebecca West says in this book, “Men like to keep women under their power by force” (chapter 26).

Rebecca West is the teenaged daughter of Beldam (an ugly, old woman)—Anne, and the person relating the majority of this story. They—along with widow Clarke (aka The Crone), Helen Clarke, Anne Leech, Margaret Moone, and Elizabeth Goodwin—are accused of being members of a coven of witches. Of these six, four are widows. They are accused of Maleficia such as causing a miscarriage; the death of a woman, a mule, and cattle; and in Bedlam West’s case, causing the wreck of a ship and the death of all aboard.

The frenzy begins when the 25-year-old Mathew Hopkins comes to Manningtree and starts delivering sermons that center on witches and the devil. Many of his lessons lean towards the salacious. For example, when instructing the citizenry about Sathan, he states that he is in, “moist places of the forest…to lame the horse of a gentleman…or find a place to nestle warm between the parted thighs of some country lass, whereon she dreams of marriage to a Turk who uses his tongue down there” (chapter 4).

Rebecca is an interesting young woman who wages an internal struggle between her religion, and her feelings and desires. She is attracted to John Edes, a man teaching her the Puritan catechism, and how to read and write. Rebecca sees this kind man as a way out of her present situation of poverty. There aren’t many men in town (see Bedlam West’s crime). Her turmoil is exemplified during a lesson in John Edes room. Rebecca is contemplating an erotic dream she had the previous night. While sitting close to him, she cannot stop admiring his looks, his hands, his accidental touch. As they are discussing that sin defiles the whole man, that the devil resides in everyone, she ponders, “If he saw me and knew me truly, he would despise me, despise what it is I hold inside me. I wonder if this is what all women eventually come to know—a choice each comes to make between obscuring her true self in exchange for the false regard of a good man, or allowing herself the freedom to be as she truly is as broken, as course, as hopeless as he. Or is it only me?” (chapter 7).

I enjoyed this book. It is about a subject I’ve read up on, and it brings to fictional life some of the people involved. The only thing that bothered me was the extensive vocabulary. I wound up looking up 47 words, and I consider myself somewhat more literate than Rebecca who uttered/thought them. Yes, some of them could be seen from that time, but others like tumesce, battology, intransigence, and termagant had to be looked up. I have no problem with this myself, but it interrupted my enjoyment of this book.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Catapult Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The Manningtree Witches

I was thrilled to receive an arc of this book via NetGalley and Grants Books in exchange for an honest and fair review. The moment I saw this cover I knew I wanted to read it. It is so visually appealing that it made me want to know what was inside.

Now everyone knows I love a good witch book, but there is a particular type that appeals to me the most- those based on fact. I love a good historical fiction book about the persecution of witches and that is what this book is.

This novel around the British witch trials in Essex in 1643 and centers on the character of Rebecca West, daughter of Beldam West. The community of Manningtree is populated almost entirely of women, because the men have been away fighting in the civil war. It is into this heavily laden Puritan community that the self proclaimed Witchfinder General, Matthew Holder arrives. And during his search to draw out the sins and sinners of Manningtree, accusations against a group of women living on the fringe of society begin to fly about and soon a full blown Witch hunt is under way.

I truly loved this book. Clearly a lot of research went into it. The the historical details add a wonderful authenticity to the story. The characters are well developed and the reader comes to strongly identify with them. It is interesting to read this book in these particular times and compare how far women have come and where our quest for equality still falls short . It is especially powerful when reading how the men in this dominant patriarchal society were fearful of any woman who chose to live differently or dare to make their voice heard and the horrible repercussions that were put in place to silence them.

This is a well written, thoughtful and engrossing book. The author has a beautiful and unique way of using language that I really enjoyed. This is not a book about magic. It is about real women who dared to try to live on their own terms and the horrible punishments it brought about. A solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me!

"There is one long, narrow road that runs alongside the riverbank, from the little port of Manningtree...to old St. Mary's Church in Mistley...". People living a marginal existence occupy "a few dozen houses...in various states of disrepair...all moldy thatch and tide-marked...away from the river...rolling hills and fields where the true wealth of Essex [lives]...cows...full of milk...herds mill about neat little manor houses of the yeomen and petty gentry...". The year was 1643. Manningtree had been depleted of men since the English Civil War began. "For most in Manningtree the loss of a healthy steer or a good milker ranks among the greater calamities. The loss of a child, especially a girl child is a more miner misfortune."

"...rumors once begun are wont to take on a life of their own." "They are inquisitors...the men walk about town together with a sense of purpose-a purpose everyone knows. Hopkins leads, tall and Bible black...next the portly Mister Stearne...They begin to call Hopkins "Witchfinder." According to Rebecca West, "There is something about [Matthew Hopkins] slant and insubstantial...Black boots, black gloves, black cloak, black ringlets and then a white face floating lost in the midst of this funereal confection...I think he looks like nothing has ever brought him joy...".

Under cover of Puritan cleanliness, obedience and modesty, Matthew Hopkins is paid handsomely to discover covens, pacts and unmask witchcraft, focusing on women living on the margins of the small Manningtree community. "Corruption flourishes in this town; unseen and unchallenged...There have been mutterings...of the kind that give rise to accusations. A search ensues for the cause of Thomas Briggs's bewitchment. "Is not your mother the Beldam West? She spoke a malediction upon Master Briggs as the child played by the quay...mother and daughter...all alone...When women think alone, they think evil...It is commonly thought that a tendency to the heresy of witchcraft is passed from mother to daughter...perhaps...a shared debility of the soul...".

According the Rebecca West, "My mother and I are like two trees that have grown entangled in the denseness of the wood and find their roots interlocked ripping each other's branches in the wind." Beldam West (Anne West) was accused and tried for sending familiars to trouble Sir Thomas Bowes, his embellished and expanding story really the result of his drunken reverie. "That a very honest man of Manningtree, whom he knew would not speak untruth, affirmed unto him." Rebecca West was soon arrested for consorting with her mother, Beldam West.

"The Manningtree Witches" by A. K. Blakemore, written in beautifully crafted literary prose, describes the Witch Craze of the English Civil War and is interspersed with excerpts from the Essex Witch Trials of 1645. Rebecca West's coming-of-age included accusations of witchcraft, imprisonment, teenage angst, stirrings of romance and the reading and understanding of the gospel. Her character development, as well as the detailed descriptions of other women and girls accused of bewitchment, was masterfully penned. This debut work of literary fiction from poet A. K. Blakemore is a read I highly recommend.

Thank you Catapult and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is not a stereotypical witch hunt novel. Interspersed with excerpts from the Essex witch trial reports of 1645, The Manningtree Witches is a fictionalized account of the women in a small village who are accused of witchcraft during the Witch Craze of the English Civil War.

“Now comes a cry of Hang the witches, and a stone that clatters against the inn’s whitewashed fascia - The Devil will be driven from here!- and another. The crowd surges again, the militia straining to push them back with their pole arms, swearing and spitting: Christ is arisen in them indeed, like a boiling milk that threatens to spill from the pail….and if the Devil himself did walk abroad among them none would be any the wiser, so preoccupied are they.”

The two principal male characters are based on two witch hunters active during the Witch Craze. The Witchfinder General is fully fleshed out, with doubts, fears, grievances, beliefs, and certainties he labors under. “What did he do, really? For what can he be held responsible? Not for the law, not for that. He went only where he was invited. He took just what money was offered. He gave nothing more than the benefit of his learning. He is a true servant of God. True servant of God. True servant of God.”

The novel is a searing commentary on religious extremism and cult behavior, the in-group/out-group mentality so common today, under the guise of inclusion and caring. It brings to life the reality of how a cult develops and expands, the frailty of the human will and the yearning we all have to belong, to be included, to be admired and to hide our weaknesses.


“We all like to have a lark or three, but no one actually wishes to see a woman hung…Or do they? It is a curious thing in human nature - even in such weighty matters as death and life, most seem to find themselves concurring with whoever spoke last.”

There was some unnecessary foreshadowing early on, and couple of too-easy coincidences to move the plot along, but definitely recommended.


Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to review the ARC via Netgalley

A Witchfinder General, determined to root out witches, accuses and terrifies women in 1640s England.