The small village of Manningtree is doing its best to survive and keep to itself during the tumultuous time of 1643. Most of the men are off fighting a war against Catholics and the women are left to find their way through life with the few men left. Rebecca and her mother, known as the Beldam West, live alone on the fringes of town, her father having died years ago. She keeps mostly to herself, with the exception of her friend Judith Moone and her teacher and love interest John Edes, and her mother spends time with her friends, the other older widows in town. One day a new arrival finds his way into town, Matthew Hopkins, and he will change everything.

When the Beldam scolds a young boy for being rude to her and accidentally causes him to fall and scrape his chin, the young boy’s mother comes to confront the Beldam along with her friends. This catches the attention of all the people who are out for the day, including Hopkins. When the boy comes down with a fever and begins to hallucinate, Hopkins is the first to insinuate that it is the work of the devil and that there are witches in the town who are helping his causes. When the young boy dies, it is the first event that leads to a full blown witch hunt. Rebecca finds herself caught up with the events and faces the consequences of paranoia and fear stoked by the ego of a man who sees evil everywhere.

I did not like this book. It is written in a way that is difficult to understand and inconsistent. Sometimes it’s written with an archaic tone to fit the time period, but other times it drops it completely. The rise in action was poorly done and made the book feel monotonous. I also couldn’t care about the characters, especially Rebecca. There was nothing about her that made me feel emotionally invested in her, so when her problems with Hopkins and the witchcraft accusations began, I didn’t have a strong reaction to the situation. In addition, the dreams and visions that Hopkins had were confusing and only functioned as a shocking addition rather than furthering the story.

The Manningtree Witches brings to life the history of a small English town set in the mid-seventeen century where there is the sudden upheaval of witch trials. In this small community that is mostly populated by women due to men joining war, Rebecca West finds herself and the women around her accused of being witches. The new man in town, Matthew Hopkins, self-proclaimed witch-hunter, leads the charge against these women. This rendering of the witch trials is charged with betrayal, first love, suspicion, and the desire for freedom at any cost.

A. K. Blakemore has accomplished writing both a lyrical and excellently researched novel that flies off the pages. The inclusion of the primary sources that were sprinkled throughout the novel were a nice addition and helps to remind the reader that this story is based on actual history.

If you love beautifully written historical fiction, I’d definitely recommend giving this one a read.

Thanks to Netgalley, Catapult, and the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my opinions!

4.5 actual stars

There have been several books recently on witch trials( with another one from author Chris Bohjolian soon to be released) and despite the fact that this is material has been covered before I was still anxious to read this, the synopsis of course was intriguing but this one had me really exited to read and I was thrilled when NetGalley approved me for it.

Set in England 1643, young Rebecca West, her mother and some of the town folk's women have come under the suspicion of being witches. Led by the imposing, dressed in black religious zealot Matthew Hopkins who is aptly named the Witchfinder General, Hopkins becomes a celebrity of sorts among small towns for snuffing out and ridding those who are purported to consort with the Devil. While Rebecca and the women defend themselves against the accusations and betrayals of their neighbors Rebecca becomes attracted to a young clerk, handsome John Edes who ultimately betrays her and while she knows that she must fight for her life to survive, she also must fight against the burgeoning sexual stirrings within her.

The atmosphere of the book was dark and chilling with the Witchfinder's relentless interrogations and his seemingly enjoyment of the persecutions he puts into play. Also what stands out for me about this book is that despite Rebecca's young age, her sensibilities of the situation at stake was deeply introspective and mature for one so young. Her awareness of Matthew Hopkins and his hypocritical pursuit of her and the other women accused was almost amusing to her because she knew he struggled with his own dark desires and sins. Her calm demeanor with everything going around her and the lives at stake I think led her to accept her fate but also do what she must do in order to survive. Rebecca's story was more than just a story of persecution but a deeply felt look into her soul and the reasoning of others involved in the witch hunts. Recommended.

Thank you to author A.K Blakemore and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own.

The Manningtree Witches is a historical novel based on true events during England's civil war. The author gives voice to everyday people who were accused (and mostly convicted) of being witches. I had always wondered who these people were and what made public opinion turn against them, and I think this novel does a great job of humanizing the people of Manningtree and calling out the everyday injustice towards women during that period.
I loved Rebecca's character arc. It was satisfying to watch this young polite woman take a few pages out of her mother's book and stand up for herself more and more, even if it did require unthinkable sacrifices. I will say that the ending seemed a bit too far out of reach for her character (at least for me), but it was still good to see that some people got what was coming to them.
Although I enjoyed the story, I did think that the language was a bit hard to grasp. It did provide a sense of ambiance and setting, but it also made it a slow read. I had to constantly reread passages or look words up to get a general sense of what was going on.
All in all, I would call this book a solid 3.5-4.
Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Book Review for The Manningtree Witches by A.K. Blakemore
Full review for this title will be posted at: @fyebooks on Instagram!

The Manningtree Witches by A.K. Blakemore
Publication Date: March 4, 2021
Genre: Literary Fiction

In the village of Manningtree in 1643, Matthew Hopkins, a witchfinder, has arrived. His arrival has brought accusations and finger pointing. Men are eager to explain away women’s behaviour and women are eager to throw members of their fellow gender under the bus to save their own skins. When a child falls ill and starts raving about witches, conflict ignites.

It is my understanding from reading the author’s note, the two main characters, Matthew Hopkins and Rebecca West are two historical figures associated with the English witch trials. I must admit my knowledge of English witch trials is limited so when I saw the description of this book I was intrigued.

It is obvious by the prose of the novel and use of vocabulary this author is extremely talented. English is my first language, I have an arts degree from university, so I would consider myself pretty fluent in the language. That being said, I’ve never had to use the dictionary function on my Kindle as much as I did while I read this book. For this reason, I found the actual narrative hard to follow. I like to relax with a book after a long day at work and this felt taxing to get through.

The circumstances in which the characters all find themselves were interesting. Particularly how women being unmarried or without a father, or assertive and not the required level of submissive, was reason enough to suspect them of witchcraft. However, not one character held any appeal for me and by the end I was intrigued to know how the village as a whole would move on from the ordeal but wasn’t particularly concerned with the fate of any specific character.

Thank you to #Netgalley and #Catapult for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I quite enjoyed the setting of this novel and found it spooky and hard to put dowbn. The writing is very lyrical, something I had not expected in a witch-hunting style novel, but it brought a vivid atmosphere to life. I did look into the author while reading this and can absolutely see her poetic roots in this book. I was delighted to see the sinister nature of people portrayed so well, and I appreciated the setup for that. I would recommend this to friends!
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Blakemore's prose submerges the reader in the Civil War period of England and the frenzy of witch-hunting led by Matthew Hopkins. Although historical fiction, Blakemore's writing focuses on the impoverished women of Manningtree in such a way that the reader lives and breathes their tragedies. This brilliantly-written novel demands a reading without allowing for interruption, unless that interruption involves another cup of tea or other sustenance.

A town full of women, a girl named Rebecca and the man, she admires, Thomas Edes are all thrown together when Matthew Hopkins comes to town. Matthew is the “witch finder” and he is on a mission. He does not approve of the “devilery” within Manningtree and he is on a crusade to get rid of witches. The writing is difficult to comprehend as it seems to be in Olde English. I was unable to follow the story in its entirety and found it grueling to just relax and read. Frustrating. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in return for an h9nest review.