‘Set in the richly atmospheric surrounds of the author’s fenland home, the acclaimed Dawson’s historical latest draws on actual events to close the distance between the witch hunts of 16th century and our own era of conspiracy theories, flagrant abuses of power, and MeToo. Our narrator is thirty-something Martha, loyal and long-term servant of the wealthy Throckmorton family, who is among those present when an accusation of witchcraft is made against local wise-woman Alice Samuel.
But the Throckmorton household itself harbours dark secrets, and as events rapidly escalate, Martha finds herself agonisingly torn between sympathy for Alice’s plight and the desire to explain the ills that afflict the family’s children.
Novels about witches – or alternatively, women scapegoated, silenced and shunned – have flourished in recent years, but Dawson’s is a cut above and cumulative in its emotional heft, being also an empathic examination of internalised misogyny and shame. And while its uncompromising dénouement feels inevitable, a coda flares with reclaimed agency and even joy.’
– Stephanie Cross, The Daily Mail.
– Stephanie Cross, The Daily Mail.