Review
Sixteen out of nineteen BookBrowse readers gave Daughters of the Witching Hill
4 or 5 stars.
Here's what they had to say:
Daughters of the Witching Hill, a brooding, atmospheric novel set in England in the 1600's, tells the story of the hard scrabble life of Bess Southern, a "wise woman" who only uses her talents for healing to support her family. Her daughters and granddaughters inherit the talent but not the wisdom for using it (Priscilla M). Life is hard, begging for basic sustenance is the norm, and the wealthy have ultimate power over the people who are literally and figuratively beneath them. The Catholic Church is a main character in the story - as an underdog. The Reformation has taken place and the old trappings of the Catholic Church (Latin prayers, saints, rosaries, religious feast days and the Virgin Mary,...
Beyond the Book
Mary Sharratt explains how she became a "Daughter of the Witching Hill"
In bleak midwinter 2002, I moved to rural Lancashire, in northern England, an incongruous place for an American expat. The first months were so oppressively dark, I felt I was trapped inside some claustrophobic gothic novel. But then came spring in a tide of bluebells and hawthorn. The wild Pennine landscape cast its spell on me.
I live at the foot of Pendle Hill, famous throughout the world as the place where George Fox received his vision that moved him to found the Quaker...
