Helpful Score: 3
This definetly reads like a "young adult" book but it doesn't talk to the reader. It's still better then those silly series books about high school girls trying to get dates that are usually geared toward younger readers.
Helpful Score: 3
Found myself not wanting this to end and wanting to know where Mary ends up. You really find yourself feeling how oppressive it would've been to be slightly different and trying to live among the puritanical.
Helpful Score: 2
During the witch hunts of the mid-1600s, many young Englishwomen died on the gallows, innocent victims of false or hysterical accusations of witchcraft. But what of those women who actually claimed the name "witch" as their own? In the pages of her secret journal, Mary Nuttall reveals what it is like to live in a climate of mistrust and piety in which differences are dangerous and rumors can kill, where she must hide her heritage as a healer and pagan. With a sure hand, she describes her beloved grandmother's trial and hanging as a witch, her own rescue by a mysterious noblewoman, and her eventual passage to the New World and the forest settlement of Beulah. There Mary falls under a curtain of suspicion when she willingly chooses to explore the dark woods shunned by the fearful colonists and makes friends with some of the spiritual native people. When several girls in the community begin to shriek and swoon, and the same minister who damned Mary's grandmother comes to search for signs of witchcraft, Mary is subjected to close and deadly scrutiny.
Helpful Score: 2
I enjoyed most of the book, but towards the end, it became bery reminiscent of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. I guess Rees figures that kids won't know Miller's works, and won't realize that she's almost plagerized another story.
Helpful Score: 1
Reviewed by Allison Fraclose for TeensReadToo.com
Although Mary never knew her parents, she lived happily in a cabin in the woods with her grandmother and pets. However, her grandmother was a healer, a trusted member of the community until only recently. Now, she's gone, and Mary is alone in the world, on the run from the witch hunters.
A mysterious benefactor comes to Mary's aid, telling her that she must set sail for the American colonies with a tight knit community of Puritans. Even though Mary must be careful to hide her true nature from their religious zealotry, she does manage to find a few kindred spirits among their numbers, mainly Martha, who also has a healer's hand; Jonah, an apothecary; and Rebekah, the daughter of a prominent Elder.
The journey is long, and Salem may not hold all the hope they'd wished for upon their arrival. When their band rejoins the others in their community who have gone before them, Mary finds herself an untrusted newcomer, and has to guard herself carefully from those who would not "suffer a witch to live."
But how can she hide her talents when they're essential to life in this strange new land? And why does a mysterious jackrabbit appear to be following her?
This story presents itself under the pretense that the pages of Mary's diary were found hidden inside the seams of a quilt, and a note is included that welcomes anyone with further information on those folks mentioned in the diary to contact the editor. This additional layer adds an interesting flair to the story, which, although fictitious, makes history come alive.
Although Mary never knew her parents, she lived happily in a cabin in the woods with her grandmother and pets. However, her grandmother was a healer, a trusted member of the community until only recently. Now, she's gone, and Mary is alone in the world, on the run from the witch hunters.
A mysterious benefactor comes to Mary's aid, telling her that she must set sail for the American colonies with a tight knit community of Puritans. Even though Mary must be careful to hide her true nature from their religious zealotry, she does manage to find a few kindred spirits among their numbers, mainly Martha, who also has a healer's hand; Jonah, an apothecary; and Rebekah, the daughter of a prominent Elder.
The journey is long, and Salem may not hold all the hope they'd wished for upon their arrival. When their band rejoins the others in their community who have gone before them, Mary finds herself an untrusted newcomer, and has to guard herself carefully from those who would not "suffer a witch to live."
But how can she hide her talents when they're essential to life in this strange new land? And why does a mysterious jackrabbit appear to be following her?
This story presents itself under the pretense that the pages of Mary's diary were found hidden inside the seams of a quilt, and a note is included that welcomes anyone with further information on those folks mentioned in the diary to contact the editor. This additional layer adds an interesting flair to the story, which, although fictitious, makes history come alive.