Named a best historical novel of the year by
The New York Times Book Review
and “
reminiscent of both
The Scarlet Letter
and
Hamnet”
(Jezebel
),
The Witching Tide
is a powerful debut
inspired by the true events behind a deadly witch hunt in 17th-century England.
East Anglia, 1645. Martha Hallybread, a midwife, healer, and servant, has lived peacefully for more than four decades in her beloved seaside village of Cleftwater. Having lost her voice as a child, Martha has not spoken a word in years.
One autumn morning, a sinister newcomer appears in town. A “witchfinder,” Silas Makepeace has been blazing a trail of destruction along the coast, and his arrival in Cleftwater strikes fear into the heart of the community. Within a day, local women are being detained. Martha is enlisted to search the accused women for “devil’s marks,” and finds herself a silent witness to the hunt.
Martha is caught between suspicion and betrayal; between shielding herself or condemning the women of the village. In desperation, she revives a wax witching doll that belonged to her mother, in the hope that it will bring protection. But the doll’s true powers are unknowable, Martha harbors a terrible secret, and the gallows are looming...
Set over the course of a few weeks that forever changed history, and for readers of Hilary Mantel and Margaret Atwood,
“illuminates a dark historical period and cautions against its recreation” (
Kirkus Reviews
).