ABOUT WIDDERSHINS
‘Did all women have something of the witch about them?’
Jane Chandler is an apprentice healer. From childhood, she and her mother have used herbs to cure the sick. But Jane will soon learn that her sheltered life in a small village is not safe from the troubles of the wider world.
From his father’s beatings to his uncle’s raging sermons, John Sharpe is beset by bad fortune. Fighting through personal tragedy, he finds his purpose: to become a witch-finder and save innocents from the scourge of witchcraft. Inspired by true events, Widdershins tells the story of the women who were persecuted and the men who condemned them.
REVIEW
If I am honest, I’ve generally shied away from tales of witch-hunting and witch trials. I was fascinated by magic and potions as a child, but then studying The Crucible at school just highlighted that so many of these poor ‘witches’ were nothing more than wise-women (or men), well-versed in country remedies, using them for good when they could, who had had the misfortune of not managing to save somebody’s life, or crossing somebody far more powerful in the local community. It was with some trepidation then, that I began reading Widdershins by Helen Steadman.
At first, everything is idyllic. John escapes the cruelty of his abusive father, and Jane spends her time learning the meaning of herbs from her midwife mother Anne, and local wise-woman Meg, whilst gently but beautifully falling in love with the handsome Tom. It’s a wonderfully evocative account of country life in the mid-1600s, with tales of the herbs used to help people, and the way the pagan and Christian lives essentially worked together, mostly, without problems.
Jane’s life carries on in this manner for the majority of the book, although she does experience loss and hardship, at which my heart jolted, after getting to know her and her mild ways. For John though, I felt my sympathies melting away as he turned from orphan to monster.
As the story progressed, it was with a sense of compelled-dread in parts, that I found myself turning the pages, partly wanting to turn away, fearful of what might happen when these two characters’ paths ultimately crossed, but partly really needing to know how it would play out. The final scenes are full of suspense, keeping you utterly enthralled at the chilling courtroom scenes in Newcastle, based on actual events, as the author describes at the end of the book.
This a stunning novel, and beautifully-written. I can highly recommend it to any readers after a well-crafted historical fiction novel, as well as anybody interested in the fascinating horror of the witch-trial.
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