The Heretics Daughter, Kathleen Kent
The Heretics Daughter, Kathleen Kent
2 Rating(s)
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The Heretic's Daughter
A Novel

Author: Kathleen Kent

Narrator: Mare Winningham

Unabridged: 10 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/03/2008


Synopsis

Salem, 1752. Sarah Carrier Chapman, weak with infirmity, writes a letter to her granddaughter that reveals the secret she has closely guarded for six decades: how she survived the Salem Witch Trials when her mother did not.

Sarah's story begins more than a year before the trials, when she and her family arrive in a New England community already gripped by superstition and fear. As they witness neighbor pitted against neighbor, friend against friend, the hysteria escalates -- until more than two hundred men, women, and children have been swept into prison. Among them is Sarah's mother, Martha Carrier. In an attempt to protect her children, Martha asks Sarah to commit an act of heresy -- a lie that will most surely condemn Martha even as it will save her daughter.

This is the story of Martha's courageous defiance and ultimate death, as told by the daughter who survived.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Gary on May 27, 2022

A compelling historic drama about one of the darkest chapter's in America's history-the Salem witch trials. Told through the eyes of Sarah Cartier, who as an intelligent and curious child finds her life turned into a nightmare when her mother Martha, a herbalist and healer is accused of of witchcraft......more

Goodreads review by Susan on February 13, 2009

"Hyssop for cough. Rosemary for fever. A sprig of mint to cleanse ill humors from the mouth. Slippery elm for the midwife. Horse chestnut for stiffness of limb. Golden bough for palsy. But what is the cure for rage? And what of the tortures of a guilty mind? A seeping wound can be bound. Salve ca......more

Goodreads review by Beth on November 22, 2008

When I was manning a booth for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America at the Mountain and Plains Independent Booksellers Association conference, I picked up an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) of this book that was published in September. I just finished it and I highly recommend it......more

Goodreads review by Tricia on August 26, 2008

This historically accurate story allows the reader to be immersed into the Carrier family's Puritan life in Massachusetts and the Salem Witch Trials. It is a hauntingly written tale and definitely made me angry, uncomfortable, and just plain sad. Kathleen Kent is a descendant of Martha Carrier, who......more

Goodreads review by Carey on November 01, 2008

" A needle is such a small, brittle thing. It is easily broken. It can hold but one fragile thread. But if the needle is sharp, it can pierce the coarsest cloth. Ply the needle in and out of a canvas and with a great length of thread one can make a sail to move a ship across the ocean. In such a way......more


Quotes

"The panic and horror of the Salem witch trials in Kent's novel is conveyed with dead-eyed calm and an occasional tremor of emotion by Mare Winningham.... Her melodiousness is pleasing to the ear.... At times, the melody overwhelms the meaning, but Winningham is more than capable as a reader, and her reading of Kent's sad tale f women accused and accusing emits a hit of deeply buried, untouchable tragedy."—Publishers Weekly

"Powerful descriptions of 9-year-old Sarah's time in prison are depicted well by the fear, anger, and repulsion Winningham projects into her reading. Author Kent, a tenth-generation descendent of Martha Carrier, who was hanged as a witch in 1692, has an accurate vision for time and place, equaled by Winningham's narration."—AudioFile