The Child Witch

Two sisters. One village desperate for a witch. A truth no record will ever keep.

East Anglia, 1645.

Civil war has left the villages cold, hungry, and afraid. When a farmer's cow falls sick after a quarrel with a poor widow, suspicion spreads quickly. Someone must be blamed. Someone must be named.

Twelve-year-old Sukey Fenner and her little sister Tavie know how to read a room. They know who is frightened, who is hiding shame, who wants another body to carry the blame. When travelling witch-finder Ephraim Dade discovers their usefulness, he feeds them, clothes them, and teaches them how to hunt witches.

Soon the sisters are being carried from parish to parish as child witnesses, their words turning women into witches. Each accusation gives the village relief. But Tavie is young. She repeats what she hears. She has nightmares plagued with fear. And when her testimony begins to threaten the very men who have used her to condemn innocent women, the same people who once called her blessed decide she may have been corrupted . . .

How far will Sukey go to save her sister, or will she be given no choice except to only save herself?

For fans of Alias Grace, The Essex Serpent, and The Mercies, The Child Witch is a dark, literary historical novel about female testimony, poverty, power, and the terrible machinery of accusation.