The Manningtree Witches by A.K. Blakemore

It is a visceral, thrilling book that announces a bold new talent. The Manningtree Witches plunges its readers into the fever and menace of the English witch trials, where suspicion, mistrust and betrayal ran amok as the power of men went unchecked and the integrity of women went undefended. When a child falls ill with a fever and starts to rave about covens and pacts, the questions take on a bladed edge. But then newcomer Matthew Hopkins, a mysterious, pious figure dressed from head to toe in black, takes over The Thorn Inn and begins to ask questions about the women of the margins. Blakemore makes the past breathe, and allows it, with dazzling candour, to speak hotly to the complicated reality of our own moment.' Rebecca Tams, author of WITCH. Rebecca West, daughter of the formidable Beldam West, fatherless and husbandless, chafes against the drudgery of her days, livened only by her infatuation with the clerk John Edes. 'Dark, original, unsettling, and crackling with fierce and visceral life, The Manningtree Witches heralds the birth of an utterly vital new voice in fiction. Blakemore is a poet, and readers given to underlining may find their pencils worn down to stubs.

At the margins of this diminished community are those who are barely tolerated by the affluent villagers - the old, the poor, the unmarried, the sharp-tongued. A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Book of the Year 'The Manningtree Witches ventures into dark places, to be sure, but it carries a jewelled dagger.

In Manningtree, depleted of men since the wars began, the women are left to their own devices. Puritanical fervour has gripped the nation, and the hot terror of damnation burns black in every shadow. Parliament is battling the King the war between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers rages. Blakemore's debut novel set in 1640s Manningtree (North Essex) which recounts the story of Matthew Hopkins, self styled Witchfinder General and the subjects/ victims of his witch hunts, subsequent trials and hangings.

The Manningtree Witches by A.K. Blakemore