The Heretic's Daughter - Kathleen Kent

The Heretics Daughter by Kathleen Kent is the account of the life of Sarah Carrier which charts her personal and family history before, during and after the Salem witch trials of 1690-1692. She has written her memories down as a woman of 71 to pass onto her granddaughter so that her mothers story will not be forgotten and so that, once and for all, she can unburden herself of the guilt she has carried around since childhood in the role she played in the execution of her mother Martha Carrier who was found guilty of witchcraft. I have always found accounts of witchcraft trials to be fascinating and have read a lot about the Scottish witch trials and gawped at ...  Read the complete review

This book was an unusual one for me to read as it's not the type of book I would normally have chosen, however I am a member of the Amazon Vine programme and when I seen this book on the monthly newsletter and read the good reviews about it, I decided to give it a try. It was free after all! The Heretic's Daughter is based in the time of the Salem Witch trials and the book is written from the point of view of a young girl named Sarah Carrier. At the start of the book we meet her as she is travelling from Billerica to stay with her Grandmother in Andover. Shortly after arriving however, Smallpox breaks out and Sarah and her baby sister Hannah are sent off to ...  Read the complete review

I love historical fiction and pounced on this book when it arrived through my door. I should state my favourite play is without a doubt The Crucible, and it is a text I am very familiar with. Given both works deal with the same subject it is impossible not to draw comparisons. I thought the second half of the book was very strong, and gave a lot of detail about life after the trial that I had not previously encountered. However famous names from The Crucible were liberally dropped into the text, and it did give the book a feeling of a historical version of Heat magazine in places. The book is well researched, and I appreciate the limitations of writing a fictional novel ...  Read the complete review