Heretics Daughter [Paperback]

 

 

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I wondered if I would even like reading a book about the topic of the Salem Witch Trials but did so on the recommendation of my daughter.
I read it in one day and found that I could hardly put the book down. At the beginning it took a bit for me to get into it but once into it I really enjoyed the read.

The book was educational regarding the Salem Witch Trials. I had honestly thought that people in Salem had been burnt at the stake,they openly professed to worship Satan and called themselves witches.

I was all wrong and knew very little.

It is an extremely well written book and I loved how the author wrote it from the perspective of 9 year old Sarah.

I was amazed to hear the stories of that time period and the hardships that people had to go through just trying to survive. I guess reading so many hardships made it more meaningful to me on how difficult of a time period in our history it was for families to survive.

Not that you can compare this time period to the Holocaust but it definately has many overlaps regarding how some powerful people can place fear amoung the people, take over so much control and kill so many innocent people.
Control to choose who will be classified as a witch and hung and who will survive this terrible time period. This story is not just about the adults that were hung and imprisioned but also about the young children imprisioned in horricfic conditions.

Take time to read this unforgettable book and educate yourself so hopefully nothing like this will ever happen again.
How many times have we said this in history?
Too many!
It is up to us to make a difference!

Sharon.

Never has a book given me so many strong emotions as this one. It's amazing how mass hysteria can produce such irrational, mind baffling ideas that make the impossible become reality. I just couldn't believe they could get away with accusing these innocent people (even children) with the most ridiculous charges. I could actually feel myself get angry at such injustices. Especially towards Sarah and her mother. It made me want to go in there and give everybody a good slap and wake up call. Nevertheless, I thought the book was a good read. A book that stirs such emotions is definitely worth a read. There was a point in the book (the trial part) where it literally made my blood boil and I had to set it down a couple of times, to me, that just means the book was good. Really good.

The characters in the book were very well written. I loved the relationship between Sarah and her mother. Although strained, and even cold, it's a lot like the mother-daughter relationships today. When Sarah comes to terms with her mother, it's sad and quite possibly filled with regrets but it changes Sarah from a naive young girl to a mature one, who now sees the world in a very different way. I also thought her relationship with her father was interesting as well and it's an eye opener when she realizes that her parents are loving and caring even if they don't display it openly. I really did like reading this through Sarah's point of view. It's amazing and I really enjoyed her character development. I also liked Martha (Sarah's mother) as well. She was so strong willed and strong minded, she was an extremely admirable woman and her actions while in jail were extremely brave.

This book also got me to hate certain characters far more than usual. Mercy and her little sidekick Phoebe were absolutely hateful and are just as bad as present day bullies at school. Mercy really got to me though, if it wasn't for her, Sarah's life might have been different. Argh. Horrible hateful Mercy!

The only real complaint I have is the 'red book' mentioned. It is given to Sarah yet the contents within the book were never revealed. That was a bit of a disappointment for me, I was curious and wanting to know what secrets it might have, and to have it never discussed made the ending lacking. Also, the focus on Sarah's moments in prison were a little too long winded and dragged for a bit. It could have been slightly shorter.

Pick this book up and be ready for the emotional ride. The book is well written and generates a lot of feeling from the reader. Don't expect any happy feelings from this one though. It covers tragic events and is an eye opener on how mass hysteria can run amok, and how easily people (even family) can turn against one another.

Kathleen Kent's offering, The Heretic's Daughter, is a stunning debut novel ' truly one of the best I've ever read. Hewn from her own family history and intensive research, Kent shares the life of her grandmother nine generations back ' Martha Carrier ' who was hanged for witchcraft during the trials of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. While not falling within the generally prescribed boundaries of traditional Christian genres, this beautiful work of historical fiction is a must-read for all believers ' if only to prevent similar atrocities from taking place in the name of Christ again.

Written from the perspective of Martha's daughter Sarah, readers are immediately immersed in a bleak, harsh landscape. Living under the shadow of smallpox, threat of attacks from surrounding natives, and the oppressive leadership of religious zealots in most towns, 11-year-old Sarah's life offers little in the way of warmth or comfort. Born into a stoic, and mysteriously set-apart family, the trails of Sarah's childhood will soon pale in comparison to the terrible impact the Salem witch-trials will leave in its wake.

Deftly drawing together the strands of historical detail, coming-of-age story, and rich, spell-binding prose, The Heretic's Daughter is both unforgettable and heart-breaking.

'We rose each day to put on steaming, dirty clothes, we chewed out flattened bread and moistened it with water so that it would not catch in our gullets, we wiped the sweat and chased the flies, and ate our soup at noontide, and pounded our fraying implements against post and stump, shredded our meat for supper, and laid ourselves down again at evening-tide to wrestle against our dreams and our fetid sheets.'

Though an exceptionally long sentence, this excerpt somehow encapsulates the struggle that the Carrier family faced. The bleakness of their situation more apparent as Martha stood by her conviction to maintain her innocence even as she was confronted with threats of death. Both lyrical and haunting Kent's prose would be unbearably dark without the hope of family solidarity and the slow unfolding of understanding that maturity brings in relation to one's parents.

Believers may be concerned with how Christians are presented in this work. Kent correctly portrays a harsh, religious spirit of judgment, condemnation, manipulation, and fear, as the travesty that it is. However, she balances this portrait with characters who express God's loving-kindness through their words and acts; those who preach grace and mercy, those who pray with and minister to the falsely accused, those who work to discredit the trials and eventually result in their closure.

The Heretic's Daughter is not a happy, feel-good novel, but it is a necessary one. In my life as a former witch I was terribly misinformed as to the nature, motivation, and victims of the crimes committed in Salem. After my rebirth as a Christian, I hadn't taken the time to re-examine the history surrounding that town's blighted past. I am deeply thankful for Kent's balanced, accurate, and oh ' so deeply moving, sharing of her family's history with us.

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5.0 out of 5 stars LOVED it!
I loved it! the historical accounts were great. Hard to believe this kind of horror actually happened, not to mention the insanity of the masses.... Read more

Published on May 6 2010 by lafleurpetite

5.0 out of 5 stars Family history brought to life...
I just turned the last page.... Wow.... What a really, really good book!

The Heretic's Daughter is a novel of the Salem Witch Trials. Read more

Published on Nov 3 2008 by Luanne Ollivier

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