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5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark, Creepy, Fantastic!, May 1 2009
The year is 1691. Orphaned and alone after her parents die of a mysterious illness, Lois Barclay finds herself sailing from England to America to live with her mother's brother. It was her mother's dying wish that Lois search him out and find a home there as there was no home for her in England. It is thus she finds herself alone in a new country and orphaned, on the steps of her uncle's house. (liners are steam ships, not invented until the mid 1800s - she can't have been on one)
Problems begin almost at once however. Lois's uncle is bedridden and soon dies, leaving Lois under the protection of the stern eye of her aunt Grace Hickson, a God fearing woman who does not take too kindly to Lois and her oddities. England is a place of strange morals, thus Grace sees fit to keep a strong eye on her niece, lest she get into trouble.
It doesn't take long for trouble to find Lois, however. There are rumours of the Evil One, Satan causing mischief. These rumours are only doubled when the pastor's youngest daughter takes ill with convulsions and his Indian maid is named a witch by the child. Sentenced to hang for a crime she did not commit, the entire town greedily attends the execution of the Indian woman.
At the execution, Lois is named a witch by her cousin Prudence in revenge. (in revenge of what?) Once the words are out of Prudence's mouth, there is nothing Lois can do. She is to be tried as a witch, a devout of the evil one. There is nothing she can do but watch as the rumours spread around her, creating a fever, a want for bloodshed. Lois fears, all to rightly, that the bloodshed might be her own.
Written by Gaskell who was a contemporary and friend of Charles Dickens, "Lois the Witch" shows her devotion to the lower classes as well as her love for subjects concerning the supernatural. "Lois the Witch" reflects a favourite subject of Gaskell's, the Salem Witch Trials.
However, "Lois the Witch" is about more than just witches. Originally published in 1859, it is also about how rumours corrupt those around them. For, only after a rumour is spread of an evil servant pledging allegiance to the Evil One is there any talk of Witches. Gaskell shows that even the most god fearing, the most educated, can be tricked if we want ourselves to be.
Gaskell's focus on character is amazing. The volume is a slim one, just under ninety pages long and after reading it I found myself liking Lois, though she is decidedly naive. I found myself surrounded by the Hickson family every time I opened the book. Gaskell shows with deftness how lies can ruin a family and a town.
This book, though little, has power. It was written with a skilled hand adept at portraying what beats beneath our fears, beneath our dreams and wants. It also talks of human suffering, pain, love and death. Though short, "Lois the Witch" is a beautiful Victorian novel, worth savouring for a few more hundred years
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