Celia Ree's Witch Child is an amazing story and also a true story. This book is written based on a diary found in the 1600s about a girl named Mary and her Journey trying to hide who she is. I found this book to be an amazing book to read since it is a story of a girl that actually lived a long time ago.In Witch Child a lot of similar history and events are written, and history is always useful to learn from our ancestors mistakes and as a lesson, for example at some point in the story Mary and the rest of the passengers arrive to an different continent where Indians,or as they called them 'savages', where living there already and guided them to a safe place and helped them get food and other survival needs, but even so the new comers at that time thought of them as the devils or Satan's workers and rejected them. This is a great example of how people shouldn't just make assumptions because of how someone looks or if their ways are different then theirs.The characters in this book are well described and since its a true story, while reading I saw imagined them of how they might of looked based on the words in the book. My two favorite characters where JayBird and Mary.Jaybird along with his tribe where peaceful and even though they lived with less as the white people who just arrived, they helped with what they could and where very humble. Sometimes people with less are more generous. Mary is the main character, the girl who's journal this book is about, and I like the way she thought, because even though it was the 1600s and people back then believed in the edge of the world and in how the forest was the devil's place, she still had an open mind, a little like now people do in the 21 Century. "I was brought up deep in the woods and I do not fear the forest as the others do"- page 129.Th setting of this book is so much different than what we are used to now and know now, in the 1600s people had different beliefs and their ways where different than now, for example how they thought it was the devil's work if someone got sick or it rained with lightening. People back then thought differently because they didn't know why all that stuff happened, but even so, as I was reading Witch Child, I started to think of how they would of thought as the events continued.Mary is a girl from England that fled because she and her family are witches as they called them back then. She crossed the ocean to America with several other people she met in the way and became close with some of this people, but as they arrive to a place to live and people get to live in the same place, people start talking about how there is a witch among them and she has to do her best to hide her true nature.I was amazed with Mary's story because this is an actual journal of a girl that lived centuries ago and to be able to read something from back then that someone actually lived is amazing, also Celia Rees, the author, standardized a few words for the modern reader, and it is a very well written book that everyone could read.
I am Mary. I am a witch. This is the beginning of Mary Newbury journal in 1659. After watching the witch trial of her grandmother, Mary escapes the prejudice of England and sets sail for America. She joins unlikely companions, the puritans. We are aware that this is a dangerous decision, yet what other choice is there? Is she really a witch? Did she really live? These questions are for you to find out as you read her journal.This story reads very much like a journal would. There is not a lot of description of the drama. She cuts to the point quickly. I wish there had been a little more suspense to the story. And just when the story was getting good, it ends. There is a sequel to the book and I will definitely read it. This story made me think about what my life would have been like if I was born at this time. Would I have been considered a witch? Let's see1. I am a nurse. I know healing powers and therefore have the power to kill (this came from the book)2. I am opinionated. Not exactly a great point for women back then.3. I read and write. It is not natural for a women to be educated. We should all be pious.4. I love to dance. Didn't you know that we only dance when the devil has taken over our bodies.5. I know how to swim. I would have failed the witch trial for sure. Well, they did tie your hands and feet together so I may have had a more difficult time swimming.6. I don't like other people telling me what to do.7. I like to wear pants, go out at night, wear bright clothes.8. My husband loves the indians.I am sure I would have been burned or hung as a witch. What a fascinating time period. These people lived in such fear and superstition and yet superstition was seen as a tool of the devil. Very confusing. I would like to rate it between a 3 and a 4.
What do You think about Witch Child (2002)?
The North American witch hunts of the 1600’s was a tumultuous and horrifying time in our history, particularly for women who were unable to conform to the norms of society.Witch Child is a diary of sorts that starts out with Mary, recounting the horrific and humiliating witch trial that her beloved old grandmother had to endure before her public execution in England. It follows Mary as she makes her journey to the New World where she realized that things are not much different than they were in England.This is not your typical “Salem witch trial”-esque novel. ( I was a bit worried it would be just another retelling of The Crucible or The Witch Of Blackbird Pond )Sure it keeps in the interesting historical facts but it adds a new twist. Here is why Witch Child is original and captivating:Our protagonist, Mary, is a not only a terrified puritan girl wanting to avoid being accused of witchcraft. But, she is, in fact, a witch. Well, really more like a modern-day Pagan or Wiccan. But, still, considered a full-blown witch by their standards.The other thing that makes this book stand out from its contemporaries is that Rees has created a artful parallel between two cultures and thus a compelling statement about how laws, and opinions are highly influenced by society. In the woods near the city of Beulah, where Mary is living, there is a Native American people who strongly revere shamanism and second sight in their people. In stark contrast to their puritan neighbors who (as we all know) are sending many a young woman to the gallows for the same thing.I found this new spin on an old favorite topic compelling and engrossing despite the fact that some of the sub characters were a little flat and boring.If I had to choose just one word to describe Witch Child it would be Enchanting.Recommended for anyone who loves witch lore, Early American historical fiction, and/or Native American culture.4 stars from me.
—Lyndz
Initial reaction: 4.5. Damn close to a 5, actually. I may bump it up. Here is a teaser from my review:Witch Child takes the form of a diary written by Mary Nuttal (claiming to be Mary Newbury). After her grandmother is killed for supposedly being a witch, Mary is sent to America to assume a new identity and sever all ties with her past, ties which may get her killed. She takes up with a colony of Puritans traveling to the New World, and soon finds a place among them. But she also finds herself the center of jealousies and scandals that will raise the question of witchcraft again, making her safety in the new world as questionable as it was in the old.I was caught up in this story from the very beginning. Setting aside the "convenient" aspects of the story (the fact that the dialogue is fairly modern, which is explained away, and the fact that she always just happens to have access to her diary and recalls events w/ complete clarity, etc), Mary's voice was always engaging, and she was completely relatable and her story is captivating. She is an admirable girl, raised to be strong and self-reliant, which is a dangerous thing to be as an English woman in the mid 1600s. She is smart and self-assured, a great role model for modern girls, but because independent women were seen as a threat, she lives in fear of the day that her world will crumble and the people around her turn on her.This really brought home to me what freaks me out about humans...The rest (if you are dying to know what freaks me out about humans) can be found here on the blogness...
—Misty
"First they walked her, marching her up and down, up and down between them for a day and a night until she could no longer hobble, her feet all bloody and swollen. But she would not confess. So they set about to prove she was a witch…"When young Mary Newbury’s grandmother is accused and hanged for being a witch Mary disguises herself as a Puritan girl set to America. Challenges find her around every turn. She reaches America after a long voyage and finds herself in a new settlement along with the others from the ship. She is constantly hiding her past, afraid of being accused of witchcraft. But strange happenings find her, including seeing the future and past. She passes herself without trouble until strange things happen within the village. She finds herself blamed by the Reverend Johnson and under strong suspicion of witchcraft. It’s obvious that a group of imprudent girls within the village are responsible for the strange occurrences, but the village seems set upon blaming Mary. Throughout her ventures Mary keeps a journal, which she hides in the inside of a quilt. These journal entries- which have been recently found- have been turned into this amazing book.
—Syd Roh-the
