Witch Child by Celia Rees: Morgan Smerdell

Witch Child

In modern times, a colonial quilt is found. Woven into its threads are hidden pages of a 17th century diary belonging to a young girl named Mary. Witch Child is her story, in her own words written in her diary. 1

It starts with an admission and an account of a terrible event: Mary is a witch. Or rather: the grandchild of a witch who had just been horrendously tortured and hanged in front of Mary’s eyes. Rescued from the same fate by an anonymous benefactor, Mary is given free passage on a ship to Salem in the New World where she hopes to start anew. On the way there, she befriends a middle-aged woman named Martha as well as an apothecary and his son. Together, they form a household and as time pass, their hope to start a new, free life is thwarted by prejudice and the growing suspicion from their Puritan neighbors.

It was also interesting to read about Mary’s voyage to the New World and the details of the ship, the appalling cramped living conditions as well as the psychological outlook of the passengers and the eventual struggle for survival once they arrive.

What prompted me to pick this up was the connection with witch hunting. I thought that Witch Child was able to capture this well. Mary is an outsider to this new society in many ways: she is an orphan and not an official part of any immigrant family; she is a young woman with ideas of her own, with a desire to learn and extreme tolerance for not only different ideas and faiths but also for other peoples. She is immediately open to being friends with a couple of Native Americans.

Knowing the unfairness of her grandmother’s death and being a learned person possibly makes up for a different frame of mind than the majority of those around her. I appreciated the fact she remained religious to the end – although not following the same puritanical bend as the rest of the town.

Once certain events start taking place toward the end of the book, Witch Child reminded me a lot of the historical Salem Witch Hunt. It is hinted that Mary is in fact an actual witch, with healing powers and an ability to see into the future.

 Puritans were mostly characterized as strict, obsessed and intolerant to the point of villainy. There are two Native Americans that appear in the novel: one of them is a Wise Healer and the other one, the romantic interest who was brought up by White people and who speaks English perfectly. Although the portrayal of the Native American characters is undoubtedly a positive one, it is still fairly stereotypical and equally as harmful as a negative portrayal.

 There were definitely good things about it, especially when it came to its main character and I certainly enjoyed it to a point. But there is a sequel to this novel which I do not intend to read.