I loved this book, but some may not do, as the book itself "talks" to the reader at intervals throughout the book. These passages are quite clearly the book talking, but I can appreciate it may un-nerve some.
The main character, Jennet Stearne is a very strong willed girl/woman, who has a grasp of many things that are usually the province of men at the time. I think the bumph probably tells it better than me.
In the spring of 1688, Walter Stearne, Witchfinder-General for Mercia and East Anglia, roams the countryside in search of heretics. His daughter Jennet is left behind in the care of her Aunt Isobel, who schools her in the New Philosophy expounded by Isaac Newton. But her aunt's style of scientific enquiry soon attracts the attention of the witchfinders.
To save her aunt, Jennet travels to Cambridge to seek the help of Newton himself. On the way, she meets Dr. Barnaby Cavendish and his "Museum of Wondrous Prodigies" including the Bird-Child of Bath and the Sussex Rat Baby. Jennet's masterplan is ultimately doomed, but in Isobel's dying moments, Jennet agrees to devote her life to overturning the Parliamentary Witchcraft Act. It is a task that will lead her to picaresque adventures: to the witch trials of Salem; to capture by Algonquin Indians; to an affair with Benjamin Franklin; to a shipwreck; and to the great final showdown between old superstition and new science.
Jennet's father and brother are merciless in their witchfinding quest, but Jennet withstands all her trials. James Morrow weaves a spell binding tale. Apologies for the lousy pun. :)
Labels: historical fiction, James Morrow
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