Witch child (novel)
Hexenkind (original title: Witch Child ) is the first book by the British author Celia Rees . It was published in 2003. The novel tells the story of the girl Mary Newbury in 17th century England, whose grandmother was convicted of being a witch . Mary later emigrates to America, but her past catches up with her.
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The story takes place in 1659 and is about the life story and diary entries of the young woman Mary Newbury. The thirteen year old lives happily with her grandmother in a small village in England. But the villagers accuse their grandmother of witchcraft. She is tortured and sentenced as a witch . Mary is questioned again and again. Eventually the grandmother is executed and the girl is left alone and helpless.
Mary is brought to safety by an unknown mysterious woman who claims to be a friend of the grandmother's. Mary suspects that it is her mother. The woman drops them off at a port. The girl is said to be sailing to America with a group of Puritan emigrants. On the ship she meets the healer Martha and stays with her. She also befriends the boy Jack.
In America there is supposed to be a village of other Puritans and Mary goes there with Martha and the others to settle there. At first no one seems to care about her past, but gradually accusations that she is a witch also accumulate there. In Martha and the young Rebekah Rivers and her family, Mary finds true friends who help her escape when Mary is publicly accused of being a witch. This is how Mary's journey begins, her new life, the struggle for freedom and to ensure that others do not decide who or what she has to be.
Web link
- Witch Child (English)