Németh Melinda (JO4VQM)
Book review
BA, 3rd year, part-time
Celia Rees, Witch Child
T
his is an amazing story about the preludes of The Salem Witch Trials of 1692, which
was the best-known witch craft trial in the history.
The Salem Witch Trials started in the house of Reverend Samuel Parris, when his daughter
Betty Parris, and his niece, Abigail Williams started to behave strangely. They screamed,
threw things in the room, uttered strange sounds and contorted themselves into peculiar
positions. They also complained of being pinched and pricked with pins. These girls and
some others before starting their strange behaviour were spending many times together and
were practising voodoo in the company of Parris’ black servant, Tituba. They tried to make
magic in order to get more information about their future husband. These young girls often
spent long hours in the wood and were dancing necked around a fire.
The Salem Witch Trials started in a puritan community who lived according to strict rules and
believed in the Devil and in the devil’s servants, who were the witches. That’s why they were
easy target for the witch craft hysteria.
The book titled Witch Child is connected to this historical background, but these
events took place many years earlier, in 1659.
This is a diary, which tells the story from Mary’s point of a view. She started her diary with
an interesting statement: “I am Mary. I am a witch.”
Mary lived with her grandmother, who was accused of being a witch and was hanged
for committed this crime, so Mary had to escape. A rich lady helped her with money, food
and clothes, and sent her to the ship, which sailed to the New World.
The Great Migration lasted from 1629 to 1640 and during this time many thousands of
English people went to New England because of political, religious and economic problems.
They wanted to find there a religious freedom. They were the Puritans.
On the spring of 1659, another group of Puritans left England and there was the 14-year-old
Mary on the board, too. In order to escape she joined to this Puritan group. After a long cruise
they arrived in a settlement near Salem, called Beulah. Mary lived with Martha, Jonah and
Tobias and she spent a lot of time in the forest helping Jonah, where she met and befriended
Jaybird, an Indian who taught her about the land. The Puritans didn’t like the Indians, they
were enemies. The Puritans believed the Indians are the Satan’s helper. Mary behaved in a
strange way, she didn’t live her life in a common way, and in addition she had an Indian
friend which made the Puritans suspicious her. Soon they made responsible Mary for all the
bad things occurred around them.
As signs of witchcraft were found in the forest the Puritan members of the small
community accused Mary of being a witch. So Mary left the puritan town and went to the
forest where Jaybird and his grandfather helped her with shelter. This is the end of the book.
This is a very interesting book. It is really enjoyable to read a story from Mary’s point
of view who said, she was a witch.