The Manningtree Witches: 'the best historical novel... since Wolf Hall'

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Many of the buildings in the centre of the town have Georgian facades which obscure their earlier origins. Notable buildings include Manningtree Library, which was originally built as 'a public hall for the purposes of corn exchange' and was later used around 1900 for public entertainment, [7] and the Methodist church located on South Street, completed in 1807. [8] Clearly, physical abnormalities were still only tentative evidence of witchcraft at the time, because what Hopkins did next was to set the tone for the persecution and murder of hundreds of women over much of the Western world. Hopkins devised a method of interrogation (“witch-finding”) that was designed to extract confessions of devil-worship from his hapless victims. He termed it “watching”. It was a specific process of coercion for a confession rather than medieval-style torture, which was not admissible as evidence.

Without any legal representation, the women were arrested, interrogated and kept prisoner in the cells of Colchester Castle before being tried at the Assize courts in Chelmsford. Fifteen of them were executed in Chelmsford, but the four named above were brought to Manningtree to be hung here on the village green before a gathered crowd.This beautifully written historical novel won the Desmond Elliott Prize and explores the witch trials of 17th century East Anglia with a humane grace. Sandra Newman said it was ‘not just the best debut novel I’ve read in years, it’s the best historical novel I’ve read since Wolf Hall ’. This was a book I have been wanting to read since my friends in the Mookse group tipped it for some of last year's prize lists - it also won the Desmond Elliott Prize for first novels. It is not Blakemore's first book, because she was already a published poet.

How would you describe the other key characters of the community? What are their relationships to each other, and how do these help to drive the story?If you love beautifully written historical fiction, I’d definitely recommend giving this one a read. Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch,’ historical fiction about Kepler’s mother, is Galchen’s first novel since 2008’s ‘Atmospheric Disturbances.’ The author conveys brilliantly the tensions, petty jealousies, long-held resentments and class/gender biases of the town which of course form the soil in which the accusations and insinuations of witchcraft can be planted and allowed to flourish. Inspired by David Copperfield, Kingsolver crafts a 21st-century coming-of-age story set in America’s hard-pressed rural South. Manningtree is part of the electoral ward called Manningtree, Mistley, Little Bentley and Tendring. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 4,603. [10] Geography [ edit ] River Stour near Manningtree

I loved the concept, the characters were so detailed and put together and the history of the novel felt well researched. The afterword was really eye opening. HOWEVER, this was really difficult to read for me, I wanted to love it but just couldn’t get going most days with it. The poetic language was too distracting and made for a slow pace in the narrative that often felt disjointed. It is 1643, the time of the English Civil War. In the town of Manningtree in Essex, men are scarce as the young and fit are off fighting. Rebecca West and her widowed mother are among the women who live on the margins of society, looked down on by the respectable matrons of the town for the crimes of being poor and husbandless. But when Matthew Hopkins arrives in town bringing his Puritanical ideas regarding witches, suddenly these women are seen as a threat – the cause of any ill which may befall one of the town’s worthy residents. And when Matthew Hopkins decides to style himself Witchfinder, the women find themselves in danger…

In a culture that prioritized the spirit over the flesh, witch-hunting manuals were obsessed with the body of the witch. Catholic and Protestants alike examined witches’ physical aspects as if by speculum. Manningtree,Mistrey, Little Bentley and Tendring ward population 2011". Archived from the original on 26 September 2015 . Retrieved 25 September 2015. There is one long, narrow road that runs alongside the riverbank, from the little port of Manningtree...to old St. Mary's Church in Mistley...". People living a marginal existence occupy "a few dozen houses...in various states of disrepair...all moldy thatch and tide-marked...away from the river...rolling hills and fields where the true wealth of Essex [lives]...cows...full of milk...herds mill about neat little manor houses of the yeomen and petty gentry...". The year was 1643. Manningtree had been depleted of men since the English Civil War began. "For most in Manningtree the loss of a healthy steer or a good milker ranks among the greater calamities. The loss of a child, especially a girl child is a more miner misfortune." AK Blakemore is also a poet, and The Manningtree Witches has been praised for its “poetic” writing style. As has caught me before, I’d completed my review on the Kindle pop-up, then went to post it, and it popped down, never to be seen again. WITCH!

Never before had so many innocent women been executed for the crime of witchcraft, a crime that they – or at least, most – did not commit. The entrenched misogeny of the 17th Century, particulalry in Puritan culture, played a lead part in these women’s murders. Sister Perpetué is not to move. She is not to fall asleep. She is to sit, keeping guard over the patient’s room. She has heard the stories of his hunger, which defy belief: that he has eaten all manner of creatures and objects. A child even, if the rumours are to be believed. But it is hard to believe that this slender, frail man is the one they once called The Great Tarare, The Glutton of Lyon.

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You can watch an interview with AK Blakemore about the book here on the SavidgeReads YouTube channel . I often had head lice as a child. Outbreaks circulated around my primary school on a seasonal basis.’