Set in the late 1600s, Mary's grandmother is burned at the stake for witchcraft. Mary is disguised as a pilgrim and smuggled away to America with a ship full of Puritans. She tries to fit in and to hide her belief in "the craft". Sailors soon begin to whisper about a "witch" being on board. Even when they arrive in America things don't go well for Mary and her friends. A great story of fear and prejudice and how superstition can run amok.

Ein historisches Jugendbuch in Tagebuchform, das mit nur minimalsten übersinnlichen Elementen auskommt - ein hoher Spannungsbogen trotz detailreicher Beschreibung der Auswanderung in die Neue Welt, die im 17. Jahrhundert natürlich noch eine lange und schwierige Schifffahrt beinhaltet. Zu einem großen Teil liegt das neben dem flüssigen Schreibstil an der Thematik: die von religiösen Fanatikern betriebene Hexenjagd, der die Menschen zu Opfer fallen, die durch ihre Kräuterkunde eigentlich der Gemeinschaft am stärksten helfen.

An interesting account of history for young and older readers alike, who aren't that familiar with that time period. While it takes a look at the way people thought back than (which is a terrible mind set for todays standarts) it also has more than enough likable characters to relate to.
I don't get why witch hunt books always have to imply that maybe something supernatural is really going on, but this one was really light on that aspect to a point that you could almost ignore it.
A lot of interesting stuff happens, but maybe this book is missing something to make it more memorable. Anyway, it was an easy and fast read and I really enjoyed it.

Having loved Pirates! by Celia Rees, when I read it years ago, I was excited to pick up Witch Child. While reading, I actually realised that I haven't read many (if any at all) historical fiction books set around the witch hunts and 17th century in North America, so the setting and realistic portrayal of these times was what I liked most. I also liked the idea of playing with the diary form to make it look as if we were really reading scribbles of a young girl living back then.

However, I also felt like the story was a bit too simplictic and I wish it was a bit more developed. It definitely felt like it ended too soon and I was left with some unanswered questions, but it looks like there's a sequel to this story, so that might explain it. The writing style was great, so I only wish that the author could've expanded the story a bit more.

This review and more published on The Young Girl Who Loved Books.

This book is filled with all of my favorite things. Those are magic, conflict, witches, and historical fiction. A book about the witch trials sounds quite good to me! I picked this up on a whim one day at my favorite bookstore. It was on the three dollar shelf. It is worth so much more than that to me. It was a beautiful book.

The books start out in a beautiful way, ‘I am Mary. I am a witch.’ Quickly we realize that this book is about a nifty teenage girl in 1659. This is during the time that people are quite superstitious.

Tragedy hits when her grandmother is arrested, tortured, abused, and then hanged in the town square. She has been accused of being a witch. They went on a hunt and unfortunately their narrowmindedness has cost her life. They did a series of "tests" that were supposed to prove if she was a witch. Mary witnessed that. When that happened, she realized she had to flee to safety, before the town turned on her also.

Ultimately Mary gets rescued by an unusual, rich woman. She believes this woman is hiding something. She believes the detail she is hiding is that she is Mary's mother. They are Puritan how are fleeing to the new world. Will they find out who she is? Will she be discovered and killed?

This was a captivating and utterly beautiful story. It was addictive and quite a page turner. The story is told in a series of journal or diary entries that have been sewed into a quilt. I enjoyed this detail. It gave the reader a sense of urgency, a sense of fear, and a sense of what the character might have felt. This is a super tragic story that ends in a powerful way. The history just seemed to ooze off of every page.

Mary, herself, was an interesting character. She was robust and determined. She had a spirit that was all her own. She has been forced to be brave. She had emotions that were raw; she was intense at times. She was your typical teenager. She was very realistic which made it all that more believable.

All the other characters were very well rounded and real. The story had quite a small cast of characters which made it easy to understand. There was the Reverend Johnson, which is a puritan who seems to believe that he is a prophet of God. Martha, who is the woman who takes Mary and saved her. Also Jaybird, the Native American boy who became one of her only friends. There were more, but I wanted to highlight some of the main ones.

I had an issue with the pace of this story. I felt like sometimes it left things unclear, or quickly passed over them. What type of magic did they have? Why did the Puritans believe people were witches? What made them believe Grandmother was a witch?

Overall, this book was a well-written story that possesses diverse characters, beautiful writing, and a mind blowing intense plot. A book that is determined to cause an addiction.

Mary doesn’t know her parents, she has lived her life with her grandmother. But in 1659 a witchfinder comes to her village and her grandmother is found guilty of witchcraft, by virtue of the fact that she floats in water, and killed. Mary might be next, but she is rescued by a mysterious, rich, well-dressed woman, and sent across the ocean in the company of some Puritans.

Full review: http://www.susanhatedliterature.net/2006/07/18/witch-child/

An enjoyable quick read. My main problem is it was all build up for the second book which I don’t particularly want to read. Characters were a bit forgettable, but overall interesting read.