The Puritans were jerks! That's my takeaway.

Witch Child follows a teenager named Mary who travels to the New World with a shipload of Puritans after her grandmother is hanged as a witch.

It's all fun and games (not really, but she finds friends and a place for herself) until the same hysteria over suspected witchcraft starts up in the settlement; Mary is an easy target.

Rees is apparently a prolific YA author, but I don't think I've read any of her work before. Witch Child is a decent book, although I had trouble with the diary format -- it didn't work for me at all. It seems forced. After reading an entry, written by Mary, describing Mary looking at herself in the mirror, reflecting upon her own appearance, I gave up on trying to suspend disbelief.

That said, I liked the story, and I liked the non-Puritan characters, and it was a quick enough read that I didn't get too irritated about the format. I'll probably read the sequel, just to see what happens.

I originally started this book when I was 10 or 11, and it's stayed with me. I don't recall finishing it, and reading it now as an adult, I'm pretty sure I can guess why.

In short: it's kind of dull. Nothing really happens.

It's advertised as a paranormal historical fiction, but the paranormal is very, very mild and could simply be explained away as young Mary being lost, depressed and wishing desperately to see her grandmother again. Much of the book involves her being stuck on a boat to America, then travelling through the woods to get to the new settlement. The ending is very rushed (though her long diary entries would have you believing otherwise) and it ends incredibly abruptly.

There are so many things that could have been done differently. Firstly, Mary has been raised to believe her mother is dead, but then she appears the day of her grandmother's execution and shoves her on a boat to America. Why? Dunno. Never explained. She sure as hell doesn't know anyone on the boat, so this is probably worse than staying in the UK.

Then she is in America. Has made some friends. Travels to the new settlement. Meets a few Native Americans. Dresses as a boy. Gets accused of witchcraft.

The diary entry ends mid-sentence, which as a child I thought was so cool (I do recall skipping to the end, but not reading the book through), but it's very unfullfilling as an adult.

Simply put, I wish so much had been done differently. But, as a child, this really did cause my curiousity of the witchtrials to bloom.

I gave it five stars because I didn't think it could be any better until I was done reading it. Good book. I did not enjoy however the constant repeating of something mentioned like two pages earlier. If I wasn't a fast reader, I may not have noticed it, but it usually wasn't important, and I never forgot.

Honestly I gave up, this book is only 240 pages and I had tried reading it when I was 13 only to lose interesting what do you know 25 year old Daisy has done the same thing... Perhaps 37 year old me will be able to get through it...

audio
I really like this author. Her stories just really get to me. this as an audio was just perfect.

Absolutely amazing, truly compelling, took up every spare moment I had until I finished it

4/6
I liked Mary as our story teller. I do, however, feel a bit cheated at the end, I want to know what happened to Mary and Martha and everyone after they all fled. That’s when goodreads showed me that there is a sequel! I’ll be on the look out for it!