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Mary Sharratt



I am so honored to announce that author Mary Sharratt will guest on my upcoming blogtalk radio show on Sunday, 4/25, from 2:00pm - 4:00pm (MST).  Mary's new book is entitled

Daughters of the Witching Hill, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, released on April 7, 2010.

 

Daughters of the Witching Hill brings history to life in a vivid and wrenching account of a family sustained by love as they try to survive the hysteria of a witch-hunt.


Bess Southerns, an impoverished widow living in Pendle Forest, is haunted by visions and gains a reputation as a cunning woman. Drawing on the Catholic folk magic of her youth, Bess heals the sick and foretells the future. As she ages, she instructs her granddaughter, Alizon, in her craft, as well as her best friend, who ultimately turns to dark magic.


When a peddler suffers a stroke after exchanging harsh words with Alizon, a local magistrate, eager to make his name as a witch finder, plays neighbors and family members against one another until suspicion and paranoia reach frenzied heights.

 

Sharratt interweaves well-researched historical details of the 1612 Pendle witch-hunt with a beautifully imagined story of strong women, family, and betrayal. Daughters of Witching Hill is a powerful novel of intrigue and revelation.

 




This novel also earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly as well as Library Journal.

 





Other novels have been written about the Pendle Witches but none told so convincingly from the accused witch’s point of view. Sharratt interweaves well-researched historical details with a beautifully imagined story of strong women, family love, and betrayal. 
 
“Reading Thomas Potts’s account of the 1612 witch trials, I was so amazed by these women whose strength of character blazed forth in the very document written to condemn them,” says Sharratt. “In my novel, I yearned to give Bess and Alizon what their world denied them—their own voice.”

 

An American writer who has lived in the Pendle region of Lancashire, England for the past seven years, Mary Sharratt’s inspiration for DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL arose directly from the wild, brooding landscape: the Pendle witches’ story unfolded almost literally in her backyard. 

 

“Gorgeously imagined . . . . Sharratt crafts her complex yet credible account by seamlessly blending historical fact, modern psychology, and vivid evocations of the daily life of the poor whose only hope of empowerment lay in the black arts.”

--Publisher’s Weekly, Starred Review

 

“An extremely well-written, highly detailed story . . . . This book should be on every modern witch’s bookshelf.”

--Bronwyn Forbes, Pagan Book Reviews

 

You can read more about Mary and her books and get your own copy of her book at: http://marysharratt.com

 

And you can watch a video about Mary and her book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBQMzRkeTiI

 

Please plan on joining Coffee with Oly on 4/25 and talk with Mary Sharratt!  It promises to be an interesting show!!!

 

You can be part of the show by using either link below:

 

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Olympias

 

http://www.tarotbyolympias.com/

 

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