In 1645, Martha is a mute middle-aged serving woman who has worked for the Crozier family since her master Kit was a baby. She is also a midwife and healer, who at the beginning of the novel is called out to help with a difficult birth. She takes along the young housemaid, Prissy, who is learning to be a midwife.
The birth doesn’t go well. The baby is born with a deformed nose and mouth that wouldn’t allow him to live, and the mother is bleeding too much. The baby soon dies.
Martha and Prissy return to taking care of their own difficult mistress, Agnes, Kit’s upper-class wife, who is heavily pregnant. However, everyone soon hears that a witch master has come to their town, and Prissy is one of the first to be taken.
It is Martha who actually has a poppet, given to her by her mother. Martha doesn’t really know how to use it, but she feels she should have been taken instead of Prissy, as Prissy is of course being blamed for the deformed baby.
In his attempts to free Prissy, Kit arranges for Martha to be one of the women who examines the accused for witch marks, hoping Martha can help her. But marks are found on Prissy, and Martha can do nothing. Prissy is one of the first to be hanged.
Others have doubted whether Martha isn’t a witch herself, and Martha is torn between fear and guilt. Soon, many of the women are accused, along with the community’s innocent, naïve young minister.
This novel evokes a constant feeling of dread. In addition, it is unsparing in its descriptions of the conditions of the time. It is also fully aware of the underlying misogyny of the witch trials. I think it qualifies for RIPXIX!
What? Me Read? 