Witch's Trinity Book

I bought this book at a consignment shop for a dollar because I thought both the cover and title were intriguing.

AND...it was okay.

The story takes place in sixteenth century rural Germany at a time when Christianity is slowly replacing, or rather merging with, pagan traditions.

The story is told by Gude, an aging widow, who is probably suffering from something like Alzheimers further complicated by inadequate nutrition. As such Gude's narrative is completely rational and lucid at one moment and downright ridiculous at the next. Okay, I get it...she's suffering from some age related disease. The problem is as the reader you must determine what is "really" happening and what is only happening in Gude's mind. It just didn't work for me as I felt it was distancing and a barrier to connecting with the main character.

The plot, which revolves around a "witch" hunt is solid, though I felt it moved a little too slowly in the beginning. This is partly because of the long passages describing Gude's hallucinations, which did little to move the story forward. To the contrary, they dragged it down.

I also felt the characters were stiff and somewhat contrived, rough sketches of characters with very little depth or substance rather than fully flushed out characters that come alive throughout the course of the story. As a reader who values strong, vivid characters this was a huge bummer for me.

However, Mailman does deliver on the ending, which invites the reader to reflect on the fine line between superstition and religion...if one even exists. It certainly plays out the witch hunt theme to its fullest potential, offering both a tragic injustice right alongside a warped sort of cosmic justice.

Oh, and I love the word "rutting," a term for sex. I thought the sexual practices of the village (like the entire town watching as a newly married couple consummated the marriage) were quite interesting and I am curious to know if Mailman based her descriptions of these socio-cultural tidbits on factual texts or simply made them up.

I'm not sure I would recommend this book unless, like me, you enjoy historical fiction and happen to come across it for a dollar.

However, if witch hunts are your thing and you don't mind the weaknesses I've mentioned, this might be a book for you.