Reviews for The Heretic's Daughter

The average rating for The Heretic's Daughter based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-12-26 00:00:00 Ronald Retsch 5 " illuminating, tragic, intricate" stars !!! 7th Favorite Read of 2016 (tie) I am amazed that this is a first novel. The book is a very fine specimen of very fine historical fiction. Not only that but the author is a tenth generation descendant of this family from 1690s Massachusetts during the height of the Salem Witch Trials. The novel is from the perspective of Sarah Carrier, a ten year old girl, who experiences the difficulties and challenges of this historical period in New England. This author is such an amazing storyteller. She describes the landscapes, townscapes to a vivid degree, the minutiae of daily life,the complex sociology of the community to the interelationships and inner lives of the inhabitants. The conditions at the best of times are challenging but at the worst of times the author takes you into the suffering to such a degree that you start to panic and frantically want to skip pages or take long breaks from reading. Until reading this book I did not fully understand how these atrocities could occur at the hysterical rantings of a few teenage girls. The book unfolds in such a careful yet hypnotic fashion that not only are you a reader but you become a witness to the plight of not only the Carrier family but to the adult and child witches that were accused and convicted of such utter nonsense !! The writing is rich, intelligent and interesting: "And what finally of the tortures of a guilty soul? What concoction is there that can be chewed and swallowed and downed in the belly to force the poison of self-recrimination back through the the pores in the skin? In what organ of the body does it reside ? A seeping wound can be bound. Salve can be dabbed to a burn or a swelling bubo. Poison can be drawn with a leech, or a lance. But guilt is a ghost that takes the shape of the body it inhabits and consumes all that is tender within its shell: brain, bowels, and heart. I cannot pluck it out like a splinter of glass or treat it with herbal brew. " I am so excited to have discovered a new favorite author and very much want to read her other novels !! Thank you Ms. Kent for writing this book and I am sorry your ancestors suffered so !!

Review # 2 was written on 2011-04-20 00:00:00 Howell Clark . . . for where there are women, there are witches. In 1692, jealous relatives, some pissed off neighbors, and a disgruntled former employee united to accuse an entire family of witchcraft. Since it was the good old days of guilty until proven innocent, they were tossed into a literal dungeon to rot. Forget zombies, ghosts, and vampires . . . other people are the true monsters here. A scary, scary cautionary tale about the abuse of power, and the dangers of a theocracy. Let's not let this happen again, okay?