The Manningtree Witches

How it reads

The Manningtree Witches is historical fiction (historical witch-trial fiction, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in a small town setting, in the historical past, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are faith, power and politics and justice. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. At 320 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.