Essex, 1643, the English civil war rumbles on in the background but at the coastal town of Manningtree it is the effect of growing Puritan power that threatens at a local level.
If the religious doctrine is of God’s goodness, how to explain bad fortune? – a child dies in infancy, a hen stops laying, a cow runs dry, a ship is lost at sea. Clearly the work of the devil and his handmaidens, who must be found among the single, the widowed, the unprotected women of the community. Women like young Rebecca West, nineteen or so, attractive and still not wed; like her widowed mother, Anne; and like the old crone, Mother Clarke, whom they keep an eye on.
There arrives in town one Matthew Hopkins, Cambridge graduate, devout Puritan, and on a mission to root out witchcraft. It is not long before neighbour disputes crystallise into accusations of curses laid and evil eyes cast, which Hopkins is all too ready to take up as evidence of devilment. Not that evidence is necessary – false witness, forced confession, and revealed bodily imperfections are enough to be detained and sent for trial.
Rebecca is one of those seized, incarcerated, and interrogated by Hopkins. She narrates most of the story in language and prose that richly describes events, characters, the Essex landscape, and then Colchester gaol. Possibly a bit too rich for one of her class and education; but get past that and enjoy the writing.
How will it end for
Rebecca? Hopkins would like her to confess so he can ‘save her’ – maybe for
himself. So that’s one option for Rebecca, though barely more palatable than
the noose. That narrative hook, as well as the quality of writing keeps the
reader engaged to the last.
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