Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Manningtree Witches

If you liked The Crucible, I think you'll like this. It follows a fictionalised account of real occurances and characters during the 'Witch Craze' of the English Civil War, and has a very "classic" style of writing - which didn't work for me but I'm sure some people would love. You can definitely tell the author is a poet.

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rachelwierick's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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ashlyntalksbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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ellisblack's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Beautifully written reimagining of the plight of women subject to accusations of witchcraft in the 17th century. An overall somber and sometimes upsetting read, but with some humour thrown in too. Come for the story, stay for the effortlessly lyrical prose.

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aimsro's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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issyfrp99's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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savvylit's review against another edition

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dark informative sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

In this novel, Blakemore expertly explores the particular misogynist menace of the witch-hunt. This book is clearly thoroughly researched and based on an abundance of facts. The primary villain, Matthew Hopkins, is a fictionalized version of a real 17th-century witch-hunter with the same name. In the pages of this novel and in real life, many women were accused of witchcraft for purely arbitrary reasons. The only common denominator seems to have been that they were all poor or otherwise living on society's margins. What a dark and awful time in world history.

I readily admit that the subject of Manningtree Witches is fascinating. The execution of the story itself, however, left a bit to be desired. For a book about witches and Puritanical fervor, there is little... excitement. Instead, there is a lot of incredibly period-appropriate sad detail. While reading, I frequently found myself bored. After making it to the end, all I could think was "that's it?!" I wanted more characterization of the accused women beyond Rebecca, the protagonist. I also would have loved a little bit more paranormal activity.

Ultimately, I'm not upset to have read this book - which is very beautifully written. I'm just reminded of how historical fiction is not one of my favorite genres.

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rosalind's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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