Witch Child by Celia Rees

It’s hard to believe, but many writers have taken one of the most fascinating periods of history–the Salem Witch Trials–and made it kinda dry and dusty. You know what I mean–books like Witch of Blackbird Pond or Witch’s Children. They always have an innocent girl at the center, accused of witchcraft, but she comes out okay because she really is a good, God-fearing gal, blah, blah, blah. What’s the fun and fear in that? Now Brit author Rees knows how to stir up the cauldron a little–her story is about a girl who’s a REAL witch, the last of her kind in a long line of pagans who follow the Old Religion and worship nature. Mary Nuttall helplessly watches her own grandmother hung as a witch before a beautiful and mysterious benefactor whisks her off to the New World with a batch of Puritans. There, Mary thinks she will be free to be her witchy self, but she finds these pilgrims are even more Puritanical that the ones she left behind in merry old England. Now, she’s gotta watch her back as all the town elders start shooting black looks her way just because she happens to knows how to read and heal the sick. Can Mary keep these pinch-faced Puritans in the dark? Or will her secret identity be revealed? Written in diary form, this is one witch story that will keep you riveted.