Salem's Back in Town

Hi there to all of my readers!!

I just wanted to let everyone know about a cool new book I read. For those of you that love witches and would like an interesting viewpoint on the Salem Witch Trials this is the book for you!

Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials by Stephanie Hemphill 2010

I have always been entranced with the Salem Witch Trials so I am so glad that I found this terrific book! This story written in verse is based on the epic historical event that took place in Salem, Massachusetts throughout the year of 1692. Wicked Girls is very engaging and brings a stunning reality to the actual girls that accused many people of being witches in Salem during the 1600’s. This is a fictional account of what it might have been like for the girls that started the vicious lies and rumors about their friends and neighbors. The historical information on this subject is very easy to find in any history book or in the Salem museum. However, Hemphill gives a more personal look at how a handful of Puritan girls took hold of a town and used this fortune to their own advantage. The main girls in the book are Ann Putnam Jr. age 12, Mercy Lewis a servant girl age 17, Margaret Walcott age 17, Abigail Williams age 12, Elizabeth Hubbard age 17, and Susannah Sheldon age 18. Betty Parris age 8 was actually the first girl to experience what she called witches pinching and hitting her from inside an invisible world. Betty’s parents sent her away and that may have been when Abigail and Ann Jr. cooked up a plan to continue their wicked game. As they continued to cry witch, Mercy, Margaret, Elizabeth, and Susannah joined them as well. I found this book to be a truly amazing account of how that year in 1692 unfolded for the town of Salem. This book also gives the reader insight on how difficult it must have been to live in the rural area of Salem and how strict and narrow minded the Puritan townspeople really were.

Happy Reading to you all!

Mrs. Librarian Lady