We can trust Puritan England to be spicy.
It is always odd for me to say I don’t read much historical fiction and admittedly, it took me 3 chapters of The Manningtree Witches to get into the swing of things. And I think this was the point where our titular character, Rebecca West, claps eyes on the attractive Master Edes… as well as the dark and mysterious man from Oxford, dressed all in black. I spy a 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓬𝓱 𝓯𝓲𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻.
The ye olde speak does get easier at the turning point early on in the story, where a young boy in the village gets humiliated by “Beldam West” – Rebecca’s mother – who we meet first as she lies unconscious smelling of the local alehouse. This is the catalyst for our witchfinder, Matthew Hopkins (ring a bell, history nerds?), to stick his nose in and stir up the usual paranoia and religious poison involved in accusing women of witchcraft. It is quite spectacular how many women are roped into the finger-pointing, but not unexpected. (Rebecca’s cat gets involved also)
Blakemore’s depiction of this time period is detailed and grounded in the mud and the smell of rural life. Most certainly you feel the rush of excitement when Matthew Hopkins comes onto the scene – “he’d be handsome if-, dark and with a grace that seems near-womanish… His apparel is as fine as one is likely to see in Manningtree, and bespeaks a restrained good taste: high boots polished to a gleam.” It’s a shame he is the big bad wolf in this story. Being a historic figure, he is fascinating to engage with in scenes with him and Rebecca – 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘥𝘺𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨.
It is an interesting story to follow and to come to the end of; definitely an ending that conjures the cool air of an open future. I can also promise a flicker of something pirate-y to look forward to…
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