Mary Sharratt: Daughters of the Witching Hill
978-0547069678 – Hardcover – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – $24.00
I really enjoyed reading this book and came to admire its author, not only for her writing skills, which are very good indeed, but because she was able to so deeply and movingly inhabit her characters in a place and time so foreign from our own. Mary Sharratt’s novel is transcendent in many ways. It centers around the years leading up to the 1612 Lancashire, England, witch trials that resulted in the executions of nine supposed witches. Mary Sharratt has brilliantly imagined her story, in which witchcraft is real, albeit not evil in the way the accusers made out. It’s much more complicated – in fact this witchcraft is the folk medicine and healing power of the local spirits of pre-Christian England. Never preachy, Sharratt gives us a countryside where politics and money separate people from one another, and crushing poverty is the lot of so many.
Widowed mother Bess Southerns supports her family and friends by healing the sick, telling fortunes, and blessing those facing misfortune, conjuring charmes that combine forbidden Catholic ritual, medicinal herbs, and guidance provided by her spirit-friend, Tibb. Bess is always careful, knowing the dangers her powers create for her but eventually everything unravels in a series of events that finally gets Bess, her family, friends and supporters into inevitable trouble with the law. Sharratt has crafted a beautiful historical novel that brings this era to life and gives its people she writes about a deep and complex life that many will find surprising. The conflicts between religions, as well as the conflicts between class are here, as well as mystery and suffering and beauty too. The book is set in the English countryside where the author, an American, currently lives. It’s clear to me that Mary Sharratt has allowed this place to inhabit her, as much as she it. She has put together a beautifully crafted story, full of complexity and compelling characters, and even knowing how the book must end, I was hooked from beginning to end.
As a reader I was transported there with her, and found her story uplifting, painful, and beautiful all at the same time. This is a wonderful book.
In my interview with Mary, we talked about her experience as an American living in the English countryside, and how she came to write this book. We talked about the story itself, her characters, their lives, the nature of English witchcraft of the 16th century, power and politics and the warp and weave of her excellent story.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Joann Davis: The Book of the Shepherd
978-0061732300 – Hardcover – HarperCollins – $19.99
The Book of the Shepherd: The Story of One Simple Prayer and How it Changed the World is a beautifully written parable that made me think of writers like Paulo Coelho and Kahlil Gibran. The conceit of the book is that the author finds a manuscript in a house in Vermont, and has it translated, thus this story. It’s a short book, and an easy read, but of course, because it is a parable, the book demands to be re-read and thought about deeply.
The story has no distinct place or time. Joshua is the shepherd who is troubled by the code of “an eye for an eye” that governs his world. He has a dream about “a new way” and sets off on a quest to find it.
Stone the builder who erects a house that falls on its occupants. Sever the hands of the criminal who pilfers livestock or grain or another’s garment. Whip the child who defies an elder. For such is the law and the law must be obeyed.
For generations, these ironclad rules had governed the people. Nobody questioned whether it was right to humiliate a child or execute a murderer. An eye for an eye was the way of the world.
But was there another way?
Joshua is accompanied by Elizabeth, a former slave who is kind and generous, and David, a boy who must learn to walk in new shoes. Joshua believes that “an age of miracles” will come when the new way is found.
As with any quest, there is adventure along the way. En route to a cave near the Great Inland Sea, the travelers meet a number of interesting and compelling characters, including the Storyteller, the Apothecary, the Blind Man, and the Stranger. Each passes on an important lesson as the travelers journey toward what we realize is their destiny. At the cave, Joshua must see if he can bring forth secrets long buried. But he, Elizabeth, and David will discover that what they have been searching for has been inside them all along. In the end, The Book of the Shepherd is compelling and meaningful, whatever your political, social or religious outlook or beliefs. It’s not heavy handed or preachy, and even for many secularists, will be well worth the investment of time to read.
Joann Davis is an experienced writer and former book editor. She is extremely articulate and passionate about her work, and was a pleasure to interview. We talked about her work as a writer, her own spirituality, and how The Book of the Shepherd can change people and the world for good.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download