Lancashire England, late 1500's, a place of old Catholic mysticism, fairies and superstition. An aging Elizabeth rules, as does the Protestant faith and Catholics must worship in secret or face imprisonment or worse. Bess Southerns is a poor widow trying to eke out an honest living for herself and her children and one day she's *adopted* by an imp in the form of a dog and like *magic* she can heal the sick (both people and animals) by performing blessings. Eventually her great friend Anne, as well as her grandson Jamie and granddaughter Alizon gain imps/familiars and begin casting *spells* of their own, although Anne and Jamie eventually turn to the dark side in their desire to cause harm to those who wish ill of them. Years pass and James I gains the throne and he’s hell-bent on destroying the Catholic faith for good, as well as persecuting witches. Of course ambitious magistrates jump at the chance to prosecute any likely suspect to gain the king’s notice.Well that sounds for an interesting novel, especially as the book is based upon actual events and people, just Google Pendle Forest and witches and you'll find plenty of reading material and photos. My two cents? I loved the idea and at first I was gung ho getting into the book and looking up the places online and dreaming of a trip to Lancashire and seeing it for myself. Eventually though I ran into a quagmire - much of the book goes on and on and on (and on some more) detailing about Bess and Alizon's day to day life and interaction with their familiars as well as all those *clay pictures* (think voodoo dolls). I would have preferred to hear more about the arrests and trials themselves as well as Alice Nutter, the devout catholic who was caught up in the witch-hunt. I'm not a huge fan of the first person narrative used in this book (first Bess' POV and finishing up with Alizon), and I felt it hampered the story a bit in the latter part of the book when Alizon is sitting in prison and we can't see what's happening outside of those walls. At the end, I just didn’t pick up on the terror those accused must have felt, nor much of the mass hysteria there must have been among the townspeople. A list of character names and relationships would also have been helpful, especially as some are referred to with different names - either call Anne Anne or call her Chattox, but don't go switching back and forth - very distracting. In the end, the author just took too much time on blessings, dolls and familiars and not enough time on the trials themselves. This is a good book, it just not a great one. 3/5 stars.
