Synopsis
Paisley, Scotland, 1697. Thirty-five people accused of witchcraft. Seven condemned to death. Six strangled and burned at the stake. All accused by eleven-year-old Christian Shaw.
Bargarran House, 1722. Christian Shaw returns home, spending every waking hour perfecting the thread bleaching process that will revive her family’s fortune. If only she can make it white enough, perhaps her past sins will be purified too.
But dark forces are at work. As the twenty-fifth anniversary of the witch burnings approaches, ravens circle Bargarran House, their wild cries stirring memories and triggering visions.
As Christian’s mind begins to unravel, her states of delusion threaten the safety of all those who cross her path. In the end she must make a terrible choice: her mind or her soul? Poverty and madness, or a devil’s bargain for the bleaching process that will make her the most successful businesswoman Paisley has ever seen?
Her fate hangs by a thread. Which will she choose?
An eerie tale of lies, deception and the supernatural from award-winning author Victoria Williamson.
My Review
In 1697, 11 year old Christian accused 35 people of witchcraft. Fast forward to 1722 ad Christin has returned home to help the family thread business. Christian has never been able to escape what happened and now with the 25th anniversary of the witch burnings approaching there are forces at work that won’t let Christian forget what happened.
What drew me to this book was that the subject revolved around witchcraft. Initially it took me a while to get into the book and the story because I was trying to work out who all the characters were and how they were connected. But the more I read the characters and story started to fall into place. I would describe the storyline as historical fiction with a supernatural twist. It did remind me of The Crucible by Arthur Miller.
The storyline switches between the past and the present. In the past we meet an 11 year old Christian who is growing up and slowly turning into a young lady. In the present we are introduced to an older Christian who is now widowed and has returned to live with her family so that she can help with the family thread business but also to reinstate the family name after the events that happened when she was 11. What we learn very early on is that it is suggested that Christian is a victim of witchcraft and was instrumental in naming those that were involved. So I was very interested to see what happened to Christian and how she became involved in what happened. What was interesting was that the first person that Christian accused of being a witch is someone who was working for her family and also someone who learnt a secret about her that she was trying to hide from her family. As we learn the secret isn’t a bad one and is just a sign that she’s growing up. Words are exchanged and then Christian becomes very ill and the suggestion is that she’s been cursed by a witch. Christian could have become unwell due to an illness but immediately the conclusion jumped to was that it she was under a witch’s curse.
As the story progresses it is clear that Christian’s experience as a child has never left her. In fact it has haunted her every day and because of her secret which she associates with the colour red, every time she sees that colour she’s pulled back to the past. It is clear that what happened has had a massive impact on Christian’s mental health and this starts to deteriorate significantly because she starts to hear and see things that only she can see.
This was definitely a haunting read with an ending that took me by surprise. I was intrigued to learn that Christian was a real person and found myself looking into the events of what happened to learn more.
A haunting read.
Author Bio
Victoria Williamson is an award-winning author who grew up in Scotland surrounded by hills, books, and an historical farm estate which inspired many of her early adventure stories and spooky tales. After studying Physics at the University of Glasgow, she set out on her own real-life adventures, which included teaching maths and science in Cameroon, training teachers in Malawi, teaching English in China and working with children with additional support needs in the UK. Victoria currently works part time writing KS2 books for the education company Twinkl and spends the rest of her time writing novels, and visiting schools, libraries and literary festivals to give author talks and run creative writing workshops.
Victoria’s previous novels include The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind, Hag Storm, and War of the Wind. She has won the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2020/2021, The YA-aldi Glasgow Secondary School Libraries Book Award 2023, and has been shortlisted for the Week Junior Book Awards 2023, The Leeds Book Awards 2023, the Red Book Award 2023, the James Reckitt Hull Book Awards 2021, The Trinity School Book Awards 2021, and longlisted for the ABA South Coast Book Awards 2023, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2020, and the Branford Boase Award 2019.
Her latest novel, The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams, is a middle grade fantasy inspired by classic folklore. Twenty percent of the author royalties for this book are donated to CharCharLiteracy, an organisation working to improve children’s literacy levels in Malawi.
You can find out more about Victoria’s books, school visits and free resources for schools on her website: www.strangelymagical.com
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