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Vaguely reminiscent of "The Crucible", this book is about Nell, a simple and happy child of nature. She is learning
the healing arts as well as a few helpful spells, from her grandmother. Her main adversary is the new preacher, who has deemed her work witchcraft, and his daughter, Grace.
Grace is caught in her folly when her secret trysts with the blacksmith''s son yield an unwanted pregnancy. She approaches the cunning woman, but Nell refuses to give her a potion which will abort the child because the child was concieved on May Morning, and is therefore sacred to nature. Grace retaliates, and a witch-hunt ensues as her and her sister, Patience, are discovered possessed with a "strange illness", and fits most unbecoming of minister''s daughters.
The minister takes his time, and eventually is able to trap Nell in her words and deeds, and gets enough of a conviction. On the day Nell is to hang, she is rescued by a mysterious boy she had brought back to life earlier. Who is the stranger? What will happen to the child, the sacred Merrybegot? Will Nature, the piskies, and the fairies look after the child? Can Nell save her grandmother and figure out who her mother was? What is her mysterious connection to the minister and his daughters?
This was a quick and easy read, and I would highly recommend it as a young adult or youth read.
Published: April 26, 2007
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