Why a Booktrail?
1589: How far would you go to save yourself when the truth can’t set you free?
Burnt Offerings
What you need to know before your trail
Besse Craw is a young mother whose husband has mysteriously vanished. And in a time when women were powerless, she is accused of witchcraft, abused by her employer, and destined to lose her daughter, her freedom and her life.
Set during the infamous North Berwick Witch Trials, that saw many persecuted, tortured and killed, Besse uncovers long-held secrets as she fights for justice and truth in a world of suspicion and lies.
Locations
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North Berwick, Edinburgh and the Lothians
A retelling of the North Berwick witch trials
“We were mothers. Sisters. Grandmothers. Until we were witches…They did not care what they did to us, as long as we confessed to what they thought we were. Broken legs. Broken fingers. Our limbs did not matter to them. They were no longer our own. We were no longer human. Before, we were alive. We lived. We breathed. Now, we were the forgotten. The bearer of bastards. The wicked. The damned. The Devil’s handmaids.”
The North Berwick witch trials began as the King of the time, King James VI of Scotland was on his way to Denmark to collect his new bride when he was involved in a dangerous storm. The weather was so bad, the ship had to turn back. The King believed this to be a sign, a sign of witchery and dark deeds and so began the slaughter of any women suspected of witchcraft or anyone suspected of, as he saw it, any ‘dark deeds’.
This was a brutal time – with hundreds of people put on trial, brutally tortured and executed.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Burnt Offerings
Destination: North Berwick, Edinburgh and the Lothians Author/Guide: Danielle Devlin Departure Time: 1589
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