Sunwise

Author/Guide: Helen Steadman

Why a Booktrail?

1600s: The sequel to Widdershins

ISBN: 978-1911293255
Genre: Folklore, Gothic, Historical

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What you need to know before your trail

When Jane’s lover, Tom, returns from the navy to find her unhappily married to his betrayer, Jane is caught in an impossible situation. Still reeling from the loss of her mother at the hands of the witch-finder John Sharpe, Jane has no choice but to continue her dangerous work as a healer while keeping her young daughter safe. But, as Tom searches for a way for him and Jane to be together, the witch-finder is still at large. Filled with vengeance, John will stop at nothing in his quest to rid England of the scourge of witchcraft. Inspired by true events, Sunwise tells the story of one woman’s struggle for survival in a hostile and superstitious world.

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Travel Guide

Travel to Newcastle and Berwick for a BookTrail of Witches

Travel to the literary locations of Sunwise with Helen Steadman – Authorsonlocation

With the events of Widdershins in the background (read this first for maximum effect), the Witch hunter has travelled up the coast in order to find more witches in Berwick.

Berwick is an old town, gothic in style, with a castle and cobbled streets. In the present day, you can definately get a sense of the struggles of the past. This was a bastion for travelers and warriors of all kinds with wars between royal houses and kingdoms ever present.

But the war here is that against women and those suspected of witchcraft. John Sharpe is keen to find the witches in plain sight in Berwick but keeps prostitutes visiting him in the Inn where he stays.

Berwick is portrayed as a small town, not very worldly and not at the centre of the evil that Sharpe claims has ruined Newcastle. But he is there to change that…