Why a Booktrail?
1645: There is power in silence
The Witching Tide
Why a Booktrail?
1645: There is power in silence
What you need to know before your trail
East Anglia, 1645. Martha Hallybread, a midwife, healer and servant, has lived for more than four decades in her beloved coastal village of Cleftwater. Everyone knows Martha, but no one has ever heard her speak.
One Autumn morning, the peaceful atmosphere of Cleftwater is shattered by a sinister arrival and Martha becomes a silent witness to a witch-hunt. As a trusted member of the community, she is enlisted to search the bodies of the accused women. But whilst Martha wants to help her friends, she also harbours a dark secret that could cost her own freedom. In desperation, she revives a wax witching doll that she inherited from her mother, in the hope that it will bring protection. But the doll’s true powers are unknowable, the tide is turning, and time is running out . . .
Locations
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Cleftwater, East Anglia
The village in the novel does not exist but the author says that it is a mix of the villages you see on the map above. The story is essentially true but some historical detail and place have of course bee changed for the novel’s purpose.
The history of Norwich (and East Anglia as a whole) is stained with the story of witchcraft. The area was the home of Matthew Hopkins, the self-appointed Witchfinder General, who terrorised the country between 1644 and 1647.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Witching Tide
Destination/location: East Anglia Author/guide: Margaret Meyer Departure Time: 1645
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