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Carrier #2
The Heretics Daughter
Martha Carrier was hanged on August 19th, 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, unyielding in her refusal to admit to being a witch, going to her death rather than joining the ranks of men and women who confessed and were thereby spared execution. Like her mother, young Sarah Carrier is bright and wilful, openly challenging the small, brutal world in which they live. In this startling novel, she narrates the story of her early life in Andover, near Salem. Her father is a farmer, English in origin, quietly stoical but with a secret history. Her mother is a herbalist, tough but loving, and above all a good mother. Often at odds with each other, Sarah and her mother have a close but also cold relationship, yet it is clear that Martha understands her daughter like no other. When Martha is accused of witchcraft, and the whisperings in the community escalate, she makes her daughter promise not to stand up for her if the case is taken to court. As Sarah and her brothers are hauled into the prison themselves, the vicious cruelty of the trials is apparent, as the Carrier family, along with other innocents, are starved and deprived of any decency, battling their way through the hysteria with the sheer willpower their mother has taught them.
332 pages, Paperback
First published September 3, 2008
852 people are currently reading
34114 people want to read
About the author
Kathleen Kent
11 books816 followersKathleen Kent is a New York Times bestselling author and an Edgar Award Nominee for her contemporary crime trilogy, The Dime, The Burn and The Pledge. Ms. Kent is also the author of three award-winning historical novels, The Heretic’s Daughter, The Traitor’s Wife, and The Outcasts. Her newest novel, BLACK WOLF, an international spy thriller, was published February 2023 and has received glowing reviews in both the US and the UK. She has written short stories and essays for D Magazine, Texas Monthly and LitHub, and has been published in the crime anthology Dallas Noir. In March 2020 she was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters for her contribution to Texas literature.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 4,336 reviews
October 7, 2020
5 " illuminating, tragic, intricate" stars !!!
7th Favorite Read of 2016 (tie)
I am amazed that this is a first novel. The book is a very fine specimen of very fine historical fiction.
Not only that but the author is a tenth generation descendant of this family from 1690s Massachusetts during the height of the Salem Witch Trials.
The novel is from the perspective of Sarah Carrier, a ten year old girl, who experiences the difficulties and challenges of this historical period in New England. This author is such an amazing storyteller. She describes the landscapes, townscapes to a vivid degree, the minutiae of daily life,the complex sociology of the community to the interelationships and inner lives of the inhabitants.
The conditions at the best of times are challenging but at the worst of times the author takes you into the suffering to such a degree that you start to panic and frantically want to skip pages or take long breaks from reading.
Until reading this book I did not fully understand how these atrocities could occur at the hysterical rantings of a few teenage girls. The book unfolds in such a careful yet hypnotic fashion that not only are you a reader but you become a witness to the plight of not only the Carrier family but to the adult and child witches that were accused and convicted of such utter nonsense !!
The writing is rich, intelligent and interesting:
"And what finally of the tortures of a guilty soul? What concoction is there that can be chewed and swallowed and downed in the belly to force the poison of self-recrimination back through the the pores in the skin? In what organ of the body does it reside ? A seeping wound can be bound. Salve can be dabbed to a burn or a swelling bubo. Poison can be drawn with a leech, or a lance. But guilt is a ghost that takes the shape of the body it inhabits and consumes all that is tender within its shell: brain, bowels, and heart. I cannot pluck it out like a splinter of glass or treat it with herbal brew. "
I am so excited to have discovered a new favorite author and very much want to read her other novels !! Thank you Ms. Kent for writing this book and I am sorry your ancestors suffered so !!
7th Favorite Read of 2016 (tie)
I am amazed that this is a first novel. The book is a very fine specimen of very fine historical fiction.
Not only that but the author is a tenth generation descendant of this family from 1690s Massachusetts during the height of the Salem Witch Trials.
The novel is from the perspective of Sarah Carrier, a ten year old girl, who experiences the difficulties and challenges of this historical period in New England. This author is such an amazing storyteller. She describes the landscapes, townscapes to a vivid degree, the minutiae of daily life,the complex sociology of the community to the interelationships and inner lives of the inhabitants.
The conditions at the best of times are challenging but at the worst of times the author takes you into the suffering to such a degree that you start to panic and frantically want to skip pages or take long breaks from reading.
Until reading this book I did not fully understand how these atrocities could occur at the hysterical rantings of a few teenage girls. The book unfolds in such a careful yet hypnotic fashion that not only are you a reader but you become a witness to the plight of not only the Carrier family but to the adult and child witches that were accused and convicted of such utter nonsense !!
The writing is rich, intelligent and interesting:
"And what finally of the tortures of a guilty soul? What concoction is there that can be chewed and swallowed and downed in the belly to force the poison of self-recrimination back through the the pores in the skin? In what organ of the body does it reside ? A seeping wound can be bound. Salve can be dabbed to a burn or a swelling bubo. Poison can be drawn with a leech, or a lance. But guilt is a ghost that takes the shape of the body it inhabits and consumes all that is tender within its shell: brain, bowels, and heart. I cannot pluck it out like a splinter of glass or treat it with herbal brew. "
I am so excited to have discovered a new favorite author and very much want to read her other novels !! Thank you Ms. Kent for writing this book and I am sorry your ancestors suffered so !!
July 26, 2020
As God in heaven knows, changing a name cannot change the history of a place.
Nothing can change the history of Salem, Massachusetts, so the inhabitants have embraced it. They have built a memorial to the innocents who died there, they have made a kind of tourist industry of it, but the reality of what transpired stills the heart when truly contemplated.
...on that exact hour, a four-year-old girl, Dorcas Good, was examined by those judges in Salem Town jail. Her little feet and hands were bound by iron manacles so she could not send her spirit out and torment further the girls who were her accusers.
The reality of what happened to 20 innocent men and women in Salem, and to countless others who were not hanged, reads like a twisted fairytale; but of course, it is all too real and all too revealing of who we humans can be in our worst hours. Look around, closely, and see the blame game and hysteria of our own times.
Most of us are familiar with the events, and perhaps even with the details, but Kathleen Kent has put such a human face on Martha Carrier and her family that it all seems imbued with a fresh kind of horror and terror. What could you do in the face of such accusations? How long could you stand up for your innocence or that of your loved ones when sanity has taken a vacation and your mere denial places others in jeopardy? Who hasn’t uttered words that might be twisted and reshaped until they are swords in the hands of the unscrupulous fanatic?
Kent writes beautifully, with a sharpness and wisdom in her words:
A red wasp crawled across my hand and I froze lest he bury his stinger in my flesh. He was beautiful and frightful with his soulless black eyes and quivering barb and it came harshly to me that this garden was the world and from the world there would be no hiding.
The book is sprinkled with words I wished to remember and quotes I stopped to ponder:
Life is not what you have or what you can keep. It is what you can bear to lose.
Men are always the last to ken what women know by sniffing the air. That’s why God gave bodily might to Adam, to balance the inequities in strength.
The tension in this novel begins to build from the first page. The sense of foreboding is palpable. Sarah, our narrator, says The dread that had poured over me on the way to Samuel Preston’s farm returned to lick its way from my eyes to my neck. It congealed and tightened there like an insect caught in an amber necklace. That pretty much describes the way I felt throughout the book.
We know where it is going, we know it will not end well, we know reason did not win this battle, and yet I sat on the edge of my seat, hoping and wishing for another outcome. But, this is not a book about fantasy, this is a book about reality--in 1692 this was a world and an event that was all too real. Like The Crucible before it, it is about strength; strength of character, impossible endurance, maintaining who you are in the face of unspeakable injustice. It is a reminder that there are different ways to define victory, some victories are shallow and some are intangible and worth remembering for ages.
If I am ever able to make the trip to Massachusetts, I would like to stand before the memorial they have built there and say a prayer for the souls of the twenty, and for all the other lives that were touched and changed by what happened to them there. For now, I pray for us, that we will have more wisdom, judgment and compassion than our ancestors had.
Nothing can change the history of Salem, Massachusetts, so the inhabitants have embraced it. They have built a memorial to the innocents who died there, they have made a kind of tourist industry of it, but the reality of what transpired stills the heart when truly contemplated.
...on that exact hour, a four-year-old girl, Dorcas Good, was examined by those judges in Salem Town jail. Her little feet and hands were bound by iron manacles so she could not send her spirit out and torment further the girls who were her accusers.
The reality of what happened to 20 innocent men and women in Salem, and to countless others who were not hanged, reads like a twisted fairytale; but of course, it is all too real and all too revealing of who we humans can be in our worst hours. Look around, closely, and see the blame game and hysteria of our own times.
Most of us are familiar with the events, and perhaps even with the details, but Kathleen Kent has put such a human face on Martha Carrier and her family that it all seems imbued with a fresh kind of horror and terror. What could you do in the face of such accusations? How long could you stand up for your innocence or that of your loved ones when sanity has taken a vacation and your mere denial places others in jeopardy? Who hasn’t uttered words that might be twisted and reshaped until they are swords in the hands of the unscrupulous fanatic?
Kent writes beautifully, with a sharpness and wisdom in her words:
A red wasp crawled across my hand and I froze lest he bury his stinger in my flesh. He was beautiful and frightful with his soulless black eyes and quivering barb and it came harshly to me that this garden was the world and from the world there would be no hiding.
The book is sprinkled with words I wished to remember and quotes I stopped to ponder:
Life is not what you have or what you can keep. It is what you can bear to lose.
Men are always the last to ken what women know by sniffing the air. That’s why God gave bodily might to Adam, to balance the inequities in strength.
The tension in this novel begins to build from the first page. The sense of foreboding is palpable. Sarah, our narrator, says The dread that had poured over me on the way to Samuel Preston’s farm returned to lick its way from my eyes to my neck. It congealed and tightened there like an insect caught in an amber necklace. That pretty much describes the way I felt throughout the book.
We know where it is going, we know it will not end well, we know reason did not win this battle, and yet I sat on the edge of my seat, hoping and wishing for another outcome. But, this is not a book about fantasy, this is a book about reality--in 1692 this was a world and an event that was all too real. Like The Crucible before it, it is about strength; strength of character, impossible endurance, maintaining who you are in the face of unspeakable injustice. It is a reminder that there are different ways to define victory, some victories are shallow and some are intangible and worth remembering for ages.
If I am ever able to make the trip to Massachusetts, I would like to stand before the memorial they have built there and say a prayer for the souls of the twenty, and for all the other lives that were touched and changed by what happened to them there. For now, I pray for us, that we will have more wisdom, judgment and compassion than our ancestors had.
October 14, 2016
. . . for where there are women, there are witches.
In 1692, jealous relatives, some pissed off neighbors, and a disgruntled former employee united to accuse an entire family of witchcraft. Since it was the good old days of guilty until proven innocent, they were tossed into a literal dungeon to rot.
Forget zombies, ghosts, and vampires . . . other people are the true monsters here.
A scary, scary cautionary tale about the abuse of power, and the dangers of a theocracy.
Let's not let this happen again, okay?
In 1692, jealous relatives, some pissed off neighbors, and a disgruntled former employee united to accuse an entire family of witchcraft. Since it was the good old days of guilty until proven innocent, they were tossed into a literal dungeon to rot.
Forget zombies, ghosts, and vampires . . . other people are the true monsters here.
A scary, scary cautionary tale about the abuse of power, and the dangers of a theocracy.
Let's not let this happen again, okay?
May 27, 2022
A compelling historic drama about one of the darkest chapter's in America's history-the Salem witch trials.
Told through the eyes of Sarah Cartier, who as an intelligent and curious child finds her life turned into a nightmare when her mother Martha, a herbalist and healer is accused of of witchcraft. Her entire family is hounded, humiliated and and starved before being sent to a hellish prison.
A richly atmospheric novel of insane and cruel hysteria driven by cruel and malevolent preachers.
Told through the experiences of childhood, when the youngest children could be jailed and tortured for 'witchcraft' and where even pets are executed for being allegedly 'mediums'
This bigoted fanatical savagery is now taking place across the Islamic world. The parralels are disturbing.
Richly written , compelling and highly recommended.
Merged review:
A compelling historic drama about one of the darkest chapter's in America's history-the Salem witch trials.
Told through the eyes of Sarah Cartier, who as an intelligent and curious child , finds her life turned into a nightmare when her mother Martha, a herbalist and healer is accused of of witchcraft. Her entire family is hounded, humiliated and and starved before being sent to a hellish prison.
A richly atmospheric novel of insane and cruel hysteria driven by cruel and malevolent preachers.
Told through the experiences of childhood, when the youngest children could be jailed and tortured for 'witchcraft' and where even pets are executed for being allegedly 'mediums'
This bigoted fanatical savagery is now taking place across the Islamic world. The parallels are disturbing.
Richly written , compelling and highly recommended.
Told through the eyes of Sarah Cartier, who as an intelligent and curious child finds her life turned into a nightmare when her mother Martha, a herbalist and healer is accused of of witchcraft. Her entire family is hounded, humiliated and and starved before being sent to a hellish prison.
A richly atmospheric novel of insane and cruel hysteria driven by cruel and malevolent preachers.
Told through the experiences of childhood, when the youngest children could be jailed and tortured for 'witchcraft' and where even pets are executed for being allegedly 'mediums'
This bigoted fanatical savagery is now taking place across the Islamic world. The parralels are disturbing.
Richly written , compelling and highly recommended.
Merged review:
A compelling historic drama about one of the darkest chapter's in America's history-the Salem witch trials.
Told through the eyes of Sarah Cartier, who as an intelligent and curious child , finds her life turned into a nightmare when her mother Martha, a herbalist and healer is accused of of witchcraft. Her entire family is hounded, humiliated and and starved before being sent to a hellish prison.
A richly atmospheric novel of insane and cruel hysteria driven by cruel and malevolent preachers.
Told through the experiences of childhood, when the youngest children could be jailed and tortured for 'witchcraft' and where even pets are executed for being allegedly 'mediums'
This bigoted fanatical savagery is now taking place across the Islamic world. The parallels are disturbing.
Richly written , compelling and highly recommended.
December 7, 2008
I won this here at GOODREADS!
While it seemed slow in the beginning, boring even, it was just that very thing that made this book very powerful in it's representation of the events surrounding The Salem Witch Trials.
The first half of the book was a day-to-day in the life a 9 year old girl, Sarah Carrier of Andover, giving me a feel for life in 17th Century New England.
When the book gets to the accusations, the fear is palpable. As events spiral out of control, the novel sheds a light in the darkness that radiates outward from the trials.
This novel is not so much about the Trials themselves, although giving the fact of the trials, it's more about the family left behind while Sarah's mother was sent to prison and awaiting sentencing. And conditions in the prison where Sarah and her brothers are held once they are accused also were horrific.
The depair, and awfulness of it all, hit me like a ton of bricks. But the novel is not all doom and gloom as we see the family bonds and strength of character in our main characters.
A powerful novel.
While it seemed slow in the beginning, boring even, it was just that very thing that made this book very powerful in it's representation of the events surrounding The Salem Witch Trials.
The first half of the book was a day-to-day in the life a 9 year old girl, Sarah Carrier of Andover, giving me a feel for life in 17th Century New England.
When the book gets to the accusations, the fear is palpable. As events spiral out of control, the novel sheds a light in the darkness that radiates outward from the trials.
This novel is not so much about the Trials themselves, although giving the fact of the trials, it's more about the family left behind while Sarah's mother was sent to prison and awaiting sentencing. And conditions in the prison where Sarah and her brothers are held once they are accused also were horrific.
The depair, and awfulness of it all, hit me like a ton of bricks. But the novel is not all doom and gloom as we see the family bonds and strength of character in our main characters.
A powerful novel.
November 8, 2008
An outstanding first novel. Kathleen Kent is a direct descendant of Martha Carrier, the novel's heroine who was hanged in 1692 at the height of the Salem witch trials. Kent spent five years researching and writing this novel of her heritage, and the result is exceptional. The prose is solid and smooth, and the portrayal of late-17th century New England is rich with fascinating details of life in that era.
The story is told through the eyes of Martha's daughter Sarah Carrier, who is aged ten at the time of the events.
A large early portion of the book builds a background showing the many factors leading to the fear and hysteria surrounding the accusations. Life was hard and people were superstitious. They needed someone or something to blame for smallpox epidemics, fires, Indian raids, miscarriages, and crop failures. Long-standing animosity between neighbors and relatives led to vengeful naming of enemies as witches in order to save oneself from hanging.
This is a tragic part of our history in which children as young as four years of age were manacled and imprisoned for witchcraft. At the same time, it is a tribute to the strength and character of Martha Carrier, the only woman in the colonies to face down and challenge her accusers.
It's also a tribute to the gift of mother love, such that you may find yourself wiping the tears from your cheeks.
The story is told through the eyes of Martha's daughter Sarah Carrier, who is aged ten at the time of the events.
A large early portion of the book builds a background showing the many factors leading to the fear and hysteria surrounding the accusations. Life was hard and people were superstitious. They needed someone or something to blame for smallpox epidemics, fires, Indian raids, miscarriages, and crop failures. Long-standing animosity between neighbors and relatives led to vengeful naming of enemies as witches in order to save oneself from hanging.
This is a tragic part of our history in which children as young as four years of age were manacled and imprisoned for witchcraft. At the same time, it is a tribute to the strength and character of Martha Carrier, the only woman in the colonies to face down and challenge her accusers.
It's also a tribute to the gift of mother love, such that you may find yourself wiping the tears from your cheeks.
February 14, 2009
"Hyssop for cough. Rosemary for fever. A sprig of mint to cleanse ill humors from the mouth. Slippery elm for the midwife. Horse chestnut for stiffness of limb. Golden bough for palsy. But what is the cure for rage? And what of the tortures of a guilty mind? A seeping wound can be bound. Salve can be dabbed to a burn or a swelling bubo. Poison can be drawn with a leech, or a lance. But guilt is a ghost that takes the shape of the body it inhabits and consumes all that is tender within its shell."
The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent is largely the story of Martha Carrier, "the Andover witch", as told from the perspective of her young daughter Sarah. After unknowingly bringing smallpox with them to their new home in Andover, the Carrier family quickly incurs the enmity of their neighbors, even as growing illness delivers them a staggering loss. With the terrible malady behind them, the Carriers try to return to life as usual - planting their four acres of wheat and corn, tending their livestock, trying to hold their heads up in a town full of spiteful, resentful people.
Sarah soon begins to conceive of a feud of sorts between her parents and her uncle, regarding the house and land left to them by her grandmother. When supposed supernatural activity in nearby Salem leads to frenzy and panic, the family quarrel is escalated as Sarah's uncle and cousin fan the fires of agitation, leading to the arrest and trial of Martha Carrier.
Before she is taken away by the constable, Martha explains to Sarah that when they are unable to get a confession from her, they will come and take Sarah and her brothers away. Knowing her fate, she advises Sarah to tell the court whatever they want to hear, in order that she and her brothers may go free. When Sarah and her brothers are examined in court, they are given no choice but to do as their mother bade them and speak out against her.
Kathleen Kent's description of Puritan life is vivid and unrelenting. Central to the story is the mother-daughter relationship between Martha and Sarah Carrier. At the beginning of the book, Sarah thinks of her mother as cold and severe. As the story progresses however, she shares confidences with her mother, and is able by the end to proclaim herself to truly be "her mother's daughter."
Kent's portrayal of the Salem witch trials was well researched and compelling. I won't say it was easy to read - there was much suffering, and The Heretic's Daughter was at times extremely difficult to read without tears for the brave men, women and children who proclaimed their innocence even unto the end of their lives. Their story was tragic and disturbing, and will stay with me for a long time.
The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent is largely the story of Martha Carrier, "the Andover witch", as told from the perspective of her young daughter Sarah. After unknowingly bringing smallpox with them to their new home in Andover, the Carrier family quickly incurs the enmity of their neighbors, even as growing illness delivers them a staggering loss. With the terrible malady behind them, the Carriers try to return to life as usual - planting their four acres of wheat and corn, tending their livestock, trying to hold their heads up in a town full of spiteful, resentful people.
Sarah soon begins to conceive of a feud of sorts between her parents and her uncle, regarding the house and land left to them by her grandmother. When supposed supernatural activity in nearby Salem leads to frenzy and panic, the family quarrel is escalated as Sarah's uncle and cousin fan the fires of agitation, leading to the arrest and trial of Martha Carrier.
Before she is taken away by the constable, Martha explains to Sarah that when they are unable to get a confession from her, they will come and take Sarah and her brothers away. Knowing her fate, she advises Sarah to tell the court whatever they want to hear, in order that she and her brothers may go free. When Sarah and her brothers are examined in court, they are given no choice but to do as their mother bade them and speak out against her.
Kathleen Kent's description of Puritan life is vivid and unrelenting. Central to the story is the mother-daughter relationship between Martha and Sarah Carrier. At the beginning of the book, Sarah thinks of her mother as cold and severe. As the story progresses however, she shares confidences with her mother, and is able by the end to proclaim herself to truly be "her mother's daughter."
Kent's portrayal of the Salem witch trials was well researched and compelling. I won't say it was easy to read - there was much suffering, and The Heretic's Daughter was at times extremely difficult to read without tears for the brave men, women and children who proclaimed their innocence even unto the end of their lives. Their story was tragic and disturbing, and will stay with me for a long time.
November 23, 2008
When I was manning a booth for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America at the Mountain and Plains Independent Booksellers Association conference, I picked up an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) of this book that was published in September. I just finished it and I highly recommend it! The book is beautifully written, powerful, and gives you a clear, emotion-filled picture through the eyes of a girl living in late 1600's Andover, Massachusetts (near Salem), of what life was like back then with its Indian attacks, smallpox, terribly hard toil, poverty, and ominous whispers of witchcraft. You'll need a box of tissues nearby near the end as you read about whole families, including women and children, being tortured into confessing to witchcraft then thrown into jail to starve because their relatives are too poor to pay to feed them. I think it's an important book to read and discuss because it shows how corrupt men in power can turn the dangerous forces of ignorance and fear to their greedy own ends. It's a message for our times.
August 26, 2008
This historically accurate story allows the reader to be immersed into the Carrier family's Puritan life in Massachusetts and the Salem Witch Trials. It is a hauntingly written tale and definitely made me angry, uncomfortable, and just plain sad.
Kathleen Kent is a descendant of Martha Carrier, who was hung for witchcraft in 1692. The story is told from the perspective of Martha's daughter as she looks back on her life and tries to come to terms with her familial relationships and the events that shaped her life.
I certainly appreciated Kent's desire to write the book, and it is beautifully written. I did find it slow moving at times and little disturbing to read. But I found out after I finished reading this book that Elizabeth Sessions who marries Richard Carrier at the end of the book is my 8th Great-Grand Aunt. I'm sure many in this country have ancestors impacted by this dark history, and it is a story that should not be forgotten.
Kathleen Kent is a descendant of Martha Carrier, who was hung for witchcraft in 1692. The story is told from the perspective of Martha's daughter as she looks back on her life and tries to come to terms with her familial relationships and the events that shaped her life.
I certainly appreciated Kent's desire to write the book, and it is beautifully written. I did find it slow moving at times and little disturbing to read. But I found out after I finished reading this book that Elizabeth Sessions who marries Richard Carrier at the end of the book is my 8th Great-Grand Aunt. I'm sure many in this country have ancestors impacted by this dark history, and it is a story that should not be forgotten.
November 1, 2008
" A needle is such a small, brittle thing. It is easily broken. It can hold but one fragile thread. But if the needle is sharp, it can pierce the coarsest cloth. Ply the needle in and out of a canvas and with a great length of thread one can make a sail to move a ship across the ocean. In such a way can a sharp gossipy tongue, with the thinnest thread of rumor, stitch together a story to flap in the breeze. Hoist that story upon the pillar of superstitious belief and a whole town can be pulled along with the wind of fear."
Massachusetts, 1690. In a society of fiercely Puritan people every misfortune is attributed to the will of God. Crops failing, fires, storms, sickness, all portents from God meant to punish. Such an atmosphere made the perfect setting for a group of silly girls to instigate a mass hysteria, claiming to be the victims of spells put upon them by fellow neighbors and residents of surrounding towns.
One of those accused of witchcraft was Martha Carrier. This is her story and that of her family. When the smallpox came to their home town of Billerica, Martha, her husband Thomas and children fled to the home of her Mother in Andover. When people subsequently came down with the smallpox in Andover, suspicion was thrown on the Carrier family. It did not help that Martha was a feisty woman who said what she thought and confronted her neighbors when disputes arose. Women at the time were supposed to be quiet and subservient to men, so she and her family did not make many friends.
The narrative is told through the eyes of Martha's daughter, Sarah, who is nine years old when the book opens. Since Martha does not have an affectionate nature, Sarah doesn't realize, until it is too late, how great her love for her Mother is and that strength of character might be more important than affection. Through one selfless and heroic act Martha sacrifices herself to save her children and in doing so teaches them the importance of faith in oneself and the power of family.
In her debut novel, Kathleen Kent explores one of the darkest periods of American history and takes the reader into the realms of her own family legend. Ms. Kent is a tenth generation descendant of Martha Carrier and grew up hearing the stories of her ancestors. She has presented us with a rich and historically accurate tale that, in my opinion, is one of the best books of the year. She is currently working on a prequel, the story of Thomas Carrier before he came to Massachusetts.
Massachusetts, 1690. In a society of fiercely Puritan people every misfortune is attributed to the will of God. Crops failing, fires, storms, sickness, all portents from God meant to punish. Such an atmosphere made the perfect setting for a group of silly girls to instigate a mass hysteria, claiming to be the victims of spells put upon them by fellow neighbors and residents of surrounding towns.
One of those accused of witchcraft was Martha Carrier. This is her story and that of her family. When the smallpox came to their home town of Billerica, Martha, her husband Thomas and children fled to the home of her Mother in Andover. When people subsequently came down with the smallpox in Andover, suspicion was thrown on the Carrier family. It did not help that Martha was a feisty woman who said what she thought and confronted her neighbors when disputes arose. Women at the time were supposed to be quiet and subservient to men, so she and her family did not make many friends.
The narrative is told through the eyes of Martha's daughter, Sarah, who is nine years old when the book opens. Since Martha does not have an affectionate nature, Sarah doesn't realize, until it is too late, how great her love for her Mother is and that strength of character might be more important than affection. Through one selfless and heroic act Martha sacrifices herself to save her children and in doing so teaches them the importance of faith in oneself and the power of family.
In her debut novel, Kathleen Kent explores one of the darkest periods of American history and takes the reader into the realms of her own family legend. Ms. Kent is a tenth generation descendant of Martha Carrier and grew up hearing the stories of her ancestors. She has presented us with a rich and historically accurate tale that, in my opinion, is one of the best books of the year. She is currently working on a prequel, the story of Thomas Carrier before he came to Massachusetts.
January 10, 2009
I am going to say right off the bat that had this been written from Martha Carrier's perspective I think I would have liked this book more. Instead it was written through her daughter's eyes and because of that you only know what her daughter knows. Which isn't much considering she's under 13 for much of the book and living in the 1600's for God's sake where kids weren't privy to the adult information. This book was for me the life of a young girl on a farm in the 1600's with a bit of "Salem Witch Trial" thrown in with that story. I loved the writing and I'm impressed by this first time author for doing a wonderful job of making me feel like I was living in a dungeon and without a shower for most of the book for that matter. I just think I would have enjoyed the adult perspective better because there were alot of things (as the reader)I had questions about that I feel only Martha could have answered for me.
November 20, 2008
This book spent a lot of time getting to the point, when it finally did I felt "the point" was a good one, but some of the details it focused on were random and not needed; where as there were other details that could have been useful; but were left to the readers imagination.
July 3, 2008
The Salem Witch trials has always fascinated me, so perhaps I am biased, but I loved ....loved.... loved this book. Sarah Carrier is an interesting narrator since she sees the proceedings as a child might, but with a teen's relationship with her unusual mother. I was amazed by how readily the people of Salem were to believe the tales of witchcraft as the net ever expanded wider and wider. How many women were left untouched in the Salem area?? Is this another allegory for our times - how readily people are to believe the most evil tales??
July 25, 2022
Anyone who knows me or reads my reviews, knows that I have great interest in the Salem witch trials, and it started as a youngster growing up near Salem. This book was excellent, told from the perspective (for most of the book) by a pre-teen girl, named Sarah Carrier, whose mother, Martha, was hanged. It is filled with wonderful writing, poignancy, and the family comes to life. What must it have been like in those days? If you have ever asked that question, this is a great book to start with. What happened in 1692 was a dark time in American history, and endlessly fascinating, from a psychological viewpoint. It was a time of madness, simply put, when puritanical religion was practiced and perverted into ugliness. There was no such thing as tolerance. There was death and disease and great fear. I will remember the Carrier family.
February 13, 2011
I loved this book. A new perspective on the Salem Witch Trials from the point of view of a daughter of the accused. The author, Kathleen Kent is descended from Martha Carrier, one of 19 people hung as witches during the Salem trials. Carrier never confessed. This book is a beautiful historical fiction reimagining of what might've led a woman who was subjected to torture, imprisonment and eventually hanging, to stand so absolutely firm. It's also a fantastic mother-daughter narrative, having to do with the complexities, for a daughter, of having a mother whose personality was so strong and ferocious that her neighbors deemed her a witch. Martha Carrier is an indelible character, and her daughter Sarah, the narrator, is equally complex. I found myself crying throughout the reading of this book - the scenes in the prison for witches are devastating, like a concentration camp memoir, as are the scenes between Martha and her husband Thomas, whose own story is dealt with in this book's sequel, THE WOLVES OF ANDOVER. I heard a radio interview regarding The Heretic's Daughter and The Wolves of Andover, and I'm so glad I did. The characters in these books, and the true story they inhabit is one we should be paying attention to now. We haven't stopped destroying the different. Highly recommended.
November 28, 2015
Was so excited to read this and I felt so blah at the end. Just didn't do it for me.
February 22, 2018
This is an excellent historical fiction about the Salem witch trials. It is told through the eyes of the daughter of Martha Carrier (convicted and hung) and written by a descendent who grew up listening to the stories. I liked the manner in which it was written (I believe it would be the language of that time) and could feel what it was like to be falsely accused and imprisoned. What an awful place and time, especially for the children! It's easy to see what ignorance, religious beliefs, and hysteria run rampant can do. I guess that could be said of many things in history, even events today.
August 19, 2013
It was very good. I'm evaluating it as a companion piece for The Crucible, and it dovetails nicely. The only problem is that it is a pretty slow start. The real action doesn't start until the middle of the book. After that, it gives a pretty riveting account of the conditions during the Salem witch trials. An added point of interest is that the author is a descendent of Martha Carrier, who was actually hanged as a witch and is the mother of the main character in the book.
January 19, 2018
4/5 stars.
- 1632 Salem trials
- Exquisite writing/solid prose
- Eccentric mother/daughter relationship
- 1632 Salem trials
- Exquisite writing/solid prose
- Eccentric mother/daughter relationship
January 1, 2018
The Salem witch trials remain among the most familiar of the dark, unhappy chapters in American history, having provoked a reasonably constant trickle of fictional and non-fictional accounts. Indeed, “Witch Hunt!” has lately become one of the more widely used and abused rallying cries in certain corners of the twitterverse and other venues of public media. In 2016, Pulitzer Prize winner, Stacey Schiff revisited the sad history in her meticulous and exhaustively detailed non-fiction history, The Witches: Salem 1692. Kathleen Kent’s The Heretic’s Daughter, a fictional account from a few years earlier, covers similar ground, but in ways I thought many readers would find more readily engaging and appealing, though other Goodreads reviews suggest I was wrong. (Goodreaders appear to have liked Schiff’s attempt even less.)
Kent’s story is told by a woman in her seventies, recalling her experiences as a ten-year-old in the early 1690s. (Thus, these are not the words of a pre-teen, which explains why she does not talk like one, though she may occasionally think like one.) She describes at length the day-to-day experiences that constitute quite ordinary lives—those who would eventually go to the gallows in Salem were by-and-large ordinary people. They spent their time sowing and reaping, keeping up or wrangling with their neighbors—not gathering up “eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog.” For those interested in the “history” part of historical fiction, what Kent offers about 1690s New England life can be quite interesting.
But, from the start, of course, we know what will eventually befall some of these folks at the hands of fellow men. Amid the details of 1690s everyday life, we can track inevitable, even insignificant signs of evils to come, which will return to haunt them in ways readers already know. We can see that Martha is a “wise woman” (long a potentially perilous avocation), but also hard and hard to like and dangerously independent minded: not good things for a woman to be in Puritan circles. Kent is in no hurry to get to the crux and as interested in suggesting the antagonisms, rivalries, petty slights, etc. which may have led to the crux. She sets much of the preliminary action far from Salem, from which rumors of trouble eventually begin to spread: there is a sense of “it can’t happen here.”
But, of course, it can. Once it does, Kent offers plenty about those grim realities. (Any who would like even more, could find them in Schiff’s non-fictional account.) Nineteen men and women go to the gallows. One eighty-year-old is pressed to death (also a method of choice among Elizabeth I’s Homeland Security, after her excommunication in 1570, for dealing with papists). Kent points out that “the British courts considered a burning death to cruel” for witches. They did not consider it too cruel for women who murdered their husbands, however: a British law remained on the books until around 1800 stipulating the burning of mariticides, “because there is subjection due from the wife to the husband.” (British husbands who killed their wives, by contrast, only risked being hanged.) The later portions of the book offer one of the most vivid, harrowing depictions of what True Believers can inflict on common, ordinary innocents when they set their minds to it. Given opportunity, they can (and will) again.
Kent’s story is told by a woman in her seventies, recalling her experiences as a ten-year-old in the early 1690s. (Thus, these are not the words of a pre-teen, which explains why she does not talk like one, though she may occasionally think like one.) She describes at length the day-to-day experiences that constitute quite ordinary lives—those who would eventually go to the gallows in Salem were by-and-large ordinary people. They spent their time sowing and reaping, keeping up or wrangling with their neighbors—not gathering up “eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog.” For those interested in the “history” part of historical fiction, what Kent offers about 1690s New England life can be quite interesting.
But, from the start, of course, we know what will eventually befall some of these folks at the hands of fellow men. Amid the details of 1690s everyday life, we can track inevitable, even insignificant signs of evils to come, which will return to haunt them in ways readers already know. We can see that Martha is a “wise woman” (long a potentially perilous avocation), but also hard and hard to like and dangerously independent minded: not good things for a woman to be in Puritan circles. Kent is in no hurry to get to the crux and as interested in suggesting the antagonisms, rivalries, petty slights, etc. which may have led to the crux. She sets much of the preliminary action far from Salem, from which rumors of trouble eventually begin to spread: there is a sense of “it can’t happen here.”
But, of course, it can. Once it does, Kent offers plenty about those grim realities. (Any who would like even more, could find them in Schiff’s non-fictional account.) Nineteen men and women go to the gallows. One eighty-year-old is pressed to death (also a method of choice among Elizabeth I’s Homeland Security, after her excommunication in 1570, for dealing with papists). Kent points out that “the British courts considered a burning death to cruel” for witches. They did not consider it too cruel for women who murdered their husbands, however: a British law remained on the books until around 1800 stipulating the burning of mariticides, “because there is subjection due from the wife to the husband.” (British husbands who killed their wives, by contrast, only risked being hanged.) The later portions of the book offer one of the most vivid, harrowing depictions of what True Believers can inflict on common, ordinary innocents when they set their minds to it. Given opportunity, they can (and will) again.
February 20, 2013
As a modern-day Pagan, with roots in modern Wicca, I was incredibly excited to finally find this title used, for cheap (hey, I was unemployed for a long time). I had been wanting to read it for quite some time, as I have read a fuckload about the Salem Witch Trials, and love to visit the place. To read a fictional account of real people who were part of the fiasco sounded awesome enough. Add to that that Kathleen Kent is directly related to Martha Carrier? Sounded like a gold mine to me.
Unfortunately, I found myself incredibly disappointed. I guess I was hoping that because Kent is related to these people that she would have had a journal or something that would have added something more to these events that swept the colonies. Maybe my hopes were simply too high.
I found the first 151 pages fairly boring, they were the day to day life of Sarah Carrier, daughter of Martha Carrier - one of the women hanged for witchcraft. They were boring, but they did a decent job of exploring the conflicted relationship that every woman/girl has with her mother. We love her, we hate her, we resent her, we need her, we blame her, we rely on her, we take her for granted. By the end of the novel, I had actually decided that this relationship building part of the novel was more interesting than the Witch Trails themselves.
I thought it would get more interesting and pick up, once the Witch Trails came to Sarah's front door. Damn, was I wrong. I felt very little emotion come up from the page when Sarah's mother was arrested. I felt very little when her brothers were arrested. I felt very little when Sarah was arrested. It plodded. Somehow the drama of the Witch Trails was made boring. Seriously, how is that even possible? I've read completely non-fiction accounts of the events and they were less boring than this fictionalized account.
Some of the absolute best writing came from the last 50 pages or so, when Sarah is describing the prison scene and how the women either came together or pulled away to survive. That, was the only part of the novel that I didn't label as boring. The human emotion was truly raw and awesome during this time.
This review was originally posted at RATS.
Unfortunately, I found myself incredibly disappointed. I guess I was hoping that because Kent is related to these people that she would have had a journal or something that would have added something more to these events that swept the colonies. Maybe my hopes were simply too high.
I found the first 151 pages fairly boring, they were the day to day life of Sarah Carrier, daughter of Martha Carrier - one of the women hanged for witchcraft. They were boring, but they did a decent job of exploring the conflicted relationship that every woman/girl has with her mother. We love her, we hate her, we resent her, we need her, we blame her, we rely on her, we take her for granted. By the end of the novel, I had actually decided that this relationship building part of the novel was more interesting than the Witch Trails themselves.
I thought it would get more interesting and pick up, once the Witch Trails came to Sarah's front door. Damn, was I wrong. I felt very little emotion come up from the page when Sarah's mother was arrested. I felt very little when her brothers were arrested. I felt very little when Sarah was arrested. It plodded. Somehow the drama of the Witch Trails was made boring. Seriously, how is that even possible? I've read completely non-fiction accounts of the events and they were less boring than this fictionalized account.
Some of the absolute best writing came from the last 50 pages or so, when Sarah is describing the prison scene and how the women either came together or pulled away to survive. That, was the only part of the novel that I didn't label as boring. The human emotion was truly raw and awesome during this time.
This review was originally posted at RATS.
May 9, 2015
Having heard about but not knowing much about the Salem Witch trials, I was mesmerized by Kathleen Kent's personalized account in THE HERETIC'S DAUGHTER, as seen through the eyes of a family member of whom Ms Kent herself is a direct descendant.
Sarah is the daughter of Martha Carrier and an enigmatic father with a mysterious past, her life in rural Andover, near Salem, depicted with unflinching realism and gorgeous prose. These are people who live on the edge of nature's whim, suffering brutal winters and the vagaries of crop failure, sudden fire, and, as it turns out, the hysterical suspicions and envious resentment of their neighbors. Sarah is a curious child who has an uneasy relationship with her strong-willed, sharp-tongued mother. Martha Carrier does not suffer fools gladly and she emerges as one of the book's strongest and most memorable characters. Then accusations of witchcraft leveled by a parcel of pubescent girls in Salem is stoked into a blazing nightmare by fanatical preachers and the cataclysm seeps into Andover to ensnare Sarah's own family.
Ms Kent takes her time getting us there, however, showing us first the dangers and beauties of a life that is barely civilized, as Sarah matures and begins to realize secrets abound in both the natural world and in her heart. Ms Kent's poignant descriptions of the passage of the seasons, the details of a farming life, the deprivations and fear of Indian raids, capture a moment in American history with breathtaking accuracy; dwelling near misfortune and calamity every day, when it looms up suddenly in the form of witchcraft, it's easily and terrifyingly believed. Without warning, the community plunges into a desperate hunt for malefactors and quest for retribution fueled by their own helplessness under the toll which Nature herself has exacted upon them.
The latter part of the novel proves harrowing, as Sarah navigates a tenuous existence when friends become foes, loved ones turn against each other, and women and men are hung from trees on the flimsiest of evidence. There is almost no escape; while tough reading, it's well worth the denouement, which emerges as a memorial to those who perished during this tragic, dark persecution, and as a tribute to those who survived it, who went on to forge new lives and leave descendants who are still with us today.
Sarah is the daughter of Martha Carrier and an enigmatic father with a mysterious past, her life in rural Andover, near Salem, depicted with unflinching realism and gorgeous prose. These are people who live on the edge of nature's whim, suffering brutal winters and the vagaries of crop failure, sudden fire, and, as it turns out, the hysterical suspicions and envious resentment of their neighbors. Sarah is a curious child who has an uneasy relationship with her strong-willed, sharp-tongued mother. Martha Carrier does not suffer fools gladly and she emerges as one of the book's strongest and most memorable characters. Then accusations of witchcraft leveled by a parcel of pubescent girls in Salem is stoked into a blazing nightmare by fanatical preachers and the cataclysm seeps into Andover to ensnare Sarah's own family.
Ms Kent takes her time getting us there, however, showing us first the dangers and beauties of a life that is barely civilized, as Sarah matures and begins to realize secrets abound in both the natural world and in her heart. Ms Kent's poignant descriptions of the passage of the seasons, the details of a farming life, the deprivations and fear of Indian raids, capture a moment in American history with breathtaking accuracy; dwelling near misfortune and calamity every day, when it looms up suddenly in the form of witchcraft, it's easily and terrifyingly believed. Without warning, the community plunges into a desperate hunt for malefactors and quest for retribution fueled by their own helplessness under the toll which Nature herself has exacted upon them.
The latter part of the novel proves harrowing, as Sarah navigates a tenuous existence when friends become foes, loved ones turn against each other, and women and men are hung from trees on the flimsiest of evidence. There is almost no escape; while tough reading, it's well worth the denouement, which emerges as a memorial to those who perished during this tragic, dark persecution, and as a tribute to those who survived it, who went on to forge new lives and leave descendants who are still with us today.
February 6, 2011
This book swept me up in the world that Sarah lived in. I just can't imagine. A group of young girls have the power to have people killed. The thing is I know unfortunately how bitter women can be.
October 25, 2014
As a direct descendant of Martha Carrier, when I saw some great reviews of this fictionalized account of her family's ordeal in the witch trials, I felt I simply had to read it.
The author has beautifully woven together family history/legend and the facts of the witch trials. She has created a fascinating account of the politics, religion, and conditions of Puritan Massachusetts during this hysteria that, however horrifying, is very believable.
The author has beautifully woven together family history/legend and the facts of the witch trials. She has created a fascinating account of the politics, religion, and conditions of Puritan Massachusetts during this hysteria that, however horrifying, is very believable.
November 19, 2014
I love historical fiction, and especially when about the Witch Trials of the 1690's. This was an absolutely wonderful book about the burning times. Told by young Sarah Carrier, this book traces her life and how her family is affected and torn apart by the witchcraft hysteria in her small Massachusetts town. I absolutely loved it.
November 1, 2008
If you enjoy reading about the Salem Witch trials, this one is for you.
I found it to be a sad book, but a good sad book.
It's just hard to stomach that a handful of teenage girls could ruin so many people...
I found it to be a sad book, but a good sad book.
It's just hard to stomach that a handful of teenage girls could ruin so many people...
November 20, 2017
I have read books and seen plays about the Salem Witch Trials but this book by Kathleen Kent was able to introduce new ideas and thoughts on this sordid subject. A descendant of Martha Carrier, one of the women tried and convicted of being a witch in Salem, Massachusetts, Kent thoroughly researched the trials as background for her book. This historical novel based on this true event was the result. It is certainly worth reading.
With the Witch Trials as the backdrop, the story centers on Sarah Carrier, daughter of Martha Carrier. At the beginning of the story, she is barely ten years old and her family has just gone to stay with her grandmother to wait out the plague of small pox. The whole town fears the family and rumors are spread. Amid all this, Sarah has to continue growing up. The trauma of the whole historic event weighs heavily. In a sense, this book is a coming of age book as well as a historical novel. A lot can be learned by reading it.
With the Witch Trials as the backdrop, the story centers on Sarah Carrier, daughter of Martha Carrier. At the beginning of the story, she is barely ten years old and her family has just gone to stay with her grandmother to wait out the plague of small pox. The whole town fears the family and rumors are spread. Amid all this, Sarah has to continue growing up. The trauma of the whole historic event weighs heavily. In a sense, this book is a coming of age book as well as a historical novel. A lot can be learned by reading it.
September 6, 2010
About the Salem Witch trials... Very well written account of the helplessness of those accused!!!
May 8, 2011
Having been shocked and fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials since learning about them in school, I couldn’t wait to read this book. The author is a descendent of Martha Carrier, one of the first women to hang as a witch, despite the fact that she maintained her innocence until the end. Telling the story through a child’s eyes, the daughter of Martha Carrier, was brilliant. Nine year old Sarah learns about the harsh world and unfair accusations and tries to make sense of it all, landing in prison herself after also being accused.
Although it starts out a bit slow, Kathleen Kent paints a detailed picture of quiet Colonial life before the accusations and subsequent Salem Witch Trials took over. Today it seems ridiculous, but the hysteria spread quickly, becoming neighbor against neighbor. Simple greed or a dispute became an accusation and a trial resulting in death by hanging.
This novel is about more than the trials; it’s also about complicated but loving family relationships. There also seems to be a strong message here. Could something like this happen today? No, we probably wouldn’t accuse others of being a witch, but how quickly do we believe accusations without proof?
Although it starts out a bit slow, Kathleen Kent paints a detailed picture of quiet Colonial life before the accusations and subsequent Salem Witch Trials took over. Today it seems ridiculous, but the hysteria spread quickly, becoming neighbor against neighbor. Simple greed or a dispute became an accusation and a trial resulting in death by hanging.
This novel is about more than the trials; it’s also about complicated but loving family relationships. There also seems to be a strong message here. Could something like this happen today? No, we probably wouldn’t accuse others of being a witch, but how quickly do we believe accusations without proof?
April 3, 2015
Another novel about the Salem Witch Trials, but what makes it unique in Kathleen Kent's debut is her connection to one of the true life characters: Martha Carrier who was hanged as a witch in 1692. She was Kent's 9-great grandmother and had heard stories about her and other ancestors as a child. The story unfolds through the eyes of Martha's daughter Sarah and thus not only weaves a well-known story in our history but also demonstrates the impact on families and the hardship of life in colonial times. It reveals family dynamics, love & sacrifice; A slow start but compelling read.
"And what finally of the tortures of a guilty soul? What concoction is there that can be chewed & swallowed & downed in the belly to force the poison of self-recrimination back through the pores of the skin?.....guilt is a ghost that takes the shape of the body it inhabits and consumes all that is tender within its shell...."
Kent also tantalizes us about her next novel of the Carrier Family, looking at the mythology surrounding Martha's husband, Thomas, and his life in England.
"And what finally of the tortures of a guilty soul? What concoction is there that can be chewed & swallowed & downed in the belly to force the poison of self-recrimination back through the pores of the skin?.....guilt is a ghost that takes the shape of the body it inhabits and consumes all that is tender within its shell...."
Kent also tantalizes us about her next novel of the Carrier Family, looking at the mythology surrounding Martha's husband, Thomas, and his life in England.
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