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The Diary of Dorcas Goode, Child Witch of Salem
Based on actual events, documented and preserved by the City of Salem, Massachusetts it the form of the original trial transcripts. The novel, in diary form, tells the story of Dorcas Good, a four year old child accused of witchcraft along with her mother and several other women during the hysteria of 1692. It is, in all probability, the first documented case of child abuse in this country. The saga follows Dorcas through her imprisonment as a young child, to her mother being led to the gallows and on to her young adult years and the abuse that she suffered at the hands of her jailers and especially from her own father.
Rose Earhart allows the reader to experience the flavor of life in 1692 Salem including all of the difficulties and struggles of everyday life. She manages to portray, with amazing clarity and passion, the accounts of the horrific injustices and degrading circumstances of living on the edge of society that Dorcas and her mother, Sarah, had to endure even before the witch hysteria began.
"The Diary Of Dorcas Good" finally tells the real story of the savagery and terror of the Salem witch trials.
280 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 23, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
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October 18, 2021"We've gone too far and Betty's bad dreams have already started talk. I think the only thing for us to do is blame Tituba before she blames us."
The familiar story of what happened in Salem, how jealousy and bitterness led to accusations and executions is one I never tire of reading . . . until now. I should have stopped after the pointlessly graphic description of the incestuous rape of a four-year-old. I know these things happened, but I feel no need to wallow in the details. Torture porn is not my thing, and as it appears only more abuse awaits poor Dorcas, I'm stopping on page 104.
The familiar story of what happened in Salem, how jealousy and bitterness led to accusations and executions is one I never tire of reading . . . until now. I should have stopped after the pointlessly graphic description of the incestuous rape of a four-year-old. I know these things happened, but I feel no need to wallow in the details. Torture porn is not my thing, and as it appears only more abuse awaits poor Dorcas, I'm stopping on page 104.
May 4, 2014
This book had such potential. The story of little Dorothy "Dorcas" Good, the four-year-old imprisoned with her mother as a witch during the Salem Witch Trials. Years later, her father tried to sue the government of Salem, saying that Dorcas was so unhinged as a result of the 8 months she spent in prison - including watching her mother carried off to the gallows and seeing her newborn sister die, that she was useless to him and "unable to govern herself." Dorcas' story is horrible and tragic.
The idea of writing the story of the witch trials through the eyes of a frightened four-year-old was compelling, and with all the research Earhart had done, there was plenty of material.
Unfortunately, that's not the way the book is written. It's in journal form, written by Dorcas in her later life, but most of it is fantasy and sordid incidents of child sexual assault and prostitution. I consider the psychology of the Salem witch hysteria to be fascinating, but make no claim to be an expert in the details. However, in a case like this, I have to wonder how much of the story is based on fact, and how much is the product of imagination or sensationalist conjecture.
Taken as written, Dorcas may have been the only real witch in Salem Village. There are allusions to visions, ghosts, pyrokinesis. Not surprisingly, there are also descriptions of madness, depression and disassociative episodes. These are only vague, though, and the story veers between historical possibility and unrealistic claptrap.
Just as disappointing was the print quality, which was awful. Typos and print errors are present far too often.
All things considered, the story was a disappointing treatment to a potentially fascinating subject.
The idea of writing the story of the witch trials through the eyes of a frightened four-year-old was compelling, and with all the research Earhart had done, there was plenty of material.
Unfortunately, that's not the way the book is written. It's in journal form, written by Dorcas in her later life, but most of it is fantasy and sordid incidents of child sexual assault and prostitution. I consider the psychology of the Salem witch hysteria to be fascinating, but make no claim to be an expert in the details. However, in a case like this, I have to wonder how much of the story is based on fact, and how much is the product of imagination or sensationalist conjecture.
Taken as written, Dorcas may have been the only real witch in Salem Village. There are allusions to visions, ghosts, pyrokinesis. Not surprisingly, there are also descriptions of madness, depression and disassociative episodes. These are only vague, though, and the story veers between historical possibility and unrealistic claptrap.
Just as disappointing was the print quality, which was awful. Typos and print errors are present far too often.
All things considered, the story was a disappointing treatment to a potentially fascinating subject.
July 27, 2023
I could not finish this book. Very poorly written and there were such an insane amount of punctual and grammatical errors it had me questioning if this book was ever actually edited?? I couldn’t sit and read through the graphic physical and sexual abuse Dorcas was suffering at the hands of her own father. I understand the authors need to portray the hardships Dorcas endured but she could have left that part out or at the very least the details??? As a so called “children’s advocate” I’m uncomfortable by the fact she published this. Stopped on page 130 because I was hoping to delve more into the hysteria of witches in early Salem. This book completely missed the mark.
June 9, 2008
I thought this was a good depiction of what life could have been like for Dorcas. After her mother died and living with an abusive father I was heartbroken to see what happened to her. I was a little happy when Jack loved her so but we know what happened to him in the end.
March 11, 2010
excellent book if you are into Salem and the witch trials.
Poor girl went through HELL!!!
If you enjoyed this book, check out Deliverance Dane.
Poor girl went through HELL!!!
If you enjoyed this book, check out Deliverance Dane.
June 29, 2014
Honestly, I'm not sure why I finished this horrible book other than I couldn't figure out how to get it off my 'currently reading' list without clicking finished & I didn't think it would be right to get credit for reading a book I didn't finish. Yes, I am that anal!
This book was horribly edited for starters. I think there were mistakes on nearly every page. Isn't anyone checking this stuff?
My big gripe is that Dorcas Good was a real person about whom very little is known. To take this child's life & desecrate it so is, to me, unconscionable and if I were a family member(I'm sure there are some)I would be trying to sue the pants off one Rose Earhart! Because now there are people running around thinking this is the true story of not only Dorcas but her father, various public officials, and others who had the misfortune to be alive & living in the area during a tragic time in our history.
Do yourself a favor - give this one a wide berth!
This book was horribly edited for starters. I think there were mistakes on nearly every page. Isn't anyone checking this stuff?
My big gripe is that Dorcas Good was a real person about whom very little is known. To take this child's life & desecrate it so is, to me, unconscionable and if I were a family member(I'm sure there are some)I would be trying to sue the pants off one Rose Earhart! Because now there are people running around thinking this is the true story of not only Dorcas but her father, various public officials, and others who had the misfortune to be alive & living in the area during a tragic time in our history.
Do yourself a favor - give this one a wide berth!
August 21, 2020
This novel is not for the faint hearted. The content of the book was unexpected dark and terrifying, having to read through the repeated abuse and rape of a 4 year old girl was just too much for me. It made me cry and I still haven't finished the book. To be honest, I don't know if I can. It was unbearably painful and shook me to the core.
Also the name Dorcas was incorrect even as a nickname because she's Dorothy. No one ever called her Dorcas as a nickname, it's simply an error in the trial records.
The narrative format of the diary entries do not sound like a 4 year old child, of course, as they narrate events from the trials and use words that a child of that age would not normally know. I assume that this is the author's creative license at play here since this is a fictional novel using historical documents for accuracy. But it was still hard to believe.
Also the name Dorcas was incorrect even as a nickname because she's Dorothy. No one ever called her Dorcas as a nickname, it's simply an error in the trial records.
The narrative format of the diary entries do not sound like a 4 year old child, of course, as they narrate events from the trials and use words that a child of that age would not normally know. I assume that this is the author's creative license at play here since this is a fictional novel using historical documents for accuracy. But it was still hard to believe.
November 11, 2011
This book was somewhat disappointing. While it was meant to be the diary of a 4-year-old girl (even allowing for it to be written later in life), Dorcas' actions and views were that of a much older child. I also didn't appreciate the storyline about Dorcas being sexually abused by her father; I know this is fiction, but one would think what happened to her in real life is bad enough without the need for further embellishment. The writing really didn't flow for me, and spelling mistakes throughout the book didn't make it any better either.
March 10, 2012
It's been so long since I read this book. I remember it was during the time in hIgh school when we were reading the Crucible and I really wanted to learn more about the lives of those alive during that time.
I found this book to be really sad and extremely painful to bare. It was not a bad story, I just felt terrible for the girl. Poor thing. I would probably recommend it as casual reading for people who like reading up on the Witch trials. It's worth giving it a shot.
I found this book to be really sad and extremely painful to bare. It was not a bad story, I just felt terrible for the girl. Poor thing. I would probably recommend it as casual reading for people who like reading up on the Witch trials. It's worth giving it a shot.
June 30, 2012
Parts of this book were very interesting if you could get past the spelling and the ridiculous amount of contradictions. There was apparently a printing error in the copy I borrowed from the library because from one side of one of the pages to the next side of the page the story jumps quite a bit in the middle of a sentence. I found that a bit annoying. I put the book down, completely disgusted at last when I got to the part where Jack is a pirate and rescues her. I couldn't stomach any more.
March 16, 2012
Disappointing. The book was filled with grammatical errors and typos; was there no editor nor proofreader?
I read this book because I'm a descendant of one of the accused 'witches.' I hoped to get a feel for what my ancestor might have endured but was too distracted by the typos, punctuation errors, etc.
I read this book because I'm a descendant of one of the accused 'witches.' I hoped to get a feel for what my ancestor might have endured but was too distracted by the typos, punctuation errors, etc.
December 7, 2008
Probably the worst book I have ever read in my life. I learned from reading it that exceptionally bad writing can indeed be published and purchased from amazon.com.
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January 17, 2018Horrible writing, bad editing. Blech... I was so interested in the subject, but holy crap was it bad.
June 11, 2010
Disturbing.
October 27, 2015
American historical....1692-1711 Salem, MA....child victim of the witch trials. Poorly written and not worth the time to read. Just not good at all.
October 27, 2024
Was this book even edited? There are countless errors in the print which are hard to ignore. The writing is not very good either, and the end of the story doesn’t make sense, since the book is told through diary format.
The countless descriptions of sexual abuse towards a FOUR YEAR OLD were starting to make me sick, then the character who is supposed to “save” and protect Dorcas tells her years later that he fell in love with her when he met her - when she was FOUR and he was way older. The concept of the book was a good one, but very poorly executed.
The countless descriptions of sexual abuse towards a FOUR YEAR OLD were starting to make me sick, then the character who is supposed to “save” and protect Dorcas tells her years later that he fell in love with her when he met her - when she was FOUR and he was way older. The concept of the book was a good one, but very poorly executed.
April 26, 2025
4.5 it’s a story that will stick with me
March 1, 2017
An entertaining bit of fiction based on one of my favorite historical events. It would be really interesting to find out what actually happened to Dorcas Good, though.
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January 26, 2021After reading a plot synopsis for another book, it got me thinking about a book I'd read long, long ago... a book I could not be certain actually existed. After some creative Google searching, I found it.
And it's real.
And perhaps I should have never read it when I was so young.
In my youth, I was fascinated by the Salem witch trials. I supposed I still am. Using my library's computer, I'd endlessly hunt for books (fiction and nonfiction) that involved the topic. This lead me to checking out this book.
I can only assume that the librarian checking me out had not read the book, because it. is. DARK.
As this book is now out of print and has no digital ebook counterpart, I'm not sure how likely it is you (the fictional reader of this review) will encounter this book to read. But fair warning - it has gratuitous descriptions of child abuse and rape. Beyond that, I don't remember much - I do know that I enjoyed the book and thought it was good when I read it.
That was 10+ years ago, so your mileage may vary.
And it's real.
And perhaps I should have never read it when I was so young.
In my youth, I was fascinated by the Salem witch trials. I supposed I still am. Using my library's computer, I'd endlessly hunt for books (fiction and nonfiction) that involved the topic. This lead me to checking out this book.
I can only assume that the librarian checking me out had not read the book, because it. is. DARK.
As this book is now out of print and has no digital ebook counterpart, I'm not sure how likely it is you (the fictional reader of this review) will encounter this book to read. But fair warning - it has gratuitous descriptions of child abuse and rape. Beyond that, I don't remember much - I do know that I enjoyed the book and thought it was good when I read it.
That was 10+ years ago, so your mileage may vary.
August 5, 2013
I liked the historical aspects, but didn't like all the supernatural elements going on. I would have preferred to read the trauma of the witch trials from one who didn't actually seem to think she was a witch.
Plus, i didn't like the whole thing with Jack Quelch. I'm not sure if he was a real person or not, but I find it inconceivable that a grown man could fall in love with a four year old and then return for her in that capacity. He should have seen her more as a daughter or little sister.
Plus, i didn't like the whole thing with Jack Quelch. I'm not sure if he was a real person or not, but I find it inconceivable that a grown man could fall in love with a four year old and then return for her in that capacity. He should have seen her more as a daughter or little sister.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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July 16, 2018This was a really a very emotional but good book. I know it is primarily fiction but I could easily see much of it being true. It is supposed to be the diary of Dorcas (Dorothy) Good who was the 4 year old girl who was arrested as a witch during the Salem Witch Trials. Very emotional and moving but was more fiction than historically accurate. Still, I enjoyed the read.
Want to read
August 7, 2012Signed - Blessed Be, Rose Earhart.
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August 2, 2011I thought it was very disturbing!!!
September 10, 2016
A hard read, but an important one.
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August 14, 2016A very moving tale.
April 6, 2017
An okay book. Confusing at times because it's written really well and maturely but supposed to be from the 1st person POV of a five-year-old, which made it really difficult to imagine Dorcas as a little girl. Also, I wished the book ended as she left prison. The entire 'third act' was rather unnecessary and led to a really depressing ending, which was even more of a letdown because even up until the end, Dorcas never could catch a break.
Not sure how historically accurate it is. The author seems to know what she's talking about with regards to accuracy.
A good read overall, but extremely depressing. Don't expect evil getting its' due or a happy ending out of this one.
Not sure how historically accurate it is. The author seems to know what she's talking about with regards to accuracy.
A good read overall, but extremely depressing. Don't expect evil getting its' due or a happy ending out of this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews