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Dear America
I Walk in Dread: The Diary of Deliverance Trembley, Witness to the Salem Witch Trials, Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1691
One of our final two Dear Americas, this is the compelling diary of a young girl who finds herself caught up in the turmoil and drama of the Salem Witch Trials.
Deliverance Trembley lives in Salem Village, where she must take care of her sickly sister, Mem, and where she does her daily chores in fear of her cruel uncle's angry temper. But when four young girls from the village accuse some of the local women of being witches, Deliverance finds herself caught up in the ensuing drama of the trials. And life in Salem is never the same.
Deliverance Trembley lives in Salem Village, where she must take care of her sickly sister, Mem, and where she does her daily chores in fear of her cruel uncle's angry temper. But when four young girls from the village accuse some of the local women of being witches, Deliverance finds herself caught up in the ensuing drama of the trials. And life in Salem is never the same.
203 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2004
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February 18, 2020"My book and heart shall never part".
I Walk in Dread: The Diary of Deliverance Trembley, Witness to the Salem Witch Trials, Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1691 (Dear America)
by Lisa Rowe Fraustino
I have been trying to read this story for months but there is something wrong with my copy and pages missing.
So far it's very interesting. rating and review coming soon when I actually am able to finish..
August 2, 2017
WHAT a well-researched book! That was extremely well done; most impressive DA as far as historical content I think I've ever read. The story/plot was very well done, too. It truly read as an eyewitness account of the Salem Witch trials! Since I knew some background, I knew what was going to happen to certain characters, and my heart just ached for Liv. I found myself being quite emotional toward the other characters. Frustrated, heartbroken, pitying, and even joyful a few times. Hallmarks of excellent writing.
August 19, 2025
As a history nerd who has been interested in the Salem Witch Trials for a while, I enjoyed this! It was heavy, but since its primary audience is children it didn’t go as heavy as it could have, which was the perfect balance for me. I’d recommend this for children learning history and any adults who are interested in this time period.
May 3, 2022
I struggled to connect with this one and stopped reading at 56%. Each new chapter just creeped me out more and more. Plus, it felt like the girls weren’t in a good situation, since their caretaker was absent through the whole first half. The witchcraft was too evil for my taste.
Content: witchcraft, black magic, tobacco, sorcery, suicide
Content: witchcraft, black magic, tobacco, sorcery, suicide
December 13, 2015
This was a good stories but honestly I can't read very many stories that center around the Salem Witch Trials without getting extremely frustrated at the town people who put aside all of their sense and chose to hang innocent people based on the unproved idiotic accusations of several teenage girls. But that being said, I really did like the main character Deliverance. She develops throughout the novel in a very natural way. You can see both the influence of the rigid puritan teachings (Something that I would not survive. I would be accused as a witch so fast my head would spin) but you can also see how she slowly begins to think for herself and refuse to get wrapped up in the mania surrounding the trials. I also liked how this focuses on the Deliverance and her family without solely focusing on the trials themselves.
January 9, 2017
One thing I greatly appreciated about this book was the author's commitment to historical accuracy, even in a fictionalized account. She spent 3 years researching--for one short middle grade book! Impressive.
May 9, 2008
This is a book my ten-year-old daughter checked out of the library, and I picked it up last night because I finished the last of my own library books. I am surprised at how good it is. It is "The Diary of Deliverance Trembly, Witness to the Salem Witch Trials." Deliverance--"Liv" for short, isn't that cool? and her sister is Mem, short for Remembrance!--is twelve. She is very pious. When she first discovers the blank journal that she makes her diary, she wonders, "Am I looking at the Devil's book, where he maketh his witches sign their names in blood?...I did not dare touch the book with my bare fingers lest evil be given a straight path to my heart." She actually opens it with the tip of her shoe. Deliverance is highly intelligent as well as devout, so it will be interesting to see how she deals with all the insanity of the witch trials.
Okay, I finished the book. Deliverance refuses to be drawn into the insanity. Interestingly, her sister says that maybe Deliverance is a witch, first because she refuses to go to the "examinations," and second because she finds Deliverance's diary. Remembrance can't read, so she suspects the worst. Deliverance reads her the diary aloud, which leads her sister to see reason. They move away from Salem at the end of the novel, which was a bit disappointing--it feels like the author decided to just back away from the issue. Still, not a bad book, especially considering that it was written for children.
Okay, I finished the book. Deliverance refuses to be drawn into the insanity. Interestingly, her sister says that maybe Deliverance is a witch, first because she refuses to go to the "examinations," and second because she finds Deliverance's diary. Remembrance can't read, so she suspects the worst. Deliverance reads her the diary aloud, which leads her sister to see reason. They move away from Salem at the end of the novel, which was a bit disappointing--it feels like the author decided to just back away from the issue. Still, not a bad book, especially considering that it was written for children.
May 28, 2025
This book is only 200 pages. The first 100 pages of that is just Liv going about her regular puritan life. Occasionally there's some gossip about some girls being afflicted with something, but Liv isn't sure what. Then we get about 50 pages of "OMG WITCHES!" and then the last 50 pages is Live being angry that Mem marries the boy she likes and somehow deciding that everyone is acting silly and witches aren't real.
It was a bore, and not what I was expecting when I picked this up. The Holocaust Dear America dove right into the awful things happening to Jewish people and the fear they were living in. I was kind of expecting this to give the same sort of insight about the Salem Witch Trials, but Liv was pretty far removed from it. At once point, she was going to the court hearings, but she stopped because she was having weird dreams about babies with the faces of those accused. So even then, Liv was only hearing about things second hand, and we were only hearing them from Liv. It's not what I really expect when reading a Diary. I wanted Liv's experiences (about the witch trials. Not an in depth recipe and instruction manual on how to make her favorite food), not the experiences of those around her that she recounts as if she's telling a scary story.
It was a bore, and not what I was expecting when I picked this up. The Holocaust Dear America dove right into the awful things happening to Jewish people and the fear they were living in. I was kind of expecting this to give the same sort of insight about the Salem Witch Trials, but Liv was pretty far removed from it. At once point, she was going to the court hearings, but she stopped because she was having weird dreams about babies with the faces of those accused. So even then, Liv was only hearing about things second hand, and we were only hearing them from Liv. It's not what I really expect when reading a Diary. I wanted Liv's experiences (about the witch trials. Not an in depth recipe and instruction manual on how to make her favorite food), not the experiences of those around her that she recounts as if she's telling a scary story.
August 5, 2022
I’m rereading the whole Dear America series as an adult to see how they hold up. I didn’t read this particular book as a kid, so this was all brand new for me.
I have to admit, I love narratives about the Salem Witch Trials. I thought this book was well-written and showed the way the hysteria spread in an effective way. The diary was compelling and engaging, and in true Dear America fashion chock full of factual information.
I liked this book a lot better than #1 in the series. My favorite part was Liv and Goody Corey talking about Native Americans. I like that the diary didn’t write off the prejudice that Liv had as something easy to fix, but rather promoted a series of discussions with a trusted figure that encouraged her to reevaluate her opinions.
I have to admit, I love narratives about the Salem Witch Trials. I thought this book was well-written and showed the way the hysteria spread in an effective way. The diary was compelling and engaging, and in true Dear America fashion chock full of factual information.
I liked this book a lot better than #1 in the series. My favorite part was Liv and Goody Corey talking about Native Americans. I like that the diary didn’t write off the prejudice that Liv had as something easy to fix, but rather promoted a series of discussions with a trusted figure that encouraged her to reevaluate her opinions.
May 21, 2025
Reading a Dear America diary as an adult is the best dose of nostalgia - it felt like a big, warm hug! I got hooked right away, just like I did when I read the entire series in the late 90s/early 00’s. After organizing my home library I realized there were only two diaries in the main series I hadn’t read, one of which was this one, which was perfect considering the Salem witch trials was a focal point for many of my academic essays and recurrent rabbit holes over the years. It was such a different experience reading these as an adult and already being familiar with the history, and recognizing many of the historical figures along the way (and in this case, knowing how many of them met their fate… yikes).
After viewing this mass hysteria event through an academic lens for so long, it was so grounding to see it through the eyes of a young girl, and you get a much more personal and centered sense of how the hysteria snowballed and how utterly terrifying it must have felt like to be mixed up in it, I hadn’t realized how much of the emotional side I was missing. That’s why I love these so much - no wonder they set me up to be a Kristin Hannah fan today. I’ll also always be a sucker for an epistolary format.
After viewing this mass hysteria event through an academic lens for so long, it was so grounding to see it through the eyes of a young girl, and you get a much more personal and centered sense of how the hysteria snowballed and how utterly terrifying it must have felt like to be mixed up in it, I hadn’t realized how much of the emotional side I was missing. That’s why I love these so much - no wonder they set me up to be a Kristin Hannah fan today. I’ll also always be a sucker for an epistolary format.
October 19, 2024
Book: I Walk in Dread
Author: Lisa Rowe Fraustino
Rating: 5 Out of 5 Stars
One of the more difficult titles in this series to track down and add to my collection. My library has a copy of this, which is where I always borrowed. It has become one of my favourite entries in this series. I feel like it is a Dear America book that has slipped under the radar. It is so well done and so well researched. Even as an adult, I still found myself enjoying this one. I think I enjoyed it more as an adult than I did as a child.
In this one, we follow Deliverance, who is growing up in Purtian Massachusetts. The church controls every aspect of her life and she lives in fear of letting the devil in. That is one of the first things she thinks of when she finds an empty book. She decides that God wanted her to find it and it is okay. She starts to keep an account of her day-to-day life in Salem. She and her sister, Mem, are alone. Their uncle is out for work and their brother is in the militia. However, they must keep it a secret because society greatly frowns on this. They keep up the illusion-that is until some girls in the town start acting very strangely. There can only be one reason for it: witches. The devil is at work in Salem. When people close to Liv start getting accused of witchcraft and the town gets wrapped up under the girls’ spell, Liv knows that it is only a matter of time before the witch trials hit home.
People have called this book disturbing. It is, I will give them that. However, you have to stop and think. The Salem Witch Trials is a very disturbing time in American history. We have a group of girls and young women who have someone uprooted Puritan society and caused mass hysteria. We have an entire society who lives in fear of the devil’s work and this is a nightmare coming true to them. It is a very different time and place than what we are used to. Females had no say in Puritan society. They were pretty much the property of their male relatives. There was a lot of pressure on everyone to do the Lord’s work and be the perfect person. The work was hard and life was hard. There were also divides in the town itself, which also added fuel to the fire. Plus, we don’t know for certain what was going on in the town at that time, because so many of the primary sources and court records from the trials were destroyed. The entire situation alone is very unsettling. I think the author did a good job of giving us this. I also don’t think it is too graphic for middle schoolers, which is the target age range.
The book is so well-researched and done as accurately as possible. We have a mixture of real and historical figures. We have the terror and the fear that the trials put into people. Liv has the voice of a Puritan, who also sees reason. The unknown and the uncertainly are right there on the page, brought to life. I think this book deserves more praise than it gets because of this.
I am going off on a bit of a tangent here for a second. Parents, listen up, if you have seen that this book has disturbing content in it, then don’t play the victim. It has been mentioned in other people’s reviews. Also if you know anything about the Salem Witch Trials, then you know it is a very disturbing time in history. It’s called being a parent and knowing what your child/children are reading. Don’t blame wherever you got the book for your child from. It’s called you not doing your part as a parent. Plus, this is history and history is not always kind. No, I am not sorry for saying this.
Overall, this is one of my top reads from the Dear America series. If you are looking for a good book about the Salem Witch Trials, I encourage you to give this a try.
Author: Lisa Rowe Fraustino
Rating: 5 Out of 5 Stars
One of the more difficult titles in this series to track down and add to my collection. My library has a copy of this, which is where I always borrowed. It has become one of my favourite entries in this series. I feel like it is a Dear America book that has slipped under the radar. It is so well done and so well researched. Even as an adult, I still found myself enjoying this one. I think I enjoyed it more as an adult than I did as a child.
In this one, we follow Deliverance, who is growing up in Purtian Massachusetts. The church controls every aspect of her life and she lives in fear of letting the devil in. That is one of the first things she thinks of when she finds an empty book. She decides that God wanted her to find it and it is okay. She starts to keep an account of her day-to-day life in Salem. She and her sister, Mem, are alone. Their uncle is out for work and their brother is in the militia. However, they must keep it a secret because society greatly frowns on this. They keep up the illusion-that is until some girls in the town start acting very strangely. There can only be one reason for it: witches. The devil is at work in Salem. When people close to Liv start getting accused of witchcraft and the town gets wrapped up under the girls’ spell, Liv knows that it is only a matter of time before the witch trials hit home.
People have called this book disturbing. It is, I will give them that. However, you have to stop and think. The Salem Witch Trials is a very disturbing time in American history. We have a group of girls and young women who have someone uprooted Puritan society and caused mass hysteria. We have an entire society who lives in fear of the devil’s work and this is a nightmare coming true to them. It is a very different time and place than what we are used to. Females had no say in Puritan society. They were pretty much the property of their male relatives. There was a lot of pressure on everyone to do the Lord’s work and be the perfect person. The work was hard and life was hard. There were also divides in the town itself, which also added fuel to the fire. Plus, we don’t know for certain what was going on in the town at that time, because so many of the primary sources and court records from the trials were destroyed. The entire situation alone is very unsettling. I think the author did a good job of giving us this. I also don’t think it is too graphic for middle schoolers, which is the target age range.
The book is so well-researched and done as accurately as possible. We have a mixture of real and historical figures. We have the terror and the fear that the trials put into people. Liv has the voice of a Puritan, who also sees reason. The unknown and the uncertainly are right there on the page, brought to life. I think this book deserves more praise than it gets because of this.
I am going off on a bit of a tangent here for a second. Parents, listen up, if you have seen that this book has disturbing content in it, then don’t play the victim. It has been mentioned in other people’s reviews. Also if you know anything about the Salem Witch Trials, then you know it is a very disturbing time in history. It’s called being a parent and knowing what your child/children are reading. Don’t blame wherever you got the book for your child from. It’s called you not doing your part as a parent. Plus, this is history and history is not always kind. No, I am not sorry for saying this.
Overall, this is one of my top reads from the Dear America series. If you are looking for a good book about the Salem Witch Trials, I encourage you to give this a try.
May 27, 2010
This was a wonderful book, though horrible depressing about the stupidity and cruelty of the Salem Witch Trials. Deliverance is a simple Puritan girl with an open mind. She reads the Bible to an old woman who already knows it by heart. When the old woman is accused by Deliverance's friends and family of being a witch, she must keep her head down as her closest friend is convicted, or she too will be accused of witchcraft. As the "cursed" girls in town get more ill, more people are charged with witchcraft until the girls at last have had their share of blood-lust and stop acting. I read this in 4th or 5th grade and I'd definitely read it again.
June 10, 2019
In my opinion, the author does a great job spinning a tale of an eye witness to the Salem witch trials without playing into the popular myths of other books from the time. The historical note does a great job tying everything together for those who might not be too familiar with this time in American history, or those who need a refresher. I liked how everyone (except the Cooper and Trembley family) in this book were real people. I’ve been to Salem multiple times so I was familiar with a lot of the names and could sort of imagine the setting.
Reading these historical books in order was a good idea. There were many references to King Phillip’s War which I’d just learned about from reading Weetamoo!
There were some sub plots to add to the character development of Liv and Mem, but they didn’t take away from the main focus of the witch trials themselves.
It’s a scary story in the sense that these are true events. Real people really accused other innocents of being witches. And sentenced them to death. These real people seemed to actually believe their accusations are true. Scary. What surprises me is that an event like this didn’t ever happen again. People are only human. And there’s plenty of evidence of people every year truly believing with all their worth in something that is wrong. Hopefully mass hysteria that leads to innocent deaths will not happen again.
Reading these historical books in order was a good idea. There were many references to King Phillip’s War which I’d just learned about from reading Weetamoo!
There were some sub plots to add to the character development of Liv and Mem, but they didn’t take away from the main focus of the witch trials themselves.
It’s a scary story in the sense that these are true events. Real people really accused other innocents of being witches. And sentenced them to death. These real people seemed to actually believe their accusations are true. Scary. What surprises me is that an event like this didn’t ever happen again. People are only human. And there’s plenty of evidence of people every year truly believing with all their worth in something that is wrong. Hopefully mass hysteria that leads to innocent deaths will not happen again.
April 24, 2025
Um, yeahhhhhhh ....
The story builds up and then suddenly ends. There's a long afterwards to explain what was currently known and unknown about the Salem Witch Trials. Since I was raised a Born Again Christian, I couldnt help but smile as the author tried to explain the basic concepts of an omnipotent God and all evil coming from Satan. Since this is for kids, there's no mention of torture of those "put to the question" (a bit of a relief for me, to be honest.)
Historically, this is pretty iffy. Although Goody Corey is a strong character, based on the historical Martha Corey, her opinions really clash with Puritans of the day. Quite frankly, almost all Puritans believed in witches and black magic. They also believed women were inferior to men. Even the women believed that.
There are some points brought up and then dropped, which was annoying. For example, there was a big deal about the family hens not laying eggs, but this is never explained, beyond witchcraft and possibly a blizzard interrupting the egg factories.
Well, it was something different, anyway.
The story builds up and then suddenly ends. There's a long afterwards to explain what was currently known and unknown about the Salem Witch Trials. Since I was raised a Born Again Christian, I couldnt help but smile as the author tried to explain the basic concepts of an omnipotent God and all evil coming from Satan. Since this is for kids, there's no mention of torture of those "put to the question" (a bit of a relief for me, to be honest.)
Historically, this is pretty iffy. Although Goody Corey is a strong character, based on the historical Martha Corey, her opinions really clash with Puritans of the day. Quite frankly, almost all Puritans believed in witches and black magic. They also believed women were inferior to men. Even the women believed that.
There are some points brought up and then dropped, which was annoying. For example, there was a big deal about the family hens not laying eggs, but this is never explained, beyond witchcraft and possibly a blizzard interrupting the egg factories.
Well, it was something different, anyway.
July 30, 2024
A really balanced introduction to the Salem witch trials. I loved the tension between the two trains of thought in Salem shown through the two sisters, I think it’s an excellent way to help children understand the varied and nuanced ways people can understand history. It helps introduce historical thinking by connecting it to personal relationships, with which children are much more familiar. This book was excellent, and the wealth of fun facts about living in colonial Massachusetts were nice too:)
July 31, 2025
This is my first reread of my Dear America readathon, and I enjoyed it perhaps more than I did 15 years ago. I believe as an adult I am appropriately horrified by the events of the Salem Witch Trials in a way that I could not have been at 14. This book brings up the questions we still ask about the SWT, even 300+ years later…
Why did the girls do what they did?
Why did so many reasonable people believe them?
What possesses an entire community to commit such horrific miscarriages of justice?
What does it mean for us today?
In terms of storytelling, I liked the narrator of this one quite a bit and I loved the sister dynamic. It felt very real the way that the diarist wrote about her sister.
All in all, a great and timely story about legalism, mob mentality, and religious fearmongering.
RANKING:
1. A Light in the Storm
2. I Walk in Dread
3. Seeds of Hope
Why did the girls do what they did?
Why did so many reasonable people believe them?
What possesses an entire community to commit such horrific miscarriages of justice?
What does it mean for us today?
In terms of storytelling, I liked the narrator of this one quite a bit and I loved the sister dynamic. It felt very real the way that the diarist wrote about her sister.
All in all, a great and timely story about legalism, mob mentality, and religious fearmongering.
RANKING:
1. A Light in the Storm
2. I Walk in Dread
3. Seeds of Hope
May 17, 2021
A new favorite for me. The author really hits the nail on the head in portraying the paranoia that reigned during the Salem witch hunt. I especially appreciated the historical note, as the author goes into some details about common myths associated with the Salem witch hunt and explains how the primary and secondary sources have been interpreted and mis-interpreted in the modern imagination. An all around fantastic book - with the slight caveat that the old timey date entries (ye 6th of January) were annoying.
October 28, 2022
It was good for what it was. I think what I appreciated the most about it was the epilogue that tied everything together. It was a bit slow, but the author did state she wanted to make it as factual as possible, which I respect.
November 24, 2022
À Salem Witch Trials entry in the Dear America series. Recommended for ages 9-14.
July 31, 2023
I used to love this series when I was a kid. I don't currently own a TV so I'm reading easy things in the evening instead. This book was interesting because mass hysteria brings to mind so many questions.
February 4, 2025
Reading all the Dear Americas and Royal Diaries (45/63)
Fascinating to read, would have been absolutely terrible to live. It's so interesting that in a world where women don't really have a voice they trusted these young girls' experience so much as to prosecute and execute innocent people. Liv's story and character growth across the book is admirable.
Fascinating to read, would have been absolutely terrible to live. It's so interesting that in a world where women don't really have a voice they trusted these young girls' experience so much as to prosecute and execute innocent people. Liv's story and character growth across the book is admirable.
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September 2, 2025
Still going through the Dear America books for nostalgia's sake. Another good one.
March 11, 2017
What a creepy time in history this story portrays; but with Liv's sense of humor it doesn't get too somber. There were times I felt a little lost with some of the names and their importance. It's hard to believe a time in history where people could have become so smothered in gossip and superstition to have allowed such a tragedy as the Salem Witch Trials to take place. At times it was hard to read. The epilogue was probably my favorite.
March 18, 2021
This was one of the first in this series where I actually felt the culture shock of following someone’s thoughts and beliefs that are so foreign to my own. For the first half of this book, the narrator Liv believes with every fiber of her being in witches and devils and Satan working amongst her community. She is a Puritan through and through and it’s a startling and terrifying and harsh reality! This book set me on edge from the beginning and held me there to the end. I felt the personal relationship strains resolved too quickly at the end and some out of place modern thinking worked its way in, but the only reason it stood out was because of how intensely puritanical the book started! I was also mildly surprised more of the trials were not portrayed, but I also understand why - it was a brutal moment in history - but that’s never stopped this series before?
November 12, 2023
I read this nearly 20 years ago (!!) and I remember the first time reading this that I did not like Mem, since her little sister complained about her being lazy and all lovey-dovey over Mr. Cooper and Darcy. Reading this as an adult I have some more sympathy for Mem. She is sick a lot of the time (due to what is never explained - but she is often coughing, feels tired a lot, and often succumbs to fevers, so it could be a chronic illness or allergies) but she does pull her weight in some respects. Her sister acknowledges she is an excellent cook, has better social skills than Deliverance, knows how to barter and trade, and it is clear they care about each other. But as anyone knows, living in a place with another person can get frustrating at times.
The author made some excellent choices that really elevate this book. One of them was keeping the sisters away from the main action most of the time due to their faraway location from the church, obstacles in the form of Mem's illness, bad weather, and the need to hide the fact their uncle abandoned them (if this was found out, they would be forced to enter into someone else's household and be potentially separated). They only know so much and have to find out about the action through gossip or other eyewitnesses. There is this really funny section when like half the town arrives in their home to "check" on Mem and provide some cures and drinks to help alleviate her illness. Eventually, everyone settles down and watches Mem until a kid pipes up: There is no sport here! She isn't afflicted! So, there was this whole hub of gossip about the Trembley sisters and the possibility Mem was struck by witchcraft. After this, the bubble bursts and the townsfolk slink away.
Another excellent decision was including Goody Corey, who strikes a friendship with Deliverance by initially having her come over and read to her. The friendship blossoms, with Goody Corey helping develop Deliverance's critical thinking skills. Goody Corey presents theories on several challenges and events going on, such as explaining why the Native Americans raid the homes/outposts of settlers, a potential reason why the original afflicted girls are acting the way they are, and just generally having a good head on her soldiers. Including this real-life person really added dimension - granted this is a fictional account and we will never know what Goody Corey was like in real life, but it is adds to the atmosphere and to the book.
I knocked off one star because the tone of Deliverance veered from a young child to that of a wizened old Aunt. Writing from the perspective and tone of a child is difficult, especially when you don't have much in the way of first-person sources from children at that time. But there were times the voice of the author came through a bit too strongly and Deliverance writes more like an adult than a 12-year old girl.
Deliverance is a bit dense at times, but this feels realistic for a 12-year-old at any time in history. One example of her inexperience and shallow critical thinking skills is early in her diary. She remarks that a family paid a man to take the son's place in the militia. Deliverance writes "I do not see why some men have to fight over and over until they lose their lives while others get to stay at home, but it is not my place to question the Lord's will." What is going here is that a rich family was able to pay for their son to stay at home while a poor boy has to go and take his place. Tale as old as time - the poor fighting the rich man's battles.
Deliverance often worries about her sister and herself and wonders if the reason they have bad things happen to them - such as Mem cracking a rib through coughing so much - is because God is punishing them. This is actually pretty realistic for diaries written by Puritans at this time. This fascinating article about the scholar/writer/Puritan best-seller Wigglesworth (who is named-dropped in this diary!) explains:
Fraustino spent a long time researching for this book and it comes across in her references to different texts (such as Wigglesworth's epic poem The Day of Doom, or, a Poetical Description of the Great and Last Judgement and Mrs. Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God: A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson), recipes for food and making ink, and just how terrifying it was to live in those times - Native American and French raids were common and could happen anytime, illnesses that spread through animals and/or people could wipe out entire families and devastate communities, and women and girls did not have that much in the way of power or independence. The sisters have to go to great lengths to support their own home and independence by careful omissions of truth, being tight with money, and supporting themselves through trade.
This is a great book that still holds up for me. Reminds me a bit of Celia Rees's Witch Child - both books are in a diary format, the main character is a young girl, they live in a Puritan settlement, there are accusations of witchcraft afoot... there are some major differences between the two, but they could pair well together.
The author made some excellent choices that really elevate this book. One of them was keeping the sisters away from the main action most of the time due to their faraway location from the church, obstacles in the form of Mem's illness, bad weather, and the need to hide the fact their uncle abandoned them (if this was found out, they would be forced to enter into someone else's household and be potentially separated). They only know so much and have to find out about the action through gossip or other eyewitnesses. There is this really funny section when like half the town arrives in their home to "check" on Mem and provide some cures and drinks to help alleviate her illness. Eventually, everyone settles down and watches Mem until a kid pipes up: There is no sport here! She isn't afflicted! So, there was this whole hub of gossip about the Trembley sisters and the possibility Mem was struck by witchcraft. After this, the bubble bursts and the townsfolk slink away.
Another excellent decision was including Goody Corey, who strikes a friendship with Deliverance by initially having her come over and read to her. The friendship blossoms, with Goody Corey helping develop Deliverance's critical thinking skills. Goody Corey presents theories on several challenges and events going on, such as explaining why the Native Americans raid the homes/outposts of settlers, a potential reason why the original afflicted girls are acting the way they are, and just generally having a good head on her soldiers. Including this real-life person really added dimension - granted this is a fictional account and we will never know what Goody Corey was like in real life, but it is adds to the atmosphere and to the book.
I knocked off one star because the tone of Deliverance veered from a young child to that of a wizened old Aunt. Writing from the perspective and tone of a child is difficult, especially when you don't have much in the way of first-person sources from children at that time. But there were times the voice of the author came through a bit too strongly and Deliverance writes more like an adult than a 12-year old girl.
Deliverance is a bit dense at times, but this feels realistic for a 12-year-old at any time in history. One example of her inexperience and shallow critical thinking skills is early in her diary. She remarks that a family paid a man to take the son's place in the militia. Deliverance writes "I do not see why some men have to fight over and over until they lose their lives while others get to stay at home, but it is not my place to question the Lord's will." What is going here is that a rich family was able to pay for their son to stay at home while a poor boy has to go and take his place. Tale as old as time - the poor fighting the rich man's battles.
Deliverance often worries about her sister and herself and wonders if the reason they have bad things happen to them - such as Mem cracking a rib through coughing so much - is because God is punishing them. This is actually pretty realistic for diaries written by Puritans at this time. This fascinating article about the scholar/writer/Puritan best-seller Wigglesworth (who is named-dropped in this diary!) explains:
Puritans hold a peculiar place in the modern imagination. They are stereotypically portrayed as fixated on sin and delighting in punishment. And this particular Puritan seems to lend himself rather unfortunately to stereotype. Because of his diary, Wigglesworth has been described as overwrought, neurotic, a distillation of Puritanical anxieties. One notable entry sees him worrying over whether he has a duty to let his neighbors know that their stable door is blowing open in the wind as if it is a life-or-death situation. Many of the entries read the same way, whether about pride, lust, or some other perceived shortcoming.If I understand the Puritan mindset, they were constantly thinking about what they may have done wrong, how they offended God or their community, and needing to repent for it. This could help explain why the Salem Witch Trials took off the way they did - the people were so focused on sin and how it impacted everyone, that the Witch Trials went way out of control because were primed to believe God had been offended and was punishing them - they had to "resolve" it by finding witches, which lead to a lot of harm and several people being executed.
But Wigglesworth’s diary was actually quite typical in its anxious fixation on sin. Diaries like his were a common method of religious devotion for Puritans. The purpose was for the diarist to meditate on their sins to come to a greater assurance of salvation through divine grace.
Fraustino spent a long time researching for this book and it comes across in her references to different texts (such as Wigglesworth's epic poem The Day of Doom, or, a Poetical Description of the Great and Last Judgement and Mrs. Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God: A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson), recipes for food and making ink, and just how terrifying it was to live in those times - Native American and French raids were common and could happen anytime, illnesses that spread through animals and/or people could wipe out entire families and devastate communities, and women and girls did not have that much in the way of power or independence. The sisters have to go to great lengths to support their own home and independence by careful omissions of truth, being tight with money, and supporting themselves through trade.
This is a great book that still holds up for me. Reminds me a bit of Celia Rees's Witch Child - both books are in a diary format, the main character is a young girl, they live in a Puritan settlement, there are accusations of witchcraft afoot... there are some major differences between the two, but they could pair well together.
February 23, 2011
I Walk in Dread / 0-439-24973-2
This is a spectacular rendition of the Salem history. The author walks an incredibly fine line here, and manages to be perfectly respectful of religious belief whilst still maintaining a healthy concern that the witch-hunters may be motivated by causes other than the supernatural. Illness, maliciousness, boredom, and confusion are all presented here as possible motives for the hysteria. I'm pleased that the book does not focus only on the "accusing girls"; an important point is carefully made about the magistrates at the trials and their complete unwillingness to consider any possibility that the accused might be innocent. This is a crucial lynch-pin issue of the Salem trials, and I was pleased that it was noted so carefully here.
Tension in the book is heightened by the fact that the author's own sister is completely taken with the spectacle of the trials and the diarist fears that she may, eventually, be accused by her own sister - more out of sibling rivalry and difficult family dynamics than anything else. When the two girls work out their differences, the elder sister realizes how close she came to falsely believing slander against her sister. An important point is made against being caught up in group-think and mass hysteria.
Obviously the subject matter is a bit touchy for very small children - parents will need to be ready to explain witchcraft and witchery as the Puritans understood it. And, of course, several people are executed in the course of these trials, and a small child will likely be deeply upset by the injustice and cruelty of those involved. I do not believe that children should be prevented from learning about this important stain on our history, just that this learning should take place in a nurturing environment where the parent can answer these hard questions.
~ Ana Mardoll
This is a spectacular rendition of the Salem history. The author walks an incredibly fine line here, and manages to be perfectly respectful of religious belief whilst still maintaining a healthy concern that the witch-hunters may be motivated by causes other than the supernatural. Illness, maliciousness, boredom, and confusion are all presented here as possible motives for the hysteria. I'm pleased that the book does not focus only on the "accusing girls"; an important point is carefully made about the magistrates at the trials and their complete unwillingness to consider any possibility that the accused might be innocent. This is a crucial lynch-pin issue of the Salem trials, and I was pleased that it was noted so carefully here.
Tension in the book is heightened by the fact that the author's own sister is completely taken with the spectacle of the trials and the diarist fears that she may, eventually, be accused by her own sister - more out of sibling rivalry and difficult family dynamics than anything else. When the two girls work out their differences, the elder sister realizes how close she came to falsely believing slander against her sister. An important point is made against being caught up in group-think and mass hysteria.
Obviously the subject matter is a bit touchy for very small children - parents will need to be ready to explain witchcraft and witchery as the Puritans understood it. And, of course, several people are executed in the course of these trials, and a small child will likely be deeply upset by the injustice and cruelty of those involved. I do not believe that children should be prevented from learning about this important stain on our history, just that this learning should take place in a nurturing environment where the parent can answer these hard questions.
~ Ana Mardoll
January 20, 2014
I think this is one of the worst books I have read in a long time. Historically, it was not quite accurate. It was shallow, and the story that was being told, while it included the witch trials to some extent, did not really focus on the significance of these events in history, as they would have been significant to the girls of the time.
First of all, the way Deliverance ends up viewing the witch trials is by no means a thought process that would even have entered her head. Certainly, she would have been shocked and appalled at some of the woman who were convicted as witches--but this would have been because she had not sensed the devil in them, not because she believed them, even throughout the entire trial, to be innocent.
The date headings in this book made no sense. What does "Tuesday ye 29th of December, 1691" even mean? Grammatically, this makes no sense, and it certainly would not have been close to how they would have written dates then. This is especially sad since we do have historical records and can actually see how exactly they wrote dates in 1691-1692.
Also, there are a couple of typos within this book. That is just sad, and it happens all the time in books. One I will mention goes from the bottom of page 165 to the top of page 166, being, "He said he did not wish to go, either, but planned to say home and work." I did, in fact, mean to type "say" there, because that is what is written in the book. I assume, though the context of this quote, that it is meant to be "stay" (i.e. he was planning to STAY home just as Deliverance was), but this is not what the text says.
First of all, the way Deliverance ends up viewing the witch trials is by no means a thought process that would even have entered her head. Certainly, she would have been shocked and appalled at some of the woman who were convicted as witches--but this would have been because she had not sensed the devil in them, not because she believed them, even throughout the entire trial, to be innocent.
The date headings in this book made no sense. What does "Tuesday ye 29th of December, 1691" even mean? Grammatically, this makes no sense, and it certainly would not have been close to how they would have written dates then. This is especially sad since we do have historical records and can actually see how exactly they wrote dates in 1691-1692.
Also, there are a couple of typos within this book. That is just sad, and it happens all the time in books. One I will mention goes from the bottom of page 165 to the top of page 166, being, "He said he did not wish to go, either, but planned to say home and work." I did, in fact, mean to type "say" there, because that is what is written in the book. I assume, though the context of this quote, that it is meant to be "stay" (i.e. he was planning to STAY home just as Deliverance was), but this is not what the text says.
November 2, 2011
I really found this book fascinating. It is about the Salem Witch Trials. This book is written as a journal. I am always partial to books that are written in journal form. I read this book with Megan and we spent a lot of time talking about it.
Pg 27 "The white rolling fields glittered with the grandeur of God. In that moment I felt as one with all creation. I felt like part o something too big and too beautiful to understand. Was that a moment of grace? Is that what it felt like to know one is among God's Elect? As I wondered, the clouds came rolling in and returned the world to darkness. Did that mean I am not one of His chosen few?
This mentality is ever so strange. The people in this time period may have believed in God, although they had some strange views as to whether or not God favored them. I do not think they necessarily believed that we are all children of God.
Pg 44 "Praise spoileth the child as surely as molasses rots the teeth"
Pg 63 I loved the description of the tithing man. "The Tithing Man mostly keeps people from sleeping, but boys will also be rapped pitilessly if they are too wide awake." He does this with a stick with a rabbits foot tied on the end of it.
Pg 102 I found the reading of Mrs Rowlandson very interesting.
Pg 167 "Why would the devil need the magic of witches to do his work when he has plenty of stupid people to do it for him?"
I felt the author did a good job using the language of the time period.
Pg 27 "The white rolling fields glittered with the grandeur of God. In that moment I felt as one with all creation. I felt like part o something too big and too beautiful to understand. Was that a moment of grace? Is that what it felt like to know one is among God's Elect? As I wondered, the clouds came rolling in and returned the world to darkness. Did that mean I am not one of His chosen few?
This mentality is ever so strange. The people in this time period may have believed in God, although they had some strange views as to whether or not God favored them. I do not think they necessarily believed that we are all children of God.
Pg 44 "Praise spoileth the child as surely as molasses rots the teeth"
Pg 63 I loved the description of the tithing man. "The Tithing Man mostly keeps people from sleeping, but boys will also be rapped pitilessly if they are too wide awake." He does this with a stick with a rabbits foot tied on the end of it.
Pg 102 I found the reading of Mrs Rowlandson very interesting.
Pg 167 "Why would the devil need the magic of witches to do his work when he has plenty of stupid people to do it for him?"
I felt the author did a good job using the language of the time period.
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