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Susannah Morrow
An irresistible blend of history, suspense, and romance, SUSANNAH MORROW captures the extraordinary drama of the Salem witch trials.The hysteria and deceit that gripped Salem, Massachusetts, and ended the lives of 24 men and women in 1692 has been the basis of many works of fiction. Now, Megan Chance combines high drama, sweeping romance, and historical accuracy to offer a fresh perspective on the Salem witch trials. At the heart of SUSANNAH MORROW are the accused, the accuser, and the man who loves them both, and each becomes a tragic victim of the time. At 15, Charity Fowler has lost too her mother in childbirth and her illusions about romance to a young man who broke her heart. Her father, a devout Christian, has withdrawn from the family, and her aunt, Susannah, who has moved to Salem from London, is struggling to find her place in a family, and a community, that are threatened by her obvious sensuality. It quickly becomes clear that Susannah has chosen the wrong time to enter this society, as religious fervor, repressed emotions, and sexual guilt are about to explode into a form of hysteria that will condemn her as a victim in one of the most gruesome chapters of American history.
483 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 7, 2002
81 people are currently reading
2548 people want to read
About the author
Megan Chance
32 books704 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Megan Chance is the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of several novels. Booklist calls her writing “Provocative and haunting.” Her books have been chosen by Amazon's Book of the Month, Borders Original Voices and IndieNext. A former television news photographer with a BA from Western Washington University, Megan Chance lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. Visit her at www.meganchance.com
Megan Chance is the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of several novels. Booklist calls her writing “Provocative and haunting.” Her books have been chosen by Amazon's Book of the Month, Borders Original Voices and IndieNext. A former television news photographer with a BA from Western Washington University, Megan Chance lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. Visit her at www.meganchance.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
October 2, 2015
This was okay. Not as good as I had hoped. Started slow and by the time I got really into it, it ended.
April 30, 2015
Too sleepy for a full review, but here's the short version:
Flat plot (i.e., no highs or lows) + flat characters + repetitive Puritan emoz + confusing Puritan politics = 3 stars. However, the writing itself was good & the setting was vividly described with strong details woven throughout. It feels like Chance was trying too hard to make Serious Lit-Fic(tm) after getting her start in romance novels -- the overcompensation was strong in this one -- but I'll not be afraid to try her later novels.
Edit: After posting last night, I realize the single biggest flaw of this book is an idiot hero. I'm not judging his errors re: the witch craze -- though modern readers may wonder at Salem's bizarre group-think hysteria, the culture of that era was very different. Fair enough. But Lucas' idiocy is far more basic. He knows nothing about his family & very little about human nature in general. He was completely oblivious to glaringly obvious things, & there's no legit reason why he should be so clueless (or such an emo crybaby). He's just dumb. Only in fiction would Susannah & Lucas fall in love -- their romance is rather forced, & it weighs the novel down.
Flat plot (i.e., no highs or lows) + flat characters + repetitive Puritan emoz + confusing Puritan politics = 3 stars. However, the writing itself was good & the setting was vividly described with strong details woven throughout. It feels like Chance was trying too hard to make Serious Lit-Fic(tm) after getting her start in romance novels -- the overcompensation was strong in this one -- but I'll not be afraid to try her later novels.
Edit: After posting last night, I realize the single biggest flaw of this book is an idiot hero. I'm not judging his errors re: the witch craze -- though modern readers may wonder at Salem's bizarre group-think hysteria, the culture of that era was very different. Fair enough. But Lucas' idiocy is far more basic. He knows nothing about his family & very little about human nature in general. He was completely oblivious to glaringly obvious things, & there's no legit reason why he should be so clueless (or such an emo crybaby). He's just dumb. Only in fiction would Susannah & Lucas fall in love -- their romance is rather forced, & it weighs the novel down.
January 22, 2011
Pretty decent take on the Salem witch trials of the 1690's. Chance breaks this book up into 3 parts, and each part is told through the voice of the 3 main characters in the novel: Charity, Lucas and Susannah.
Part 1 (Charity's section): 2 stars
Part 2 (Lucas' section): 4 stars
Part 3 (Susannah's section): 3 stars
Part 1 (Charity's section): 2 stars
Part 2 (Lucas' section): 4 stars
Part 3 (Susannah's section): 3 stars
August 30, 2010
This is a beautiful story told with style and lyricism. The story shifts among three viewpoints but that adds to the fascination. It is a somewhat different perspective on the oft-told story of the Salem witch trials. Since I lived in Salem for several years I was a little afraid this would be yet another collection of misinformation but the author chose instead to focus on the love story at its core. It delivers a strong message about hate and intolerance and also on the difficulty of resisting peer pressure. But ultimately it is about the choice to love despite all. Lovely book.
May 24, 2021
This book was broken into sections based on the 3 main characters. The first section was a bit slow for my taste but set the plot up well. The next sections were much more interesting and provided some insight into how the madness of the Salem witch trial spread throughout the village. The author did a nice job of weaving the fictional main characters in amongst actual historical figures and providing context of the politics and religious beliefs of the time period.
November 19, 2015
Susannah Morrow did not exist in the cursed Massachusetts Bay Colony, but she captures the essence of all the women falsely accused & imprisoned for bewitching the children of Salem Village. Susannah, who arrives at her sister's home on the eve of her death in childbirth, quickly becomes a target because of her beauty and mystery. Blinded by grief and lust, members of her own extended family delude themselves into thinking that Susannah has made a pact with the Devil that will bring ruin to them all. I applaud the author for exploring the fundamental issues behind the irrational hysterics that led to the deaths of many innocent villagers.
October 28, 2015
I SAW GOODY PROCTOR WITH THE DEVIL! I really enjoyed this – there was a great palpable sense of dread, especially in Charity's section and, well, knowing history and all that GREAT tension between Super Puritan Lucas and Susannah – though I did find the ending to be rather anticlimactic (and frustrating? character motivations read as super muddied by the end).
August 6, 2008
This was an interesting portrayal of life for women during the Salem trials. I had a hard time getting into it, but it improved later on.
October 8, 2010
It was a great book! To me I feel it had an unfinished ending and I don't like that.
February 13, 2011
Good, not great. Very good and interesting picture of day to day life at that time. I thought the Susannah character was unconvincing and too contemporary.
March 25, 2017
On the night that Charity Fowler witnesses her mother die giving birth, her aunt, Susannah Morrow, arrives in Salem. For Charity, struggling to gain the attention and approval of her father, Lucas, Susannah's kindly, free nature seems to be the very definition of sinful, and Charity is drawn to meeting with other girls who are obsessed with sin and witchcraft. But they soon unleash a storm of accusations in which no one is safe.
Unfortunately, Susannah Morrow wasn't a great read. I was intrigued by the idea behind it, particularly the notion of "the fanaticism, repressed emotions and sexual guilt" (quoted from the GoodReads description) in Salem playing a role in the trials. And while author Megan Chance does play with some interesting themes in the story, it just didn't feel well done.
The first section, told in the point of view of Charity, felt dull – I was bored, and I really shouldn't have been. There's enough drama in Charity's circumstances and the shifts she's going through to make an absolutely fabulous story, but instead, it was like watching paint dry. What's more is that I actively disliked her by the end of the segment and didn't care one whit about her.
Things picked up by the end of the first section, as we started moving into the beginnings of the witch trials, and shifted character focus to Lucas. However, I was discomfited that Lucas – previously characterised as a stern, stiff and unrelentingly Puritan male – was given a makeover. He became a decent man, almost liberal (for his setting, at least) in his attitudes and all that typical repressed Puritan brutishness became the fault of his dead wife. That way, he could emerge as the romantic hero for the sensual, but also only reasonable and decent person around, Susannah Morrow.
The third section, this time told from Susannah's point of view, was by far the most satisfying, perhaps because we moved away from the moody, repressed, fundamentalist Puritan teenager and the slightly less repressed and fundamentalist Puritan hunk, to the actual meat of the Salem Witch Trials. Or perhaps because Chance didn't see it as another chance to tell the same story from a different POV again. Either way, I enjoyed it the most.
The writing did the job, never standing out as good or particularly terrible. However, I was flinching every time Chance used "twas" or "tis" – honestly, it just felt like Chance was using them because they sound so old timey and that suited her settings. But honestly it stuck out like a sore thumb and was just unnatural. "It was" and "it is" are perfectly fine to use in historical fiction.
And while I did like the themes this book plays with, it only played with them in a very superficial and shallow way. I love those themes, I want more of them. Not something that just hints at it then gives me more romance.
The main characters are invented for this story, and there are some inaccuracies in this tale. Chance seems to use Arthur Miller's The Crucible as inspiration for the historical figures (Abigail Williams reads older than her real age of 11, Tituba is again presented as a witch and so on), which is pretty unfortunate as Miller isn't an accurate source of history at all and diverts from history for the sake of his story.
All up, this is a book I was disappointed by.
Unfortunately, Susannah Morrow wasn't a great read. I was intrigued by the idea behind it, particularly the notion of "the fanaticism, repressed emotions and sexual guilt" (quoted from the GoodReads description) in Salem playing a role in the trials. And while author Megan Chance does play with some interesting themes in the story, it just didn't feel well done.
The first section, told in the point of view of Charity, felt dull – I was bored, and I really shouldn't have been. There's enough drama in Charity's circumstances and the shifts she's going through to make an absolutely fabulous story, but instead, it was like watching paint dry. What's more is that I actively disliked her by the end of the segment and didn't care one whit about her.
Things picked up by the end of the first section, as we started moving into the beginnings of the witch trials, and shifted character focus to Lucas. However, I was discomfited that Lucas – previously characterised as a stern, stiff and unrelentingly Puritan male – was given a makeover. He became a decent man, almost liberal (for his setting, at least) in his attitudes and all that typical repressed Puritan brutishness became the fault of his dead wife. That way, he could emerge as the romantic hero for the sensual, but also only reasonable and decent person around, Susannah Morrow.
The third section, this time told from Susannah's point of view, was by far the most satisfying, perhaps because we moved away from the moody, repressed, fundamentalist Puritan teenager and the slightly less repressed and fundamentalist Puritan hunk, to the actual meat of the Salem Witch Trials. Or perhaps because Chance didn't see it as another chance to tell the same story from a different POV again. Either way, I enjoyed it the most.
The writing did the job, never standing out as good or particularly terrible. However, I was flinching every time Chance used "twas" or "tis" – honestly, it just felt like Chance was using them because they sound so old timey and that suited her settings. But honestly it stuck out like a sore thumb and was just unnatural. "It was" and "it is" are perfectly fine to use in historical fiction.
And while I did like the themes this book plays with, it only played with them in a very superficial and shallow way. I love those themes, I want more of them. Not something that just hints at it then gives me more romance.
The main characters are invented for this story, and there are some inaccuracies in this tale. Chance seems to use Arthur Miller's The Crucible as inspiration for the historical figures (Abigail Williams reads older than her real age of 11, Tituba is again presented as a witch and so on), which is pretty unfortunate as Miller isn't an accurate source of history at all and diverts from history for the sake of his story.
All up, this is a book I was disappointed by.
January 29, 2025
1691, Suzannah Morrow arrives from England to visit on her request her sister and her family who live in Salem. When her sister dies from childbirth Suzannah stays to care for her brother in law Lucas, and the three children, Charity, Jude and baby faith. Haunted by her own sin, sixteen year old Charity believes that Suzannah has taken the road of the devil. When the young girls of the village start to show signs of bewitchment no one can imagine the horror that will descend upon the village. Suzannah then starts to see what terrible danger she is now in.
My Thoughts:
This book is a perfect read for the lead up to Halloween. Based loosley on true events of the Salem witch trials it shows how little villages and close knit communities are full of superstition. One wrong word and nobody is safe. The story is told from the point of views of Charity, Lucas and the Suzannah.
Charity tells about her mother death and the arrival of her aunt Suzannah. Her aunt only wants to help her but Charity cannot see this and is easliy lead by the girls in the village. Could grief play a part in her actions. Lucas wants only the best for his famliy but very quickly falls for the beautiful Suzannah then believes that he too was bewitched. Suzannah only wants to help and look after her dead sister family but finds out quickly that it is not going to be easy, and she herself cannot help her own attraction to Lucas. When she is imprisioned for witchcraft she still tries to look out for the family.
As the story builds so does the tension. I really couldn’t put this book down. It shows how superstition and religion can run riot in a small town and get out of hand. The authors note explains a little of what went on and some of the characters in the book are real people. What I didn’t realise is that men too were impriosned for witchcraft and also children as young as four.
I will be looking out for more books by Megan Chance and would highly recommend this book. The only reason I didn’t give the book 5 stars is that I read the last page not realising that it was the last one. I turned the page expecting something else not to be left wondering
My Thoughts:
This book is a perfect read for the lead up to Halloween. Based loosley on true events of the Salem witch trials it shows how little villages and close knit communities are full of superstition. One wrong word and nobody is safe. The story is told from the point of views of Charity, Lucas and the Suzannah.
Charity tells about her mother death and the arrival of her aunt Suzannah. Her aunt only wants to help her but Charity cannot see this and is easliy lead by the girls in the village. Could grief play a part in her actions. Lucas wants only the best for his famliy but very quickly falls for the beautiful Suzannah then believes that he too was bewitched. Suzannah only wants to help and look after her dead sister family but finds out quickly that it is not going to be easy, and she herself cannot help her own attraction to Lucas. When she is imprisioned for witchcraft she still tries to look out for the family.
As the story builds so does the tension. I really couldn’t put this book down. It shows how superstition and religion can run riot in a small town and get out of hand. The authors note explains a little of what went on and some of the characters in the book are real people. What I didn’t realise is that men too were impriosned for witchcraft and also children as young as four.
I will be looking out for more books by Megan Chance and would highly recommend this book. The only reason I didn’t give the book 5 stars is that I read the last page not realising that it was the last one. I turned the page expecting something else not to be left wondering
February 4, 2021
Well written horror
This was a very hard book to read. A horror story really. The ending does not absolve the plot. One is left wondering how this could be and why no punishment for the delusional girls, as well as how one could forgive a loved one for putting them in harm’s way. It shows how we destroy those who are different. Well written, but frustrating and I would read her other books instead.
It takes you absolutely to the time with honesty, but there is no pleasure in this book in reading due to the horror of it all.
This was a very hard book to read. A horror story really. The ending does not absolve the plot. One is left wondering how this could be and why no punishment for the delusional girls, as well as how one could forgive a loved one for putting them in harm’s way. It shows how we destroy those who are different. Well written, but frustrating and I would read her other books instead.
It takes you absolutely to the time with honesty, but there is no pleasure in this book in reading due to the horror of it all.
May 25, 2020
A good read, not great. It was broken into four parts, parts two and three the better of them. I had a hard time keeping track of the afflicted girls and whose family they came from. Disappointing ending after the long journey of reading, in my opinion. Interesting topic s for historical fiction fans but it falls short of following through expectations.
September 20, 2018
Je suis partagée pour ce livre que je trouve bien écrit mais dont j'ai du mal à définir le genre. Il manquait de détails, de mystère... Je vous donne mon avis complet sur mon blog : http://plumedelune.com/histoire-de-sa...
October 8, 2021
A really believable fictionalisation of the events up to, during and after the Salem witch trials. Very well written and researched. If you have an interest in the witch trials, or just in witch stories, then this is the book to read.
October 21, 2025
charity and others
The book was well written and kept my interest. However I thought that the context repeated thoughts and incidents in excess.
I would recommend this book and explain my opinion also.
The book was well written and kept my interest. However I thought that the context repeated thoughts and incidents in excess.
I would recommend this book and explain my opinion also.
December 27, 2017
Interesting story of the Salem Witch Trials told from three perspectives. Unusually happy ending for this type of book!
September 10, 2017
A little slow paced for my taste. The end surprised me a bit. The book motivated me to learn more about "Salem witches".
November 13, 2020
excellent tale of Salem and the witch trials
April 13, 2021
Début très long mais lorsque commence la seconde partie (sur quatre) passionnant!!
October 19, 2021
Fantastic...Highly recommended
January 6, 2024
I come back to this book time and time again! It feels like a true story from the trials!
March 13, 2025
difficult read
The story is so tragic , the characters so troubled, that it makes for a difficult read. Fascinating glimpse of another world though it is.
The story is so tragic , the characters so troubled, that it makes for a difficult read. Fascinating glimpse of another world though it is.
January 10, 2017
This book is not about the Susannah Morrow the Character. It's about Susannah Morrow, projection of Puritan repression, which could've been fun- and it WAS!! - until it got bogged down by the Salem plot stuff.
A saving grace of the book is Chance's writing style, and she does it best during the Puritan repression stuff. However, it's better served in her other book Inamorata so if anyone else likes her style as much as I do, I'd head over there for fun times.
A saving grace of the book is Chance's writing style, and she does it best during the Puritan repression stuff. However, it's better served in her other book Inamorata so if anyone else likes her style as much as I do, I'd head over there for fun times.
October 27, 2011
Susannah Morrow is a tale of the Salem witch trials, told at times from the viewpoint of an accuser, the accused, and the parent of an accuser. It also has a bit of a love story mixed in, too. The first half of the book sets the psychological tone... but it sloooow. The latter - especially the last third - has a much quicker pace and was far more compelling of a read. While the author is a good writer (no trite cliches here), she never seemed to fully develop the characters or the story. The reader is left lacking in investment in both the romance and the overall outcome for those involved -- not to mention, the ending seemed hasty and rushed, as if the deadline quickly approached and the Chance just wanted to finish the thing to have it done. I'm glad I read it and didn't quit after 5 chapters (as I was tempted to do), but I can't say I will rush to read Megan Chance again. This one's for the history lover - particularly those taken with Colonial Salem and the trials. 3 to 3 1/2 stars
August 28, 2016
Told through three different characters, Susannah Morrow was a fictional take depicting the realities of the Salem Witch trials. The bummer part was that each time a character's section was finally getting interesting, they switched to another character as narrator. More than anything, I was really looking forward to hearing Charity's reasons for accusing townsfolk, but they switched to her dad just as the girls started to fall ill. I realize that is was never fully proven that the girls were all completing lying and simply acting out as part of a grander scheme to take down the enemies of Rev. Parris and his allies, but this book was a work of fiction, so it would've been nice if the author had owned the driving force behind the accusations, regardless of if it was true or not, rather than glossing it over with only a blink and you'll miss it reference to the tainted bread that is believed to have been the cause of the troubles (ergot poisoning!).
In the end, a decent tale of Salem, but nothing groundbreaking or original.
In the end, a decent tale of Salem, but nothing groundbreaking or original.
April 11, 2011
I enjoy Megan Chance's books. Apparently (according to amazon) she has a history of writing romance novels before she got into general historical fiction with The Inconvenient Wife which was my introduction to her, which I loved. Susannah Morrow is Chance tackling the Salem Witch Trials. She invents the character of Susannah Morrow and the Fowler family and sortof sticks them in the middle of the action. The book is about the witch trails, but really, they're secondary. They're a foil for what happens when a family's thrown into upheaval. It was a good read, but I wish Megan Chance had just chosen to write a book that had Puritan characters instead of using the most infamous Puritan characters in modern literature because I kept wanting to put the book down and pick up a copy of The Crucible instead.
August 26, 2014
This novel is not for everyone but if you are intrigued in the ideology,speech,rhythm of life of the puritans and the Salem witch trials then this book is for you. The author gave a fresh perspective and story line of what led to the famous trials. Women and children were property and had no voice or rights. These young ladies through a mixture of true fear of sin and the devil which their puritan environment raised them in, darkness and fear,gave themselves a voice in the community.people and especially important officials pay attention to them and their every word which sent many to death. Some of these officials and others used the girls voice and new status as a way to put their enemies in jail a d gain their property and wealth. I enjoy the intimate story of Sarah, Lucas, and charity within the back drop of the trials and how it effected them. An enjoyable read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews