In the Shadow of Salem by Donna Gawell

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This book is based on the life of Mehitabel Braybrooke Downing. The author’s note reveals that few facts are known about her. A story was crafted using many actual historical figures and what is known of their lives.

Readers first meet Mehitabel as a prisoner in 1692. She’s been accused of witchcraft in her hometown of Ipswich, Massachusetts, during the Salem Witch Trials. Joan, the woman she has always referred to as Mother, is then arrested. Lifelong resentments invade the prison cell with her.

The author then goes back in time to show what soured their relationship from the very beginning.

Told in first person, the story gripped me from the beginning. I couldn’t put it down for long as I had to know what happened to a mistreated young girl who made unwise choices.

Recommend!

-Sandra Merville Hart

Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas