Writing Women Back into History
This illustration, from Wikipedia Media Commons, depicts medieval women hunting. This article of mine was originally published in the May 2008 issue of Solander Magazine, published by the Historical Novel Society.We have been lost to each other for so long. My name means nothing to you. My memory is dust. This is not your fault or mine. The chain connecting mother to daughter was broken and the word passed into the keeping of men, who had no way of knowing. That is why I became a footnote, my story a brief detour between the well-known history of my father and the celebrated chronicle of my...
Read MoreInterview with Katherine Howe!
This interview is published on Amazon.com.Katherine Howe is the bestselling author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane and a descendant of both Elizabeth Proctor, who survived the Salem witch trials, and Elizabeth Howe, who did not. Read her interview with Mary Sharratt, author of Daughters of the Witching Hill: Katherine Howe: I am so looking forward to learning more about Daughters of the Witching Hill. As I started the book, I was curious about something. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane covers some well-worn territory in American history: the Salem witch trials, which we all...
Read MorePendle Witch Library
Pendle Witches: Further Reading on the Pendle Witches, Historical Cunning Folk, and WisewomenFiction:Harrison Ainsworth, The Lancashire Witches: A Romance of Pendle Forest (EJ Morten) (First published in 1849, written in dialect, very long, gothic, and dense.)Robert Neill, Mist Over Pendle (A lovely novel for both adults and young adults but not very kind to the witches!)Nonfiction, Primary Source:Thomas Potts, The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster (Published in 1613, these are the official transcripts of the 1612 trial. Though not infallible, Potts’s account...
Read MoreThe Charms of the Pendle Witches
From Thomas Potts’s A Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster, the official trial transcripts:Mother Demdike’s family charm “to get drink”: Crucifixus hoc signum vitam Eternam. Amen.(Literal translation: the crucifix is the sign of eternal life.)This charm to cure bewitchment is attributed to Chattox: A Charme Three Biters hast thou bitten, The Hart, ill Eye, ill Tonge: Three bitter shall be thy Boote, Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost a Gods name, Fiue Pater-nosters, fiue Auies, and a Creede, In worship of fiue wounds of our Lord.(In modern language the last part would...
Read MoreDaughters of the Witching Hill: What the critics are saying
Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharrattpublished April 7, 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt“Gorgeously imagined . . . . Sharratt crafts her complex yet credible account by seamlessly blending historical fact, modern psychology, and vivid evocations of the daily life of the poor whose only hope of empowerment lay in the black arts.”-Publisher’s Weekly, Starred Review“What makes this story stand out are the strong voices of the two main characters, stalwart Bess Southerns (aka Demdike) and her feisty granddaughter Alizon Device . . . . a fascinating tale. The story unfolds without...
Read MoreDaughters of the Witching Hill: The Launch Party
Daughters of the Witching Hillpublished April 7 by Houghton Mifflin HarcourtWhat a voice Mary Sharratt has. She brings a haunting, ancient story to life. –Karleen Koen The wild, brooding landscape of Pendle Hill in Lancashire, Northern England, my home for the past seven years, gave birth to my new novel, Daughters of the Witching Hill, which reveals the true and unforgettable story of the Pendle Witches of 1612.Take a sneak peak of the novel Who were the Pendle Witches of 1612?Read what the critics are sayingJoin me on my traditional and virtual book tourWatch my docudrama of the...
Read MoreAbout Mary Sharratt
An American author living on the Silver Coast of Portugal, Mary Sharratt is on a mission to write women back into history. She is the author of Revelations and seven previous critically acclaimed novels, including Daughters of the Witching Hill, the Nautilus Award–winning Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen, The Dark Lady’s Mask: A Novel of Shakespeare’s Muse, and Ecstasy, about the life, loves, and music of Alma Mahler. When she is not writing, you can find her riding her beautiful Welsh mare.
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