This book was a total waste of time. The author never seemed to take the trouble to flesh out her main characters and every scene was a telling of a story but done in a truly boring way. You never really got to know what it is like to live in mid 1600 England during the time of the witch hunts. You were told some things but almost nothing that would link the life of a small villager to reality where you could almost feel the poverty, the dirt, the fear, the impact of a cow's death upon a poor family. Almost nothing of any real historical research hear, just some speculation on how people were manipulated to turn against an old neighbor, ex lover, Catholic family, the mentally challenged. I was so glad to have this book done. After having just read Lisa See's new book and the amazing Twelve Lives of Samuel Hayley, this book was especially unworthy. Historical fiction doesn't have to be dry and boring. It can be as magical and as interesting as any other genre. In the hands of this author, it is just st bad writing. Remember the adage, show don't tell. This book has this truly fatal flaw.

This book kept me fully engaged as shameful witch hunts take place from 1626-1627 in England. This is historical fiction, but the book is well-researched and Matthew Hopkins actually did send those labelled as witches to their deaths. Alice, his sister, is fictional. I found the story horrifying and it is so well-written the scenes and characters are vividly clear. 5 stars for me - and I think it's a first novel for Beth Underdown.

Thanks to Random House Publishing - Ballantine through NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an account of the famous “Witchfinder” of 17th century Essex, Matthew Hopkins as told by his fictional sister, Alice. It highlights a disturbing time in history and does a great job showing the powerlessness of the women of the time – most who were single, aging or widowed. I felt the book had a really strong start but as it progressed I was a tad bored. It did pick up in the last third and even managed a surprised ending for me.

Overall it was interesting but I was hoping for the “thrilling and gripping” novel the description promised. I think it fell short of that but I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction and is interested in the subject matter.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy and the opportunity to read and review this book.

Place Posted: Reading Between the Pages
Date Posted: 3/30/2017

This is my favorite kind of historical fiction book to read - a fictionalized story based on a real person and/or event. The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown is based on Matthew Hopkins, a witch hunter during the English Civil War.

This book is told from the perspective of Matthew's sister Alice. She is returning home to Manningtree from London after her husband Joseph is tragically killed. When she left for London, after marrying Joseph, her relationship with Matthew was strained. She has a lot to tell him but is afraid he will be angry with her and compounding that with what she learns of Matthew's life in Manningtree, it would seem she was right to worry about opening up to him.

This book tells of a harrowing time in history of a man who took it upon himself to find and execute witches. It also reads like a mystery as Alice discovers that what she thought to be true of Matthew's childhood was not necessarily so. Beth Underdown did a great job taking us to the 17th century, a time period I honestly don't read often. The more I read, the more I became invested in Alice's story. I flew through the second half of the book to see how it would end. Of course history tells us it won't be good, but I wanted to know what would become of Alice. The last sentence in the book was priceless! Now don't cheat and flip to the back of the book to find out what it is, let the story unfold naturally and be surprised.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Beth Underdown for an opportunity to read and review this book.

Written as a document created by the witchfinder's sister, and taking place in the 1640s, the language felt stilted. Accurate, perhaps, but not compelling. I realize there's not a lot of leeway, even in a fictionalized version of a real person, but I was rather disappointed.

I am very glad to see that so many people really like this book because I didnt. Well it wasnt that I did not like it, it just wasnt my cup of tea. Great cover by the way. Best of luck

Between 1644 and 1647, Matthew Hopkins traveled through rural East Anglia killing hundreds of people. We don’t see him on the lists of history’s most prolific serial killers because his killings were officially sanctioned and quite legal. Hopkins was a witch-finder; he would be called into a town or a village to investigate, then let the town execute the accused. Beth Underdown invents a sibling to serve as a witness to Hopkin’s spree in The Witchfinder’s Sister. Through the fictional Alice’s eyes, we learn what might have led the historical man to not only investigate witchcraft but also write a manual to finding witches that was used during the Salem Witch Trials a few decades later.

Alice has lived apart from her family since her marriage. Now that she’s a widow, she has little choice but to return to her hometown and live with her brother. When she arrives, she soon learns that Matthew has become a witch-finder. He’s often gone, performing cruel examinations on women who’ve been accused and thoroughly documenting every “imp” and torture-induced confession. From Alice’s perspective, it’s clear that the accused are women someone more connected has a problem with. They’re older and don’t have a protector to keep them from the gallows.

Though Alice tries to hold herself aloof from Matthew’s new trade, she gets pulled in on the side of some of the accused women, who are friends of a family friend. The family friend has information about Matthew’s past that Alice wants, but Alice isn’t very good at trying to dissuade the obsessive witch-finder. The book gets downright grim when Matthew presses Alice into service as his assistant. When that happens, we get a front row seat at one of history’s great crimes, right up until the inevitable reckoning.

I was interested enough in the plot and setting to keep going, but I can’t help but think that using an invented sibling to tell an actual historical story is a dodge. Historical fiction is full of narrators who have curiously modern attitudes towards things like witchcraft or racism. We can easily relate to these narrators, because they think like us. But it also leaves us a step removed from the events of the plot. We never get close enough to really understand what might cause an entire town to start accusing its own of communing with the devil or justifying slavery, etc. This kind of dodge avoids the lesson that good historical fiction can impart to its readers.

The Witchfinder’s Sister is not a bad book, but I think this book would have been more effective if Underdown had tried to put us into Matthew Hopkins’ head. His life is just documented enough for a novel to feel real, but with enough gaps in it to permit literary license. If we were able to get into Hopkin’s head, this could have been an incredible tale of historical horror.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration. It will be released 25 April 2017.

What is it about the witch trials of history that is so fascinating? It’s a society we can hardly identify with. We look back, shake our heads and say in a dejected voice “How sad! Good thing that could never happen now. Those people were out of their minds!” I think we’d be surprised to realize we’re not that far removed from the very human emotions that drove them to commit their crimes.

Ms. Underdown’s book is historical fiction based on a true-life self-styled “Witch Finder General” named Matthew Hopkins who is credited with the murder of hundreds of supposed witches in 1640’s England. Not much is known about his real history, so the author sketches out what little we do know about his life and then adds to it with the creation of the narrator, his sister Alice. She is a young woman, newly widowed who definitely has her wits and good sense about her. She does not fall into the general hysteria that is driving the witch hunts. Instead, through her eyes we see the truth about what is behind the situation.

Generally, the women who are targeted with suspicion are women on the fringes of society, and thus the most vulnerable. Poor, widowed, or unmarried women are ripe for the picking. In a society where women rely on men for every basic need in life, how can a lone woman defend herself against a male accuser? The author also focuses on the demonization of the mentally ill and society scapegoating women who are considered impure. Sexual dysfunction and misogyny on the part of the accusers also plays a part. All of this is exacerbated by accusers who stand to profit from the witch being removed from society. With that, greed and revenge can be powerful motivators. The superstitious beliefs that we blame first for the rage fueled mob environment are barely needed.

The book touches on all of these issues, while still providing an interesting mystery. What will happen to Alice? How far can she go in opposing her brother? What will she do if he asks her to be part of his actions against her neighbors? What is spurring him on to such depraved lengths? It’s a good psychological thriller and I found it a quick read. I would definitely recommend it.

Song for this book: Down in the Willow Gardens – The Chieftains, Bon Iver (song perfection for this book!)

Beth Underdown gives us a view into a truly evil time in human history. How ironic that those who claimed to serve God turned out to be the very evil that they sought in others.

The Witchfinder's Sister is not a light weight fiction. It digs deeper than that and shows us the fear that people must have lived with at that time. It has a darkness to it that reflects the darkness of those times.

I definitely recommend The Witchfinder's Sister.

This is one of those books with which I'm having trouble assigning a star-rating. I debated for some time, deciding to add the extra star despite my misgivings because the book is, ultimately, well-written and the research is impeccable.

The story gets off to a slow start, with the first third or so of the book having too much drag for my taste. The tone during the first part feels more like a women's drama than the tumultuous tale of persecution I'd been expecting. Eventually, Alice becomes enmeshed in Matthew's pursuit of witches. This is when the story takes off, carrying us along through harrowing events. These aspects of the story are based on fact, centered around the real Matthew Hopkins, who was responsible for the persecution and murder of "witches" from 1645 through 1647. The reality of the situation for all these women makes this story all the more compelling.

Beth Underdown beautifully captures the plight of women during this historical period (and beyond). Women didn't own property. Job opportunities were scarce, and what women were allowed to do was almost always dictated by men. Women were suppressed, totally dependent on men to take care of them financially. They had no voice in society, and certainly little say within the court system. We see how the vulnerability of simply being female, along with the superstitions of the time and the vindictiveness of people intent on blaming another for their misfortune, created the perfect climate for witch hunts. This, for me, is the story's strength, and the power here outweighs the slow start.

(thank you Netgalley for an early reader copy)
"The Witchfinder's Sister" is a very well done story based on Matthew Hopkins, who caused the deaths of 100+ "witches" until he was finally stopped. It's told from his sister Alice's perspective; while Alice is not a real person (this is fiction, after all!) the story is both horrifying and engrossing. It's a tale of fear, greed, vengeance and the small mindedness and inability or unwillingness of people to stand up to those with power. Highly recommended!

The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown is a fictional story based on true events from the 1600's in England. Interesting and appalling at the same time. Ms Underdown manages to make the reader feel that she is along side of Alice, sister to the witchfinder. I was given an early copy to review.

I'm a huge fan of books about witches. Historical fiction is even more compelling. Beth Underdown has written as her debut book, a book based on the historical figure of Matthew Hopkins who set out in 1644 to identify, prosecute and hang suspected witches throughout East Anglia, England.

His sister was estranged from him and her family for marrying "beneath her station". She returns home to find her brother heavily involved in scouring the counties for "proof" of "those women who are witches". While throughout the years there had been women who were put to death for being "witches", they were in fact few and far between.

Set earlier than the Salem debacle, it was just as insidious. Women who were widowed, single, "different", mentally ill, independent, were always the ones that were targeted.

This story, told through his sister Alice's eyes, was engaging and well written.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an advanced copy of the book for an honest review via NetGalley

Underdown paints a portrait of a chilling reality, more so because of how unremarkable she makes Matthew Hopkins's witch hunts seem. I don't mean unremarkable in the sense that her narrative is boring, but rather that the people of this English region, spread far apart with limited 17th century communication, so easily give way to Matthew's hunt as if he is doing an unremarkable thing. Underdown's creation of his sister Alice (an invention but based on the reality of his having unrecorded siblings) was an effective way to explore his fatal proceedings against the women of Essex from the point of view of someone who would have an idea of his inner workings but also be threatened by his mania. A lot happens "off page" in this book, because Matthew is away doing his business while Alice is at home, which gives the reader the feeling that a woman in 17th century England must have had - her world is very small and the doings of the larger world seem very far away. It was a very effective narrative strategy. Because of this, it almost seems like a very slowly-paced domestic tale for the reader of that type of historical fiction, but I think it would satisfy those and other readers. I enjoyed it all, and I enjoyed the speculative twist of the ending.

Set in the 1600's and deals with women being accused of being witches and being killed because of an accusation by one person. Not something I like reading about, so it was just o.k. for me.
Thanks netgalley for the ebook.

I read about half of this and then set it aside. It just didn't hold my attention.

I don't read a ton of historical fiction. I love history and would prefer to read it as it actually happened rather than some fantastical version. That being said, The Witchfinder's Sister was a excellent book based on true life events during the English Civil War around East Anglia, and Matthew Hopkins, a 'famous' witch finer'.

Alice, our narrator, is Matthew's fictional sister. She's is returning to her hometown, broken and battered. Her husband has died and she's left with no where else to go. She returns to find that her younger brother has risen to a place of power in the village and she is left to sit back and watch as the horrors unfold. Alice is strong and a bit rebellious and that made it a more compelling story.

There are twists in the story that I didn't see coming, and the writing is both haunting and beautiful. We are living this horror with Alice, Bridget and Rebecca. We see the gallows, the terror of the drownings. We feel the hate coming off of Matthew and Mary Phillips.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books UK for the opportunity to read this in exchange for this review.

Terrifyingly brilliant. Beth Underdown has transformed a world of witchcraft and terror, into a haunting story based in reality. The poor characters in The Witchfinder's Sister have no chance to escape their accusers. I think that's what makes this book so special. You root for them to be set free.

Through all the trials and tribulations, you get a sense of what life was like in the late 1600's when the threat of witches swept across England. Don't forget the ending. It will knock your socks off. I haven't read something that profound in a long time.

Four stars for The Witchfinder's Sister!

This review will be live on March 4th on my blog Confessions of an Ex-Ballerina http://www.exballerina.com/2017/03/title-witchfinders-sister-by-beth.html

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing me with an ARC of The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown.

WOW! This was an interesting and compelling historical fiction novel told thoughtfully and diligently. The author did an outstanding job of creating an evocative setting, 1640's Essex, England. I was unaware that General Matthew Hopkins was an actual figure who did indeed travel through the rural countryside of England searching and labeling women as witches. He had power and jurisdiction to arrest these ladies, some old others young and try them as witches, where the punishment was death by hanging.
The story begins with Matthew's sister returning to their village after being away for five years. Alice had fled Essex disgraced after marrying a man believed to be beneath her and her brother was ashamed and angered. Alice has returned because both her mother and husband have passed away and as a widow she must now rely on her brother for support. As Alice begins to reacquaint herself with Matthew she is appalled to discover that he has become a witch hunter and an esteemed member of the community, who has much power and control over many villagers. Hoping to stop her brother from his dangerous mission puts Alice herself in danger and on a path she never intended to take.
Beautifully written and told this story was wonderful and gripping. All the praise for Beth Underdown for crafting a fantastic debut.

This a very enjoyable and engrossing story about the witch trials that took place in East Anglia, England, in the 1640s, and is loosely based on the activities of Matthew Hopkins, 'Witchfinder', told through the eyes of his sister, Alice.

While the story is largely fiction many of the events and characters are taken from actual events of the time, and it is these horrific truths that are often the most compelling parts of the story. Highly recommended.