In 1645, Alice Hopkins’ husband died in a horrible accident leaving her to return to to the small Essex town of Manningtree where her brother lived to move in with him. Little did Alice know that her brother had changed though with rumors of him having a book of women’s names that accused them of witchcraft. With Alice hiding a pregnancy she slowing begins to uncover the darker side of her brother Matthew.

The Witchfinder’s Sister is a fictional tale based on the real person Matthew Hopkins. Matthew actually was known as a witch hunter in the time the book is based and was known for being responsible for the deaths of 300 women between the years 1644 and 1646. The author has loosely based this fictional tale upon his real life giving readers a look into that era.

I have to say this wasn’t particularly a bad book and I can see some people loving the story but for me I just couldn’t get into most of it due to the slow pacing. The beginning started off rather well and I thought I would also be one loving this read but it became a bit dry for my taste after a while and I just couldn’t get behind Alice or the story she was telling to keep my attention and interest for long.

After pushing through the slowness I didn’t mind the ending of the story too much either but in the end I decided to rate this one at 2.5 stars just for the slowness of the read to me. I liked what the author was trying to do but perhaps there was just too much focus on Alice and not even on Matthew who is the real star of the story to keep up my interest.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

From 1644 to 1646, over 300 women (this is a conservative estimate) lost their lives in Essex, England and the surrounding area.  Why?  Because they were accused of being witches!  Their accuser was Matthew Hopkins and this is his story told by his sister.  Not a lot is known about Matthew or his family, making this is a historical fiction.  This novel tries to explain why Matthew viciously accused these women, some mentally incapacitated and how he brought about their hangings.  Up until this time few women lost their lives for this crime but he changed all this.  

This story is told from the viewpoint of Matthew’s sister, Alice.  It is told in her voice as she is documenting the horrifying details of the past two years and how she was forced to assist him.  In this way, she is attempting to ensure that history would not repeat itself.   This method of storytelling allows the author to present details of both their lives which makes the story interesting and page turning.  It tells both characters’ past and present lives and the suspense slowly builds as you realize the details that have turned Matthew into the monster that he is.  The story comes to a traumatic, shocking conclusion that can’t be foreseen and leaves you shaking your head.

I found this book to be very thought-provoking.  Since little is actually known about the Hopkins family, fact and fiction are interspersed throughout.  When I was done reading, I was compelled to look up the history of this man and also about the witch hunts that many women lost their lives to.  I would recommend this book more for young adult to adult readers because some of the information contained may be disturbing to young readers.

Manningtree, England - 1645. We are immersed in the life of Alice Hopkins: pregnant, widowed, penniless and returning home to Manningtree to live with her brother - Matthew Hopkins. When she gets home she discovers that Matthew is the "Witchfinder" and is accusing women they have known their entire lives of witchcraft. As Alice tries to bring Matthew to his senses and figure out more about what is causing him to do this, she finds out some dark secrets about her mother and father's lives. Matthew however, will not allow Alice to get in his way and he will go to any means necessary to keep her from doing so.

This was a chilling, harrowing tale of innocent women being charged with withcraft and sentenced to death. It is especially chilling when you realize that this is based off of actual with trials and Matthew Hopkins was a living, breathing person who carried out these atrocious acts. An excellent read. Thanks to Net Galley, Beth Underdown and Ballantine for an ARC of this in exchange for my honest review.

Review from off-centerviews.blogspot.com

The Witchfinder’s Sister. By Beth Underdown. Ballantine Books, 2017, 336 pages.
★★★★

Americans reflexively think of Salem whenever witch trials are conjured. We forget that the Puritans that conducted Salem's horrors were Englishmen, just as we forget that (by some estimates) 50,000 Europeans were executed for witchcraft from 1500 to 1800, 80% of them women.  A half century before Salem (1692), witchcraft hysteria swept East Anglia, particularly Essex, Wessex, and Suffolk. 

The most notorious of England’s witchfinders were John Stearne and Matthew Hopkins, both of whom figure prominently in Beth Underdown’s gripping debut. Bear in mind that this is a historical novel. Very little is known of the historical Matthew Hopkins (?1620-47), other than the fact his father was a clergyman, and that Matthew moved to Manningtree, Essex sometime around 1640. From there he launched a two-year reign of terror in 1644-46 that saw more 300 individuals arrested, around a hundred of whom were executed. We don’t know if he had a sister, let alone one named Alice, Underdown’s protagonist and narrator. Moreover, Hopkins probably died of TB, not the more satisfying ending Underdown provides. So bear in mind as you read that the story is “true” in its essence, but not in its particulars.

They are mighty fine particulars, though. Underdown gives us a portrait of how hysteria begins small—whispers, gossip, grudges, innuendo¬—and gathers steam when embraced by bullies, demagogues, and fanatics. She imagines Hopkins as more complex than a monster, a true believer who justified doing unspeakable things as advancing God's work. Alice and her associates represent the voices of reason. And never shall the twain meet, especially in a climate rent asunder by the English Civil War. Alice also represents a protest against misogyny, but that too was a cry in the 17th century social wilderness. Thus the catastrophe that unfolded. Underdown uses her invented characters to personalize the tragedy and give us entrée into specifics. Her description of a "swimming," a watery test for malevolence, is particularly vivid and makes us shudder. Ditto her depictions of witch "detection" tactics such as sleep deprivation, walking, watching, and examining for imps.

Most of all, though, the clash between Matthew and Alice over the unfolding events gives us both a micro and macrocosm perspective on the witchcraft trials. It is easy to forget that both accusers and victims were also ordinary people who prepared meals, emptied chamber pots, tended their gardens, mourned lost loved ones, courted, and conducted business. Underdown does a nice job of capturing the rhythms of everyday life without getting bogged down in minutiae that would detract from the central plot. She's also good with suspense. We, the readers, can see Alice's options melt and the walls begin to close in around her. It is to Underwood's credit that we feel like screaming out for Alice to run and keep turning the pages to see if she does.

To be objective, this book also bears some of the weaknesses of a debut novel. Several of the characters are drawn a bit too broadly; others (too) conveniently appear and disappear. Stylistically, I wish Underwood and her editors would learn when to use "her" and when to use "she." You can decide for yourself if she went over the top with her ending. I understand the allure of delicious irony, but sometimes it's better to leave things understated. You will also have to decide whether our narrator, Alice, is credible for the time period, or if she is a 21st century feminist in 17th century drag. For the record, I think Underwood wanted to have her both ways, hence I was willing to suspend disbelief in passages I found ahistorical. 

The Witchfinder's Sister is a chilling tale that most readers will rip through. We should remember, though, that Matthew Hopkins was a real person and that his The Discovery of Witches was widely consulted as a go-to guide for more than a century. Salem loomed in the future, but European witch trials continued into the 19th century. England had a case of witch swimming as late as 1863, even though it repealed its witchcraft laws 127 years earlier. Underwood's novel ultimately made me think upon how easily hysteria forms and how hard it is to vanquish. Maybe the 17th century lurks closer than we might imagine.

Rob Weir

Wow, what a read. I was engrossed from the start!  If you like historical fiction, this is a great one. 
Set during Europe's witch trails around 1645.. Who knew? Europe had witch trials too?! This story 
follows Alice after her husband's death. She seeks refuge with her brother Matthew Hopkins in the 
small town where they grew up. She discovers that Matthew is an investigator into possible witches..
Torn between her family and her disgust for his profession.. as well as the reliance women had on the
men in their lives.. Alice becomes an unwilling observer and participant. 

This book covers an interesting historical event that most Americans are unfamiliar with. We always
think of the Salem witch trials.. hundreds of women were executed in Europe before Salem. Throughout 
the book the reader really identifies with Alice. She's stuck in this situation that she abhors, but Matthew
has such control over her life, that there's nothing to be done. 

Would recommend! 5 stars

I really enjoyed reading this book. I found the history to be fascinating and liked how the fictional part added a possible sister to the story. It was a very interesting approach to weave true fact with fictional embellishment. Matthew Hopkins was a despicable person and seen through the eyes of his sister Alice, he was even more of a monster! It is hard to believe that this witch hunting took place in history. After finishing the book I felt compelled to do some research to read more about Matthew Hopkins. An unpleasant topic but a well told story.

We are England in 1645. The witchfinder is Matthew Hopkins, a man scarred and haunted by a painful accident at birth and who carries deeper scars within.  The sister is Alice, childless and newly widowed, she must return to Manningtree, her family home, and seek refuge with her brother. Alice is disturbed by the difference in the town since she left just five years before.  Now, there is distrust, suspicion and death.  
Matthew is a hunter of witches, sanctioned by the laws and the men who look to scripture for validation.  Now, no one is safe and Alice defies her brother and the whisperings of others to find the reason for his visciousness.   But no one is safe from him, not even herself. 
What makes this all the more soul wrenching is that Matthew Hopkins, witch finder, was a historical person and historically, these witch hunts were carried out before Salem.  It’s our knowing the future that makes this richly historical story the scariest.

Many years before witch trials that made Salem,Massachusetts  famous to this day, but long before the with trial there were the Manning tree with trials in the old town of Essex England, where many women meet their untimely death in the face of ultimate horror.

In 1645, Alice Hopkins found herself pregnant as well as a young women, returning back to her home village of Manningtree, Essex. As a single mother in the 16 century she can’t simply live as a single mother, so she’s not only returns to her home village but also comes to live with her brother Matthew Hopkins. Matthew is a cruel, evil, and sullen individual, whose persona can be described in one word, disturbing. That’s when Alice tries her best to reign in her brother Mathew, yet he won’t let his sister stir him off the path to his destiny, the destiny of sending witches to their death. In Matthew’s twisted perspective he believes that the only way yo purify the world is to send witches to trial. Alice loves her brother, yet she can’t seem to understand his motives, she’s uncovering her brother but truly unable to.  

I wish I could say Matthew Hopkins was a fictional character that Beth Underdown created but unfortunately the truth is spoken throughout history. The truth is Hopkins truly did exist, he did actually began the witch trial under the banner of cleansing the land from the servants of Satan. Any woman with mental health were reported as being a witch by their neighbors, even women who were seen as a menace to their small villages accused them as a witch in hopes of removing them preeminently. Many innocent herbal women, midwives, and country women were tried for being a witch and then sent to private locations just to be tortured until a confession could be given. More than 100 innocent women were killed under the name of Hopkins crusade for murder and profit.

This novel,  The Witchfinder’s Sister by Beth Underdown, is a wonderful fictional story that has blossomed from this historical tragedy. It is unsure if Mathew Hopkins actually had a sister or not but I do know that Beth Underdown has created a great historical thriller based on a sad event of English history. A history in which a mad man caused many young women to be falsely accused of witchcraft by their peers  and city officials.

If you’re a fan of historical fiction twisted seamlessly then this is the book for you!

What a cool book! Anything involving witch hunts and witch trials is interesting to me, and this was well written and engaging.

This book was all right. The topic was interesting,  but the story lagged in places. It's not a book I would read again.

This read very slow for me. There were times when I really wanted to put the book down. And I want to kick myself for feeling like that because this was a horrible event in history. I should feel bad for thinking this. However, this is how I felt.

The story did pick up some and while it was grueling to carry on, I was glad that I did. The finish was thoroughly an eye opening for me into that horrible event I referred to in the paragraph above. It was hideous what those people did. The tests and trials were enough that anyone would give up and say "yes, I'm a witch, kill me now".

Back to the book though, the first half is L-O-N-G and S-L-O-W. I think the ending was so horrendous for this sister. However, was the first half worth the ending? I'm torn on that question. I was glad when I got through the slower part I know that for sure.

Thanks to Random House/Ballantine for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest unbiased review.

This was an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.

'A hanging' ought to be the collective noun for witches. It would remind us of what has happened to so many women who were not even witches. This book could have set that right at least a little, but in the end it was a disappointment. The very title is an issue since it's in the form of "The 's Sister/Daughter/Wife." I admit that such titles are provocative, but when you get right down to it, all they really achieve is the reduction of a woman to a mere male appendage of some kind, and it's appallingly insulting when you think about it. I think this is the last novel with such a title that I shall read, no matter how interesting the blurb might make it.

I think there was a story to be told here about a fictional sister of a real historical person, but the telling of it in this way did not work for me. Others might draw different conclusions, and in the interests of full disclosure, let me confess here (you don't even need to torture me!) that I am not a fan of first person voice stories at all. They're decidedly unrealistic and I cannot for the life of me understand why authors, particularly female and particularly in the YA genre, are so addicted to them.

I think it awfully sad that female authors are implying, by so dedicatedly employing this method, that women have so little confidence and feel so unheard in novels that they have to make their stories "all about me" just to get anyone to pay them any attention. As an avid reader, I certainly don't believe that and yet I've encountered very few first person voice novels that were satisfying. First person is far too self-centered, and it typically makes me dislike the narrator because it’s all, "Hey focus on me! See what I'm doing now! It's time for some more about me! Lookit me! It’s all about Meeee!" and I honestly cannot can't stand it, with very few exceptions.

Once in a while an author can carry it, but here it did not work. In terms of realism, it’s highly unlikely that a young girl growing up in a large family of boys, even one as relatively well-off as this one was, would be well-enough educated to be able to write, and especially not a story like this (which is supposed to be her diary or journal, but which reads nothing like one).

Girls did not get much of an education if any, not even in the nobility, and the Hopkins family was hardly nobility. It was deemed that an education would be harmful to a girl's marriage prospects, so it was neglected (beyond the basic housekeeping, sewing, etc.). Because of this, Alice's literacy was hard to swallow. It was inauthentic. On top of this, her voice did not suggest the mid-seventeenth century at all. The mentality was far too modern, and no one has that kind of recollection of events down to detailed conversations, so it just felt wrong from the start, and kept throwing me out of suspension of disbelief.

There's another problem with this voice and the author illustrates this one handsomely for us here. When you trap yourself in first person, your character has to be there and everywhere - otherwise how can she tell us what’s happening? Almost the only alternative to this is the info dump, where she learns what’s going on by having someone tell her in a story-halting binge, or where she reads something which feels so fake, because the only purpose it serves is to clue us in to what she's missed.

The equally clunky alternative to this is to have the character end-up in a position to listen in on something she's not meant to hear. Typically this is far too convenient or contrived, and it feels fake and thoroughly unnatural. In this case, at a meeting of men, we get Alice dragged in there for no good reason, and it felt so obvious and so fake that it really kicked me out of suspension of disbelief. Again. These kinds of men certainly would not want a woman in on their meetings. They had no use for women whatsoever.

Did Matthew Hopkins have a sister? It’s unlikely. His father had six children, but we know the names only of the four eldest. The author argues that at least one of the other two could have been a girl, and uses the lack of mention as evidence: since girls were not counted for anything back then other than as housekeepers and baby mills (an argument which, of course, undermines her entire sister story!). But if the two youngest had died, then they also would have merited no mention even had they been boys. It's unlikely in a family of six that all of them survived infancy in that era. Mortality was appalling.

But fine, if you want to say one was a girl, then let's go with that and ask how she got her name. The name 'Alice' for the main character is chosen for a reason, and it would be a spoiler to reveal it, but it doesn’t work. The Hopkins boys were all named after apostles, the other three (older) brothers being called James, John, and Thomas. Where then would this family come up with a non-Biblical name like Alice? It stands out like a sore thumb, and for me wasn't worth the ending which is too cute by far to be taken seriously.

For a story which promises witchcraft and horror, this one kills the thrills by moving achingly slowly, with rambling reminiscences and flashbacks. These are not to my taste at all. For me, all a flashback does is bring the story to a screeching halt, and I never appreciate that, especially not when it's a reminder that a writer seems to be trying to hit plot points and a story outline, rather than relate a realistic and organic tale of a person's experiences (fictional as they are) as they happened.

Flashbacks have such an amateur feel to them that they ruin suspension of disbelief. No one in real life sits lost in pages flashback or reminiscence (unless they're mentally ill) - not for as long as characters all-too-often do in such stories. It's an amateur conceit really ruined the pace for me. I took to skipping all the flashbacks because they contributed nothing to the story and actually impeded it as far as I could see.

It was a third of the way through the story before we ever got to what Hopkins was doing! Up until that point it was all about Alice, and she was not an appealing character at all. She was tedious, and in very short order, I had lost all interest in her and in what she was thinking or doing. For some reason she became obsessed with a list of witch's names and we had to go through that list over and over again. I took to skipping those passages, too, because they were simply annoying and led nowhere. I had read some reviews that said the story picked up around the halfway point, but I didn't find this to be the case. For me, it continued to be lackluster the entire length of the novel.

Of course not a one of these women was a witch, neither in the pagan sense nor in the absurd evil caster-of-spells sense. They were simply tragic victims of Hopkins's religious fanaticism, and the worst thing about this novel is that we got nothing of that from this story. Just as with his sister, Matthew was completely bland and unmemorable. He's presented as a simple, flat character who offers nothing original or entertaining. He has no emotional depth.

He ought to be a firebrand and a dynamo, but he's a limp rag, and it made for a boring story. He was larded with far too dramatic a past and it completely overshadowed his present whilst contributing nothing materially to it, so instead of an emotional story about the horrible slaying of scores of innocent women, we got a bland family melodrama, and I found it insulting to the memory of those women who were slaughtered on the altar of religious psychosis.

Matthew Hopkins was a real person about whom we know very little, and would probably know next-to-nothing were it not for the eighteen months or so when he became Britain's most prolific serial killer, hiding his vindictive blood-lust beneath the guise of a Christian witch-finder as he acted on the clear Biblical injunction, which fortunately everyone outside of Africa ignores today - of not suffering a witch to live.

He terrorized East Anglia - that butt rump of a bulge on Britain's south eastern shore - running from village to village, and being paid by the local parishes to cleanse their territory of witches. The Bible has a lot to answer for, doesn’t it? It’s the most execrable terrorist manifesto ever written, and we could have had all of this in this novel: the empty message of a god's unconditional love contrasted with the brutal Biblical injunctions to kill, slaughter and eradicate, but we got none of that. For me that was the saddest aspect of all.

On top if this there were portions of the story which seemed to start up dramatically, like an avocado pit on a plant pot, only to die inexplicably without going anywhere. There was a suggestion of the supernatural quite early in the book which never went anywhere, as though the author forgot about it, or had second thoughts. Alice's pregnancy (a left-over from her deceased husband) was an obsession for much of the start of the book and then it fizzled out. At one point I was starting to suspect that Matthew had had Alice's husband killed. I admit that if this suspicion turned out to be true, then I missed the revelation because I was, I confess, skimming the last forty percent of the novel just to get it over with.

As I said, so little is known of Hopkins's life that you can make up pretty much any story you want about him and get away with it. The saddest thing about this novel was not a hanging of witches, which ought to have been front and center, but of a tragically wasted opportunity - one squandered on unimportant trivia in the life of a fictional women when there were so many very real women, all of them murdered by Hopkins, who are begging to have their story told, and yet were denied that opportunity by this author. I cannot recommend this at novel all.

Rarely have I read historical fiction of this caliber. I almost couldn't believe that this wasn't a completely true story. I was so enraptured by the pull of the characters that I fell into the drama and couldn't help but find myself caught up in the fear of the unknown as the book went.

I received this book for free through NetGalley. 

 I am a huge fan of historical witchy fiction, and this book was mostly superb. Told by Alice, whose brother Matthew hunts, persecutes, and helps to hang women accused of witchcraft, the story is disturbing and compelling, despite the oft times archaic language. My only criticism is the lack of emotion I felt from Alice. Throughout her tale, she suffers many tragedies and losses, but I just didn't really feel much. While she lived with Matthew and he forced her to accompany him on his "travels", she thought about leaving but never really tried. I do realize how women were not independent like we are today, that Alice was at the mercy of her brother's generosity, but I still believe, had I been put in those disgusting situations, I'd have tried my hardest to run away from all of that. Of course, that's my story, and not Alice's. The very best of the book, is the final sentence. I am hopeful for a sequel. A really great read.

The premise sounded promising...17th century England, sister Alice returns home to live with brother  Matthew when her husband dies in London, and finds her brother to be a nutcase when it comes to the occult.  However, I found this book to be a bit of a drag.  It took until half way through to really get into some plot development, as the author dragged the story along, plodding through the background on the family dynamics, the mystery of the brother's facial burns and their old servant, the complexities of their mother's mental and physical illnesses, the sister's hard life and marriage in London, etc. etc. etc.  And quite frankly, I was less than interested in these details as little tension was developed, nor any characters I could sincerely love or hate.  The second half was better, as the brother and sister take the 'show on the road' and ride about the small English villages testing young women for their skills at witchcraft.  Some emotional angst is brought in as the sister struggles with her own morality as she becomes complicit in the trials and deaths of these women.  The author plays with the idea of evil entities taking actual physical form, but does not firmly commit which is disconcerting to the reader.  Is it fantasy?  Is the evil read?  Or is the evil within humanity?  I would have liked more answers. Ultimately, I turned pages quickly in the end just to finish it, not because I was enamored.

The Witchfinder's Sister is the debut novel by Beth Underdown. Her first novel. I need to make sure that is stated up front because it is an absolutely amazing read. I was totally drawn into Alice's story. The book opens with Alice being kept prisoner in a locked room under orders of her brother Matthew Hopkin's, the infamous witchfinder of English history. As the book circles back and tells the story of Alice and her family, I could not help but fear for her safety. Each chapter increased the dread for what would happen to her.

The book takes place during the English Civil War. The story begins in the spring of 1645 and ends in the summer of 1648. Alice is witness to her brother's hunt for witches and his methods for identifying them. This is the mindset, the philosophy, that gave birth to America's own witch hunts. It is truly frightening on several levels. Any woman who was different, perhaps mentally ill or independent or quarrelsome with her neighbors was fair game for being accused. Once accused there was no way to prove one's innocence, only one's guilt. The author does a fantastic job of illustrating these details without losing the reader's interest. 

Although this period of English history is not very familiar to me, I am now very interested in learning more of it. Did this witch paranoia come from the chaos of the civil war or from the religious philosophy of those fighting the crown? How could a woman defend herself if accused? Was there any chance for being acquitted at all? Alice is a fantastic guide through this nightmare world. She is a reliable narrator who is horrified by what she witnesses but finds herself powerless to help any of the accused, even to help herself.

I highly recommend Beth Underdown's debut novel The Witchfinder's Sister. It is a compelling, tense but ultimately enjoyable read.

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

This was another snoozefest.  Next to nothing seemed to happen until very late in the book, when Matthew, the main character's brother and the title witchfinder, finally got to the meat of his searching.  At that point he took Alice with him, and abused and degraded her, treating her like a prisoner, like one of the witches.  She obviously should have left months before (or not returned at all).  By this point there was no escape.

But for all of Alice's suffering at the hands of her brother, it came after too much apathy.  "He couldn't possibly believe these women are witches."  "They couldn't possibly be found guilty."  "The courts would never hang them for this.  They're always just sent home after some jail time."  "I'm watching him do these terrible things, but he couldn't possibly really be like this."  She made so many excuses that by the time shit got real, it was too late.  And that is my main problem.  Not one person, not even Alice, did a damn thing to stop Matthew.  Bridget wanted Alice to do something, but Alice just couldn't believe that her precious little brother was capable of murdering 106 women by accusing them of being witches.  (Obviously he was, or he wouldn't have been riding around the countryside collecting them for the jail.)

I was super bored until I got to about 78%.  By then it was too late to back out, I might as well finish.  The end wasn't even satisfying, even though it was what I was hoping would happen.  Probably because despite what happened to Matthew at the end, he still killed 106 women and everyone in the freaking country helped him along gleefully.

I guess this wasn't a bad book.  It was written well, but the character of Alice was *snore* and Mary Phillips was just pure evil, and everyone else around them was too afraid to say or do anything, or they were so happy to see those whore witches hang.  I couldn't really feel much of anything for anyone.  The story moved too slowly, and for some reason, the sense of place didn't feel right.

Actual rating: 3,5

It has been 15 days since I read The Witchfinder’s Sister, and I still don’t know what to think about it.
That happens rarely to me, almost never.
I have to warn you that my review will probably be all over the place because I am still finding the words to express my thoughts, but there is one thing I can say for sure: The Witchfinder’s Sister left me confused.

The story follows Alice Hopkins who returns to her childhood town to live with her brother Matthew, after a tragic death of her husband.
Since she saw him last time, Matthew changed.
He gained a lot of respect and hangs out with powerful men.
His job is to “expose” witches, put them on trial and punish them if they’re found guilty.

First thing that has to be stress out is that Matthew’s character is based on real person who lived in 17th century in England, and who is responsible for many of lives lost because women were accused of practicing witchcraft.
Despite that, this novel is piece of fiction.

It is told in first person, from Alice’s point of view.
I can’t say if the language in this book is authentic to the one that was in use in 1645, but it sounds a bit different from today’s modern English, but at the same time it reads pretty quickly.

The first third of the book was excellent.
The author really managed to describe the cold atmosphere that I imagine was present in that time.
I also liked how it wasn’t clear if the paranormal aspect was really present in the plot, or was it just in the minds of people that live in this book.
There was a point where I had to stop reading because I was too scared (and it was bedtime, so I didn’t want to have a sleepless night(I feel obligated to also tell you that the “problem” was in my head and the book isn’t as scarry as I was afraid it would be)).

The second half of the book was boring, which is a shame.
There were so many descriptions and so little conversations.
I wish we got to see more scenes from trials, but instead we got scenes with Alice hanging out with accused woman.
However, parts where she’s discovering mysery around her brother were really interesting.

I still don’t know what to think about the ending part related to Matthew.
It was somewhat unusual, that is for sure!

The end was good. I really, really liked the last sentence.

Overall, I liked the story in general, but I think it could have been told in more interesting way then it was.
It had potential to be even better.

Still, I think fans of historical fiction would appreciate this story so I recommend it to them, as well as to everyone else who’d like to read more about real witch hunt that happened in England during 17th century.

We were not sure how we would feel about a period piece, until we opened the pages of The Witchfinder's Sister.  However, is is intriguing, interesting and keeps you sucked in to the story.  

Granted, we have always been particularly pulled to this period of time.  However, not even the cinema has always been able to keep the story alive.  Not well, anyway.  

The drama begins in 1645 in Manningtree (in Essex), when Alice Hopkins leaves London, due to her husband Josef's tragic passing.  Her brother Matthew lives in Manningtree.  What follows after this is a wild trip.  We have not spoilered this review, hence, you shall have to read it for yourself if you are interested in 17th century literature.

Interesting to note is that this piece employs an excellent mix of fact and fiction to tell the tale.  She addresses this in an Author's Note.  This fact is stated elsewhere in the book.  However, the Author's Note goes into more detail about this.