Martha Hallybread is a midwife, healer and servant living in East Anglia in 1645. When a witchfinder arrives in the village and begins condeming women, Martha may be next. She's especially worried because of the poppet (similar to a wax voodoo doll) her mam left her. But despite the risks, Martha continues to try to help her friends and navigate the scary waters of evil and hate.
I like that the story is inspired by true events. And I related to Martha, a woman trying to do her best for her friends despite her shortcomings.
The story is pretty slow and boring, though. I didn't want to finish reading.

I read The Witching Tide in August of 2023 and was amazed by how drawn in I was by the story, by the characters, and by the feel of this incredible novel. Meyer's debut is incredibly insightful, and has readers hanging (no pun intended) until the bitter end, wondering just what Martha will do... will she give up the women of the village to protect herself?

The Witching Tide is a fantastically written historical fiction about witch hunting in the 17th century. I have a soft spot for witch related historical fiction and this is now a favorite.

3-3.5 stars

This was an interesting story inspired by the witch hunts in England during the 17th century.

Martha Hallybread was a midwife, healer, and servant who lived a pretty peaceful life for decades, but hadn’t spoken since she was a child. When a witchfinder showed up one day in town, Martha found herself forced to help in the search for accused women who bear the mark of the devil. Martha was at a bit of a crossroad because she had to choose between protecting herself and condemning innocent women of witchcraft. But she harbored a secret that would bring protection to the women of the village, though it could ultimately strip her of her own freedom.

I thought this story was okay, but it didn’t grab my attention as much as I’d hoped it would. I’ve always loved reading about witch trials, especially the ones that took place in Salem, MA. I have to admit, though, I don’t know as much about the witch trials in England, so I was intrigued to see the parallels between the two. Overall, I thought this book was lacking a bit as far as suspense goes. There were definitely some emotional and thought-provoking moments, but it wasn’t a story that would stick around with me.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for providing a copy of this book to review.*

The Witching Tide was a book I was really excited for, and had very high hopes for. It started off strong, building fear and tension surrounding the arrival of the witchfinder, but them seemed to lose steam. The plot begins to drag, and being trapped within the confines of a selectively mute main character, we are mired in her often repetitive inner dialog. There were several exceptionally harrowing scenes, which really brought the brutality and lack of logic at the core of witch hysteria and female persecution to life, creating an atmosphere of tense fear and bitter anger. I felt the sudden salvation and subsequent return to a stare of almost normalcy was rather abrupt and anticlimactic.

It does not matter how many books have been written about the witch trials, I will always read them. It is one of the most interesting subjects to me, and this book delivered. The main character, Martha, is a midwife and knowledgeable healer. She is unable to speak since she was a child, and this lands her into trouble when women start being captured around town. The novel is beautifully written and dark. You can feel Martha’s emotions and her desperation to break free of her disability in order to help these women.

Bleak. So, so bleak. I wanted to love The Witching Tide, the setting appealed to me so much! Unfortunately that gorgeous cover did not reflect the story inside. I was also confused as to how the main character, mute and communicates through a form of sign language, seems to have no problem being understood by everyone in town. Full-fledged conversations.

A great tale of the mistreatment of women in history. It was dark and it took a commitment to get through it, but I'm glad I finished it.

I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

I was excited for this novel because the premise sounded so interesting, however, I was disappointed and it felt very wordy and boring at times. I legit had my mind wandering that I do not even know how the mistress of the house ended up where she did...

I like that this is based on real history and the craziness of the witch hunts and so forth, I was just quite bored with this novel. I think it just wasn't my cup of tea. Written well and historically interesting, just not for me.

Title: The Witching Tide
Author: Margaret Meyer
Narrated by: Miranda Raison
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Length: Approximately 9 hours and 36 minutes
Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio. Thank you @simonandschuster #BookClubFavorites for the free books!

When you think about witch trials, do you think about Salem, Massachusetts or do you think about England? It was only within the last ten years that I found out about the witch finder, Silas Makepeace, in England and the horrors of what happened there.

Martha Hallybread is a midwife and healer who lost her voice as a child. Her life changes forever when Silas Makepeace, the witchfinder, comes to town. Her employer and surrogate son, Kit, gets her a job helping Makepeace look for marks of the devil on women. Martha finds herself in a terrible situation, powerless to help or stop what is happening to the women in her small community. Will Martha be able to save herself and the other women of her community?

The Witching Tide was a difficult book to read. It was terrifying how when the witchfinder came to town, neighbors were turning on each other and hysteria ruled the day. The proof that was used was horrifying and also laughable that such things could be used to condemn women. They were powerless against the accusations.

This book was very well written, and Miranda Raison was a good narrator. The one downfall is that it was slow in the middle and tended to get repetitive with Martha’s thoughts circling her mind. She has a wax doll given to her by her mother that she keeps with her that she constantly worries about. I just wanted her to throw it away!

The Witching Tide is an interesting story about a terrible time in history.

A book about the witch trails from the point of view of a women stuck between suspicion and betrayal. With a main character with a disability (mutism caused by illness), we see how a women tried to navigate the world of 17th century witch hunts. This book was a slower read but was worth the read. This is the perfect fall/winter read that will have you feel the pain these characters feel and have you wanting to know how it will end.

This was an interesting historical narrative of the witch trials; not anything that witch trial fans haven't seen before, but still an enjoyable read. I loved it as one of my "October spookies".

Thank you Scribner and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this title.
However, I evidently did not get it downloaded before the title was archived.
I don't even know if it was an e-book or audio book.
Because I was still interested in the book, I purchased the audio version from Audible.
I really wanted to like this book, but it just fell flat for me.
The writing is beautiful and the narrator was fantastic.
The storyline became repetitive and mostly comprised of the false accusations and ignorance of the time.
More time could have been spent on character development and less on overuse of lines like "suckling imps".
I got it the first, second and many times after.
Even though this atrocity happened during the time of religion over science, it is disheartening to know the same ignorance and bias continues in the 21st century.
I can definitely say they had great imaginations though.
I have read several books on the Salem Witch Trials, so I was looking forward to what occurred over the pond.
It seems I differ with many other in my assessment of this book. But I have read too many others on the same subject that have had better character development and storyline for me.

Set in the mid 1600s in an era that many would choose to forget, THE WITCHING TIDE is told through the first person POV of Martha, a mute serving woman and midwife. Martha's vision of life in Cleftwater is typical of the "before" stories of the towns and villages most affected by witch trials. Today we would recognize many of the "signs" used to identify the would-be witches as natural disasters and/or community health issues. In this time of male dominance and a woman's life as housekeeper and bedmate, it was very easy for a blameless woman to find herself branded as witch and hung. No one was safe when the witch hunter ignited his particular kind of fever. If you questioned any of his methods, you too were branded as witch. The hunt would exhaust itself and move to the next village but not until untold damage was done. Life would never be the same.

While there are many volumes that use the witch trials as back story, Margaret Meyer has done a good job of weaving Martha's story into a tale that I'm recommending to my reading circle.

For those ready to dive into all things witchy, Margaret Meyer’s debut, The Witching Tide, transports readers to the witch trials of 17th-century England. Mute midwife and servant Martha Hallybread finds herself in the crosshairs of witchfinder Silas Makepeace’s search and attack on her village of Cleftwater. But she may just have more power to save the targeted women of the village than she realizes.

I included this in a September book releases roundup.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the eARC.

I am really starting to enjoy historical fiction and the witchy twist to this one made it really stand out to me. I very much enjoyed this story and found it hard to put down!

You will be intrigued by this debut novel into 1645-1647 East Anglia. Based on true events, the author with her descriptive words places you into this small village during a witch hunt. While her use of old English or words of the time are a bit confusing, it all adds to this story. If you are interested in history and of witches, I highly recommend this book as it really describes what these women went through as they were accused of being witches. The main character, Martha is a mute servant and midwife. A witch finder comes into this village and declares that there are witches to be found. Martha and other women are caught up in his search. The reader sees a sisterhood and loyalty in times of turmoil.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

AHHHHH! I am so thankful to Scribner, Margaret Meyer, and Netgalley for sending me both a physical and digital copy of The Witching Tide before this baby hit shelves. I'm a slut for horror books and this one absolutely slayed my expectations.

I enjoyed the premise of this book, The Witching Tide, by Margaret Meyer. Unfortunately it wasn’t an easy read, and at times difficult to pick up. I will definitely try another book by Ms. Meyer in the future.