Rating: 4 1/2 stars

Life under the cold, hard rule of her mother was always difficult for Sarah Carrier. Her mother, Martha, was a stern and harsh woman; truly a product of late 1600's New England. Martha Carrier was not a woman to mind her tongue however and in times like these a sharp-tongued woman was all too often and too easily branded as the devil's own.

The Salem Witch Trials hovered eagerly just around the corner, waiting for things like this to set off this small part of New England like sulfur on a match tip.

As the story begins, Sarah and her family move to Andover, just outside of Salem Town, to live with her maternal grandmother. Shortly after arriving Sarah and her baby sister Hannah are rushed away in the dead of night to Martha's sister Mary. The small pox has come to Grandmother's house and quarantine has been laid down.

Sarah has never liked her mother and her time spent at Mary's house -- bonding with the family, hearing the exciting tales of her uncle and becoming inseparable from her cousin Margaret -- makes it all the more painful for Sarah when her father comes to collect her after the quarantine ends.

For ten-year old Sarah life's harsh lessons will soon arrive, ushered in by the hysterical shrieks of little girls who see devils and witches all around them.

The story is written from the perspective of Sarah Carrier Chapman, looking back on her life and remembering the sacrifice her mother made in the name of truth and the rightness of things. Martha wouldn't back down; she refused to lie to save her own skin, though she ordered her children to lie as much as possible if need be. She knew that to lie to save herself would only cheapen the life that she was left with.

The author has written a story of true beauty and grace. She writes from a place that, for her, is real and meaningful. The Carriers are in her blood; they were her family and she knows their stories. The horrors faced by the victims of the Trials are a sad piece of our history. Over one-hundred and fifty people were arrested and imprisoned for witchcraft, nineteen people were hanged, one man was crushed to death and at least five died in custody. Martha Carrier was one among them. Sarah Carrier Chapman narrates her story. Kathleen Kent has given them a beautiful and lasting memorial.

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Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Pub. Date: September 2008
ISBN-13: 9780316024488