It gives me immense pleasure to welcome Mary Sharratt, the author of Daughters of the Witching Hill (review), to my blog today. I’m sure this guest post will shed light on the Pendle witches and also give you an idea on how beautiful her writing is.
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The wild, brooding landscape of Pendle Hill in Lancashire, my home for the past eight years, gave birth to my new novel, Daughters of the Witching Hill, which tells the true story of the Pendle Witches.
In 1612, seven women and two men from Pendle Forest were executed for witchcraft, but the most notorious of the accused, Bess Southerns, aka Old Demdike, cheated the hangman by dying in prison. This is how Thomas Potts describes her in The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster:
She was a very old woman, about the age of Foure-score yeares, and had
been a Witch for fiftie yeares. Shee dwelt in the Forrest of Pendle, a vast
place, fitte for her profession: What shee committed in her time, no man
knowes. . . . Shee was a generall agent for the Devill in all these partes: no
man escaped her, or her Furies.
Reading the trial transcripts against the grain, I was amazed at how Bess’s strength of character blazed forth in the document written to vilify her. Bess freely admitted to being a healer and a cunning woman. She lived as a matriarch with her family at Malkin Tower and instructed her daughter and granddaughter in the ways of magic. Her neighbors called on her to cure their children and their cattle. What fascinated me was not that Bess was arrested on witchcraft charges but that the authorities turned on her only near the end of her long, productive career. She practiced her craft for decades before anybody dared to interfere with her.

Cunning craft—the art of using charms to heal both humans and livestock—was Bess’s family trade. Their spells, recorded in A Wonderfull Discoverie, were Roman Catholic prayer charms—the kind of folk magic that would have flourished before the Reformation. Yet she also drew on an even older source of power: Tibb, her familiar spirit, who appeared to her in the guise of a beautiful young man.
Other books have been written about the Pendle Witches—both nuanced and lurid. Mine is the first to tell the tale from Bess’s point of view. I longed to give Bess Southerns what her world denied her—her own voice.
History is a fluid thing that continually shapes the present. As a writer, I am obsessed with how the true stories of our ancestors haunt the landscape. No one in Pendle can remain untouched by the witches’ legacy. As contemporary British storyteller, Hugh Lupton, has said, if you go deep enough into the old tales and can present them in a meaningful way to a modern audience, you become the living voice in an ancient tradition. Mother Demdike’s voice deserves to be heard.
Long after their demise, Bess Southerns and her fellow witches endure, their spirit woven into the land, its weft and warp, like the stones and the streams that cut across the moors. This is their home, their seat of power, and they shall never be banished. By learning their story, I have become an adopted daughter of their living landscape, one of many tellers who spin their unending tale.
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Please do have a look at the video docudrama that was shot on location around Pendle Hill.
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And now, the contest details:
Thanks to the author and the publicist I have one copy of this book to give away. It’s international. The contest will be open till 25th June. I will announce the winner the next day. To enter the contest, just comment below. Don’t forget to mention your email id.
All the best!!!
Thanks for hosting the giveaway, Violet! I read your review earlier and I’d love to win this book.
melreadingcorner AT gmail DOT com
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Please enter my name.Would love to read it.
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Oooh, I’m very excited about this contest! It would be awesome to get this book.
kitty fischer [at] gmail [dot] com
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I would love to read this book ! Please enter me for the giveaway.
shwetasbookjournal AT gmail DOT com.
Thanks Violet
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Sounds like a fascinating book. I’d never heard of the story behind the story. Thanks for the giveaway!
–Anna
diaryofaneccentric at hotmail dot com
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No need to enter me — just letting you know I posted this on win a book!
http://winabook.westofmars.com/2010/06/18/daughters-of-the-witching-hill-by-mary-sharratt-2/
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Thanks for the chance. I have been reading really good things about this one and I look forward to getting the chance to read it.
bacchus76 at myself dot com
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Oh this is so exiting! The book looks so interesting, thanks for giving us this chance!
infiniteshelf @ gmail dot com
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Oh woow!!.. Pick me,pretty,please.. 😉 .. my email id is writetobedazzled@gmail.com
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I’d love a chance to read this, it sounds fascinating.
unforgetable_dreamer_always(at)hotmail.com
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Thanks for hosting and specially for making it international! much appreciated.
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Please include me in the giveaway. THanks!
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com
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I have never read a book about witchcraft and this sounds like an interesting one… please enter me for this giveaway..
archanaskorner(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks
Arch
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Great giveaway!
Please count me in. Thanks.
avalonne83 [at] yahoo [dot] it
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I’d like to be included, sounds good! tWarner419@aol.com
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please enter me & thx..
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Please enter me in this giveaway!
familyhistree at yahoo dot com
Sarah E
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Loved this post and what a great video docurama!
It would be lovely to win this book 🙂
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Thank you for entering me. =)
tiredwkids at live dot com
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This looks like a GREAT witches book ! Count me in 🙂
uniquas at ymail dot com
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I have read so many excellent reviews of this book. I would love to read it.
Thank you
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From the review this sounds like a worthwhile read so please enter me.
Thanks.
Carol T
buddytho {at} gmail DOT com
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I would love to read this!
agirlinthisvicinity (at) gmail (dot) com
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This book sounds wonderful! Would loved to be entered into the contest.
Jennifer
hofmann10jm [at] gmail [dot] com
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I would love to read the Daughters of the Witching Hill. Thanks for the giveaway.
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This sounds like a great story. Count me in, please! :0)
Thanks!
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A very beautiful post indeed.
Thanks for this giveaway, I would love to read this book.
givingreadingachance AT gmail.com
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You have a very nice blog. This book sounds wonderful; would love to be the lucky winner. Blessings, Leah
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I’d love to win this! And thank you for making this international!
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forgot my email: crimson_haze(at)hotmail(dot)com
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This sounds really good! Please enter me. Thank you!
mittens0831 at aol dot com
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This book looks amazing and I would love to win a copy! Thanks for the entry!
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This book sounds just great. Could you include me in this giveaway please, my email id is nishikkatgmail.com
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No need to enter me — but great guest post.
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