Sister Witch is a fictionalized, historical story. Its main character Moll Dyer is a real person who lived during the seventeenth century and was considered to be a witch.

The book is not much fun to read because it is full of the suffering of its main character through possibly no fault of her own. Still, it was a very interesting book, and I couldn’t put it down until I read it to the end.

The story begins with Moll Dyer and her family in Kinsale in County Cork, Ireland. While going walking on a moonlit night, Moll meets up with someone she knew who attacks her and leaves her pregnant. Upon her family’s concerns of Moll’s reputation and their standing in the community, Moll agrees to travel to the USA with her uncle who is about to go on a voyage in a galleon named Mary Regina.

On the ship, she makes friends with a couple, Gideon and Beth, and makes friends with them. Beth and Moll become fast friends. Beth is also pregnant, but her pregnancy is more advanced than Moll’s. During the voyage, some hardships occur and Beth dies. Gideon, losing his senses with grief, blames Moll for Beth’s demise and insists the baby Moll is carrying she stole from Beth through witchery. Gideon’s delirium will hurt Moll in the States, much later.

When they finally make it to the shore, Moll and her uncle claim land in Maryland and become settlers. On a slave sale, Moll asks her uncle to buy an abused black woman named Nema about her age, but she is against slavery and eventually, they let Nema be free, but by then, Nema and Moll have become friends and Nema never leaves her until Nema’s death. The same is true of Bluebird, the native woman, who becomes friends with Nema and Moll.

Their land is secluded, close to an Indian reservation, and far away from town, Newtown to be exact, and after Moll gives birth, they pass her son as Moll’s brother.

Most of the turns and twists in the story come after this, and just the thought of how people can be cruel just based on their assumptions but not facts makes this story a success. Some of that success is based on the scenes that show the life in colonies, Indian and American relationship, and toward the end of the book, a few somewhat supernatural events.

What is most amazing is the author’s treatment of Moll’s character. Moll may have been born with some precognition, faulty though it may be, and she has learned to heal the sick with plants and herbs from her mother while in Ireland. She is also brave, headstrong, and much more progressive in her thinking that the times can allow. She can also work very hard and can withstand a lot of difficulties, even when she is wronged by some people and, later in the story, by the entire society. The reader comes out feeling awed by the strength of this woman’s character.

The other characters are drawn adequately enough to support their roles, but the main character is a very strong one.

The language, thoughts, and beliefs of the time are splendidly presented and the story flows well without a hitch.

enjoying historical fiction, sad though it may be.

seeing how a strong main character can dominate a story.

the changes in Gideon's character. The first change on the ship is understandable, but after all the harm he has done to Moll, Gideon (being cured almost overnight) tries to help her at the end, which felt a bit off to me.

David W. Thompson who writes historical fiction.

It shows the seventeenth-century life well and the story is quite interesting, but it is not a story with Hollywood ending with several difficulties to the main character inside it. I'd say read it at your own risk.

Here is the true story of Moll Dyer (From Wiki):

"In the dark of the coldest winter night in 1697, the colonists rose up against Moll Dyer, proclaiming her a witch. They formed a mob (encouraged by the governor!) and set Moll’s cabin ablaze. Somehow she escaped her funeral pyre, and fled blindly through the woods.

Several days later, a young lad, searching for his missing cow, stumbled upon Moll’s lifeless body. She was bent over a large rock at the river’s edge, frozen solid. When Moll was pulled away, the rock bore indentations where her palms rested and her knees touched. It is said the strength of her curse on the local citizenry engraved the marks.

The 300 pound rock now sits in the courtyard of the St. Mary's County courthouse with a simple plaque proclaiming it “Moll Dyer’s Rock.” Visitors to Maryland's southernmost county, overcome with curiosity, report both curses and cures after touching the infamous rock."

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of Sister Witch: The Life of Moll Dyer (Legends of the Family Dyer Book 1)   from Amazon.Com!

Created May 08, 2019 at 3:59pm • Submit your own review...