Tuesday 14th  June / Online book group

Tuesday 14th June / Online book group

 A book group discussion about The Manningtree Witches by A. K. Blakemore, and the themes raised in the novel. We've kept our book group online so it's accessible to everyone. It's a friendly space and everyone is welcome.

The Manningtree Witches

WINNER OF THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD

Fear and destruction take root in a community of women when the Witchfinder General comes to town, in this dark and thrilling debut. 

England, 1643. Parliament is battling the King; the war between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers rages. Puritanical fervour has gripped the nation, and the hot terror of damnation burns black in every shadow.

In Manningtree, depleted of men since the wars began, the women are left to their own devices. At the margins of this diminished community are those who are barely tolerated by the affluent villagers – the old, the poor, the unmarried, the sharp-tongued. Rebecca West, daughter of the formidable Beldam West, fatherless and husbandless, chafes against the drudgery of her days, livened only by her infatuation with the clerk John Edes. But then newcomer Matthew Hopkins takes over the Thorn Inn and begins to ask questions about the women of the margins. When a child falls ill with a fever and starts to rave about covens and pacts, the questions take on a bladed edge.

The Manningtree Witches plunges its readers into the fever and menace of the English witch trials, where suspicion, mistrust and betrayal ran amok as the power of men went unchecked and the integrity of women went undefended. 

Date: Tuesday 14th June
Time: 7:30 pm - 8:30pm

Book group readers can buy the book from the shop with a 10% discount.

Free online event with limited space so please email or message us to register.

Google Meet invites will be sent to people who have registered.

Back to blog

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.