WINNER OF THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE

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. It is a visceral, thrilling book that announces a bold new talent.

• We started tracking this book on February 5, 2021.
• This book was £8.54 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 57 times in the past 1,664 days.
• The current price of this book is £0.99 last checked 10 hours ago.
• The lowest price to date was £0.99 last reached on August 25, 2025.
• This book has been £0.99 19 times since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was £8.99 last reached on June 23, 2021.
• This book has been £8.99 one time since we started tracking it.
• This book is currently at its lowest price since we started tracking it.

• Literature & FictionLiterary FictionHistorical
• Literature & FictionHistorical FictionHistorical

• Publication Date: March 4, 2021
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 321 Pages
• File Size: 21 KB