Mary Newbury watches her grandmother hang for being a witch in England. She is saved the same fate by a friend and is placed on a ship bound for the New World- America. Hopefully there she can escape the persecution that she faced in England. So, she boards a ship bound for Salem.



Once on the ship, she meets new friends- Martha, the old spinster healer woman, Jonah, an apothecary, Tobias, Jonah's adventurous son, and the Riverses, a family of good puritans who take the orphan Mary under their wing.



When they land in Salem, the group finds that their family and friends have moved on and founded their own city in the woods. So, led by Indian guides, they venture forth into the unknown to find them.



What happens to Mary when she reaches the town is the real adventure of the book, preventing the reader from putting it down until the very last page. Written in diary form, from the point of view of Mary Newbury herself, it provides real insight into the life of a self proclaimed witch-girl living in Puritan America.

The historical backdrop of the mid-1600s, when the witchcraft craze was almost at its appex. I also liked that Salem, in this book, is still a peaceful little town and not the hate-ridden setting of the Witchcraft Trials. And, as I am a witch, I found it interesting to read about Stone Henge and animal spirits. Mary is a wolf, as am I, so I connected with her.

The plot was a bit predictable at times. You kinda figured out what was going to happen because Mary figured it out.

Go out and buy the sequal, called 'Sorceress', which gives an explination of that happens to Mary Newbury after her diary ends.

I was extremely proud to be a witch and I wished I could go back in time to whoop some puritan butt. Mary Newbury is a great character and I felt much like her by the end of the book.

Celia Rees lives in England and writes full time for children and teens.

Mary Newbury and all the rest of the characters are incredibly endearing (or hateful in some cases) and you begin to really feel close to them. It also places you right in the middle of the mid-1600s, making you feel like you are right there, living Mary's life with her.

Parts of it were a bit predictable, probably because Mary knew it, as well, and wrote it in her diary.

I don't know who the girl is on the front of the book, but it was that picture which made me pick the book up. The captivating eyes and the lips that are parted as if to speak or smile, they just drew me to the book. Don't be surprised if that happens to you, too.

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Created Feb 22, 2003 at 8:42pm • Submit your own review...