Witch Child by Celia Rees (Candlewick Press)

Witch Child by Celia Rees tells the story of a fourteen-year-old Mary Newbury, whose life is wrecked along with the lives of everyone who knows her, owing to her grandmother's public execution as a witch on English soil in 1659. To escape an equal fate, her mother sends Mary across the ocean to the New World, where she is placed into a Puritan settlement. In that place, they must not reveal her identity to the outside eyes, very suspicious of anything different from their rigid beliefs. The major blow boils down to the battle inside Mary, submerged under a world of fear and intolerance, especially about her inherited healing gifts, which are pursued by the witchcraft of her grandmother.

Mary is extremely intelligent and resourceful, bright and bright-minded. She initially carries the impact of her fear and her overwhelming loss, victimized by her heritage. Thereafter, among her acquaintances are characters like Martha, a good widow who would become a mother to her-and, later, Jaybird, a native American boy to open her up and understand the real world of forests. Although the darker threat of her persecution is always present, such relationships help Mary evolve a certain strength and courage. Much of the narrative tension rests upon Mary's struggle between wanting freedom and living among a community that knows nothing of it.

The novel is the descriptive projection of cruelty born out of ignorance and fear, where it is unwillingly molded into the vessel for society. Contemporary people, as in past ages, suffer intolerance and marginalization. All such themes are manifested in Mary's experiences, yet leaving the reader with an opportunity for self-reflection on how fear may mislead the communities, and empathy and understanding become their strongest bulwarks for division.

Celia Rees writes using simple and evocative terms. Through Mary's diary entries, the novel's tone becomes very intimate and personal, almost immediate. Epistolary form keeps the reader in contact with Mary's thoughts and feelings, havens of fears and hopes. At the same time, the language is very accessible, bearing an archaic flavor that primes the public setting within a 17th-century ambience without becoming the object of too much distracting density or distance. More importantly, the narrative decision deepens the emotional descriptions and brings out the reader within Mary's world and the suffocating atmosphere of the Puritan settlement.

The themes of the book about bravery, identity, and sacrifice in the face of intolerant moods come across clearly. The reader sympathizes with Mary and other people who have suffered unreasonable suspicion, often infusing a mix of sorrow and hope. The tenor is tense and often dark, but moments of warmth and connection offer balance to the story. 

One of those historical books that truly fit into the young adult fiction category marries real historical fears with fantasy elements, thanks to Mary being a witch. 

History and the stories of fear and exclusion have been studied so relevant to the present, making the book not just a wonderfully engaging tale but an insightful commentary on human nature. 

4/5