📖 Blog Tour ~ The House of the Witch by Clare Marchant

 

Boldwood
9 August 2024

My thanks to the publisher and Rachel's Random resources for the invitation to the blog tour

Now: When Adrianna arrives at the small, run-down cottage, near the sea in rural Norfolk, she can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Here she can forget her life in the city, and the problems she’s left behind there, at least for a while.

But – like Adrianna herself – the cottage holds secrets. And when Adrianna finds a mysterious bundle of notes hidden under a floorboard, she can’t shake the idea that they’ve been waiting for her. Especially when – in the rambling, overgrown garden – she then finds a strangely-carved stone, drawing her into a centuries-old mystery…

1646: Between her work as the village midwife and the medicines she sells from her cottage, Ursula has no need for a man. But this ideal leaves her unprotected in a world where just one accusation of witchcraft can mean certain death. So when she catches the eye of a powerful new local doctor, she must use every part of her cunning, or risk becoming his prisoner.

Can the two women – their paths bound by place and history – each find the keys to their own destiny?

📖 My Review...

Leaving her boyfriend behind in London, Adrianna escapes to rural Norfolk in order to recharge and take stock of her life. However, the cottage she rents is a place of secrets and shadows and with a sense of the past lingering, Adrianna soon becomes immersed in the story of Ursula, a local wise woman, who lived in the cottage during the middle years of the seventeenth century. 

This time slip novel captures beautifully the indecision of Adriana in the modern time and explores her reasons for leaving London, whilst at the same time we are seamlessly whisked back to a troubled time in our past when vulnerable woman were at the mercy of unscrupulous men who were hell bent on revenge, and during the time when the witch hunts were at their most venomous.

I've really enjoyed spending time in both time frames which are brought to life with meticulous detail and it was interesting to see similarities playing out in the lives of both of these young women. Heart breaking and consuming in equal measure, I followed Ursula's story with a sense of foreboding and yet was equally consumed with Adrianna's very modern dilemma in the present. The House of the Witch weaves together two different time-frames and yet does so with a fine eye for detail and a strong sense of both history and destiny.

About the Author

Clare Marchant is the author of dual timeline historical fiction. Her books have been translated into seven languages, and she is a USA Today bestseller. Clare spends her time writing and exploring local castles, or visiting the nearby coast.

Facebook: claremarchantauthor

Twitter: @claremarchant1

Instagram: @claremarchantauthor

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