The Manningtree Witches

By: A. K. Blakemore

Narrated by: Sofia Zervudachi

England, 1643. Puritanical fervor has gripped the nation. And in Manningtree, a town depleted of men since the wars began, the hot terror of damnation burns in the hearts of women left to their own devices.

Rebecca West, fatherless and husbandless, chafes against the drudgery of her days, livened only occasionally by her infatuation with handsome young clerk John Edes. But then a newcomer, who identifies himself as the Witchfinder General, arrives. A mysterious, pious figure dressed from head to toe in black, Matthew Hopkins takes over the Thorn Inn and begins to ask questions about what the women on the margins of this diminished community are up to. Dangerous rumors of covens, pacts, and bodily wants have begun to hang over women like Rebecca—and the future is as frightening as it is thrilling.

Brimming with contemporary energy and resonance, The Manningtree Witches plunges its listeners into the fever and menace of the English witch trials, where suspicion, mistrust, and betrayal run amok as a nation's arrogant male institutions start to realize that the very people they've suppressed for so long may be about to rise up and claim their freedom.

©2021 A. K. Blakemore (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Not your standard “Witch Hunts Were Awful” story

My favorite type of storytelling: impressionistic, moody, interior.

The bulk of the story itself is somewhat standard “Twisted Witchunter + shitty neighbors + calumnies + old/crotchety/uppity women = bummer for the women.”

What makes this story stand apart is it’s POV, which is first person of a young woman who survives the process, and then third person (barely) of her inquisitor.

The prose for our gal is beautiful and full; she describes things not only as she sees them, but as she feels them, or as what they are. You can get up and start your day, or you can arise, walk through the dim, warm house, then open the door to a cool sunlight, as tender as (pick your favorite)spring flower, dewdrops shining like diamonds, with steam rising languidly above the ground. (You get the idea)

Not only is the writing full, but the reading provides character match, particularly of our primary-some kind of regional English accent. The tone is my favorite - all sentences end in a period. Difficult life of a 17th century English woman, with all of its oppression, told in a muted, oppressed way. I love this matchup.

I also appreciated the author’s careful (and a little ambiguous) treatment of the impulse, when you are being as mistreated as these women were, to go to the other side.

Finally, I don’t want to forget a shout-out to the small and easily missed mother/daughter relationship epiphany the main character experiences as they wait over a year to learn their fate. Well done.

awesome narrator

loved how the story progressed and wrapped itself up deliciously at the end. amazing voice acting by the narrator.

Engrossing story and beautiful prose

The middle portion of the story was very heavy with little lightness to balance it. Other than that, it was completely engrossing, Rebecca’s character and context so well developed, the writing so poetic and vivid that I restarted it as soon as it ended. Highly recommend!

Excellent listen!

I absolutely loved this story. The narrator made it a truly wonderful emersive experience.