The Familiars

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Young Fleetwood Shuttleworth, a noblewoman, is with child again. None of her previous pregnancies have borne fruit, and her husband is anxious for an heir. Then Fleetwood discovers a hidden doctor’s letter carrying a dire prediction: she will not survive another birth.

By chance she meets a midwife named Alice Grey, who promises to help her deliver a healthy baby. But a witch-obsessed frenzy sweeps the countryside, and Alice soon stands accused of witchcraft.

Set against the real Pendle witch trials, this compelling debut draws its characters from historical figures as it explores the lives of seventeenth-century women, and raises the question: was witch-hunting really just women-hunting?