There is power in silence.
East Anglia,1645. Martha Hallybread,a midwife,healer and servant,has lived peacefully for more than four decades in her beloved Cleftwater. Everyone in the village knows Martha,but no one has ever heard her speak.
One bright morning,Martha becomes a silent witness to a witch hunt,led by sinister new arrival Silas Makepeace. As a trusted member of the community,she is enlisted to search the bodies of the accused women for evidence. But whilst she wants to help her friends,she also harbours a dark secret that could cost her own freedom.
In desperation,Martha revives a wax witching doll that she inherited from her mother,in the hope that it will bring protection. But the doll's true powers are unknowable,the tide is turning,and time is running out ...
A spellbinding and intoxicating novel inspired by true events,The Witching Tide is a magnificent debut from a writer to watch.
Publisher: Orion Publishing CoISBN: 9781399605854Number of pages: 336Weight: 460 gDimensions: 220 x 146 x 36 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'A beautiful,haunting and utterly transporting novel that takes the reader back to a terrifyingly real witching England: a paranoid society where women's lives are decided by gossip and grudges. Told from the perspective of a silent woman whose inner voice insistently pulls the reader along,The Witching Tide is atmospheric,moving and lyrical'- Naomi Wood
'I absolutely devoured The Witching Tide. Margaret Meyer evokes the uncanniness,the appalling cruelties of the witch trials in a way that is also thoroughly humane and shining. To read this book is to step inside time,to feel the bite of the sea air,to walk in the grime alongside Martha as she fights the tide of unspeakable cruelty and suspicion. It is a powerful,riveting read,each sentence pristine and haunting,and I can't wait to read what Margaret Meyer writes next'- Elizabeth Macneal
'A timely,visceral novel that hurls the reader into a claustrophobic rural community riddled with suspicion,fear and recrimination. Margaret Meyer expertly creates an atmosphere of creeping dread,where no one is safe,and women find themselves punished for their own misfortunes and those of their erstwhile friends and neighbours'- Natalie Haynes
'A superb writer. The world Margaret Meyer conjures in The Witching Tide is elegant and haunting,utterly beguiling and so convincing of time and place. I was moved and gripped by Martha's plight,captivated by the gleaming details of the prose and horrified at the wider picture they revealed. As with all great historical fiction,The Witching Tide gives voice to the unspoken and brings light to dark places,drawing to the surface those stories that need to be told and need us to listen. I loved it'- Emma Stonex
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