Sorceress

This sequel to Witch Child is as compelling as its predecessor. The framework for the continuation of Mary's story is present-day research by Alison Ellman. She has published the diaries which form Witch Child and is now seeking descendants of the characters mentioned. She is contacted by Agnes Herne, a Native American studying in Boston. Together they examine the quilt in which Mary's diaries were found. Agnes agrees to return to the reservation where her aunt lives. Here she hopes to show Alison the few belongings that have been handed down from Mary's time. What Alison doesn't know is that Agnes has already had visions from the past. On the reservation we meet Aunt M who already knows what is going on. Both women have inherited the gift of 'sight'. With her aunt's help, Agnes relives Mary's story and is finally able to tell it to Alison. Readers of Witch Child will be enthralled to find that Mary survived her flight from the settlement of Beulah in 1660. She went to the Native Americans, Jaybird and his grandfather, and she makes her life with them. In this rather more adult story we find that Mary is more truly a witch than seemed the case in the earlier novel. Trouble brews for her when, a fully fledged medicine woman, she is trapped between her adopted tribe and the settlers from whom she has come. The witchcraft in this novel, as in Witch Child, is closely bound up with healing and wisdom. Mary resolves to treat any sick or wounded people regardless of their nation and she finally decides to provide a treatment centre for anyone who needs it. Rees has cleverly developed the idea of Alison as editor of Mary's 'history' and provides interesting endnotes detailing what she has gleaned from descendants of characters in the earlier story as well as historical evidence about the settlements. This is a substantial, well-crafted and highly readable novel, which will appeal to 12-year-olds and upwards. (Kirkus UK)