If You're Waiting to Read The Witches by Stacy Schiff...

A new nonfiction book has come out recently covering the fascinating period of history in the early United States history the Salem witch trials.  If you're waiting to read it or more interested in a fictional take on this time period, here are a few historical fiction titles set during and inspired by the events.


The Heretics Daughter: A Novel
Kathleen Kent
A fictional tale of Martha Carrier, the first woman accused of witchcraft to be tried and hanged in Salem.  Her story is told by her daughter, a survivor of the period.
The author is a descendant of Carrier.







The Shape of Mercy
Susan Meissner

A present day college student traces the story of one of her ancestors Mercy Hayworth who was an accused witch and victim during the Salem witch trails. She takes a part time job from a librarian transcribing Mercy's journal.

Daughters of the Witching Hill
Mary Sharratt

A story of another witch-hunt, this one set in England rather than Salem, covering the 1612 Pendle witch-hunt.  Bess, a poor widow, is a known healer, and has passed her skill set on to her granddaughter.  When a peddler has words with her granddaughter and suffers a stroke soon after the family becomes the target of magistrate eager to be know for finding witches.

Deliverance from Evil
Frances Hill

A realistic, gripping fictional account of the Salem witch trials.
Focuses on the hysteria of the trials and the period.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
Katherine Howe

The discovery of a 17th century Bible in her grandmother's home near Salem draws a Harvard graduate student into the past as she becomes haunted with visions of the era and the witch trials.