Rating: 
Summary: Rubbish
Review: The hard cover version of this got better (more accurate) reviews. It's a good story and not deserving of the low ratings I've read here. It is a sad story about public opinion being easily manipulated and then working against those with no power. It is difficult not to see the analogy with present times. Almost 400 years later and we think we're beyond that, but are we really ?
This is one of a very few books that I didn't buy at Amazon.com. I picked it up and started reading it in a bookstore while they checked to see if the book I was looking for was in stock. Needless to say it came home with me and was pretty much a real page turner.As has been suggested by others - this may not be "High Literature", may have some typos and at times may stretch the bounds of believability- but it is still a damn good book! The author notes that she is an "activist for children's rights" and therefore I expect that is why there is such graphic (highly disturbing) attention to the tormenting of this poor child. Dorcas Good and the other "Witches" could very well have suffered exactly as she describes in her book- or not, either way innocent people certainly did suffer at the hands of those with power and/or money. The book combines her knowledge and love for the place as well as a no-holds-barred statement of the gritty reality of the times. ("The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd" is a very good documentation of life and politics in the 1600's and the speculations in "Dorcas Good" are on the same lines) The book piqued my curiosity on the subject of the witch trials and has left me with an appetite to learn more. If you are considering this book and have doubts, pick up a copy at a bookstore, open it anywhere in the story and start reading it. You will soon know.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Book
Review: The hard cover version of this got better (more accurate) reviews. It's a good story and not deserving of the low ratings I've read here. It is a sad story about public opinion being easily manipulated and then working against those with no power. It is difficult not to see the analogy with present times. Almost 400 years later and we think we're beyond that, but are we really ?
This is one of a very few books that I didn't buy at Amazon.com. I picked it up and started reading it in a bookstore while they checked to see if the book I was looking for was in stock. Needless to say it came home with me and was pretty much a real page turner. As has been suggested by others - this may not be "High Literature", may have some typos and at times may stretch the bounds of believability- but it is still a damn good book! The author notes that she is an "activist for children's rights" and therefore I expect that is why there is such graphic (highly disturbing) attention to the tormenting of this poor child. Dorcas Good and the other "Witches" could very well have suffered exactly as she describes in her book- or not, either way innocent people certainly did suffer at the hands of those with power and/or money. The book combines her knowledge and love for the place as well as a no-holds-barred statement of the gritty reality of the times. ("The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd" is a very good documentation of life and politics in the 1600's and the speculations in "Dorcas Good" are on the same lines) The book piqued my curiosity on the subject of the witch trials and has left me with an appetite to learn more. If you are considering this book and have doubts, pick up a copy at a bookstore, open it anywhere in the story and start reading it. You will soon know.
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