Witch Child by Celia Rees

Witch Child by Celia Rees is set in the 1600s, first in England and then in the new colonies in America. Mary, an orphaned teen, lives with her grandmother until they are accused of witchcraft. Mary watches as her grandmother is drowned during a "witch test". She sees her grandmother gesture to someone behind her, and Mary is immediately whisked away from the village and sent to America. Later, she realizes that is it her mother that set it all up, a witch, herself. On the voyage to America, Mary is taken in by Martha, a single woman, and Jonah and Tobias, a father and son who are interested in healing and plants. People being to suspect a witch on the ship when the weather takes a turn for the worse and the food supplies dwindle. Eventually they make it to America - Salem, Massachusetts - only to find the people they were hoping to meet had moved on, into the wilderness. Mary, Martha, Jonah and Tobias continue on with the rest of the group they arrived with, following two Native American men into the wild. Jaybird, the younger of the two leaders, becomes friends with Mary. When they finally find the settlement and their friends and relatives, more strange things begin happening in the village. Having no explanation for these occurrences, and, in the end, needing an easy way to cover up embarrassing situations, the townspeople begin accusing Mary and Martha of witchcraft.

This book is told through Mary's diary, until the end when Mary ends up abandoning her diary. The story is picked up by Martha, who does her best to finish Mary's story after she is gone. I ended up really liking this story. The beginning was long and a little bit boring. But, once the settlers got to America and the story started to unfold with the townspeople and their ideas about witchcraft, it was really interesting. I think Mary Newbury may have been a real girl growing up in the 1600s and accused of witchcraft. I'll have to do some research on that!