KEY POINTS:
THE WITCH'S TRINITY
By Erika Mailman
Hodder & Stoughton, $38.99
Great powers of evil are alive and well in 16th-century Tierkinddorf, Germany. As a famine inflames tensions between villagers and families, a Dominican friar arrives to purge the vividly imagined evil elements. When he blames the famine on witchcraft, it causes hysteria.
Gude, one of the oldest members of the village, is the befuddled, somewhat unreliable narrator. She watches helplessly as her friend is accused of witchcraft, and burned alive at the stake. But it is when she is herself accused of witchcraft that the mental and physical boundaries of a frail old lady are put to the test.
The effects of starvation upon the human spirit, and the quest to apportion blame for suffering, provide the uncomfortable backbone of this book. Though by no means an accurate historical portrayal, The Witch's Trinity beautifully illuminates a dark period in human history.
- Detours, HoS
