8 June 2001 WITCH CHILD by Celia Rees, Candlewick, July (Friday the Thirteenth) 2001

"...My grandmother was brought forward for all to see. She was held, arms pinioned behind her, then pushed to the foot of the ladder that leaned against the gallows tree. She ignored the eyes on her, looking over the upturned heads, searching for me. Her eyes found mine and she smiled. Her glance went sideways to Obadiah Wilson, self-appointed Witchfinder, trying to staunch the blood pouring from his nostrils, and she nodded very slightly, as if to say well done. She nodded again to someone behind me.

That was the last I saw of her. The hangman stepped forward. He held a hood raised to cover her face, and at the same time a cloak closed around me. I was taken down one of the steep alleys leading from the market and was pushed into a waiting carriage just as I heard the crowd's roar..."

It is 1659. Mary Newbury, who has been raised by her grandmother in England, ends up in a Puritan settlement, carved into the wilderness, inland from Salem, Massachusetts. There are few in the settlement whom she can trust or call friend. While the colonists' suspicion of her slowly mounts, she is treated with great respect by a pair of Native Americans, a grandfather and grandson, with whom she secretly rendezvous.

This powerful and beautifully written historic novel is already a bestseller in Britain. Candlewick outbid Scholastic in a hotly contested auction for the American rights. Candlewick also brought the book's charming author, Celia Rees, to Chicago for Book Expo last week. (This week she's in Amsterdam for the Dutch release.) Celia has already finished the sequel.

I absolutely could not put down WITCH CHILD, and I am anxiously awaiting that sequel. I finished reading it before flying home from Chicago and couldn't wait to began reading it aloud the next day. You'll be in luck on Friday the 13th next month if you reserve yourself a copy.

Richie Partington

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