The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson
Published by Grove Press
Release Date, October 1 2013
This fictionalization of the Lancashire witch trials is exactly that…a fictionalization. While Pendle Hill is a real place and Alice Nutter (along with many other figures) is a real person, this book is not written to give you an exacting account of the actual witch trial. It does, however, give graphic imagery of what a witch trial may have been like. This book is not for the faint of heart. The torture scenes will have you cringing, the conditions of the jail cell will make you squimish. But if you can handle that, Winterson has created an October read well worth spending some time with in the dark.
Jeanette Winterson is obviously a gifted writer. She makes Pendle Hill and all its corruption come to life in a way that makes this book practically read itself. Once you pick this book up (or download it to your ereader), you will be hooked and not want to put it down. And this book’s size makes it possible to do just that. Unlike other novels on this topic or in this time period, Winterson uses only the words necessary to make her story told. There is no excess to drag the plot down, no over-wordyness that drags this book out to places not needed. It is clear, concise, and disturbing.
In addition to the setting Winterson also creates characters and a supernatural element that are totally believable. You’re never sure what “witchcraft” really is. Is it a science that’s evolved beyond anything we could imagine? Or is it truly something given only to those who have sold their soul to the devil? Or is the truth somewhere between the two? The world you dive into as you cross the Daylight Gate will leave you wondering.
This is the horror fan’s A Discovery of Witches. Taking place fully in Elizabeathan England
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher
