The Witching Tide: The powerful and gripping debut novel for readers of Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel

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I absolutely devoured The Witching Tide. Margaret Meyer evokes the uncanniness, the appalling cruelties of the witch trials in a way that is also thoroughly humane and shining. To read this book is to step inside time, to feel the bite of the sea air, to walk in the grime alongside Martha as she fights the tide of unspeakable cruelty and suspicion. It is a powerful, riveting read, each sentence pristine and haunting, and I can't wait to read what Margaret Meyer writes next." - Elizabeth Macneal Have you ever read a book and been blown away by how incredibly it was written, and then realized afterwards that it is a debut and been even more impressed? That is exactly what happened to me with this book. Autumn is the perfect time to start reading darker themed books, and especially those pertaining to witches, so this was the right time for this one.

The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer - Fantastic Fiction The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer - Fantastic Fiction

Martha, our one POV character, is mute, which forced her—and by extension, us readers—to bear silent witness to the atrocities around her. Her outrage and fear had no outlet. CM: The poppet is such a disrupter in the book and I wondered when it arrived in the process of writing this story? The plot moved along a predictable path. While I enjoyed the story, I needed more from the second half.Set in the 17th century, The Witching Tide set in a sleepy coastal village in East Anglia, follows Martha the village midwife and herbal healer who is also mute, and the upheaval of the village when a witchfinder arrives on the hunt for witches leaving very few of the local women safe from his hunting. Having read a few books within this genre, I felt the Witching Tide bought a compelling story that will certainly draw on your heartstrings, invoke anger and sadness in equal parts, and is historically accurate in the persecution methods of 17th century witchfinders. As well as highlighting how the patriarchy played a big part in the historical persecution of women as witches. I recommend if this genre of books is your kind of thing. And even at that stage, I was only going to write a novella of 25,000 words, but as I worked away, the word count went steadily up: I hit 25,000 words, and had only scratched the surface. One of the lecturers said well, publishers here like first novels to be between 60,000 or 80,000 words, so keep going, hit 60,000, then you’ve got a novel. The manuscript ultimately ended up at 90,000 words and by then I had been approached by an agent and the publishing process unfolded from there. Well this started of interesting then went into a lull it was very descriptive & I felt for the women but let’s just say it was disappointing. One Autumn morning, the peaceful atmosphere of Cleftwater is shattered by a sinister arrival and Martha becomes a silent witness to a witch-hunt. As a trusted member of the community, she is enlisted to search the bodies of the accused women. But whilst Martha wants to help her friends, she also harbours a dark secret that could cost her own freedom. In desperation, she revives a wax witching doll that she inherited from her mother, in the hope that it will bring protection. But the doll’s true powers are unknowable, the tide is turning, and time is running out . . . A timely, visceral novel that hurls the reader into a community riddled with suspicion, fear and recrimination. Margaret Meyer expertly creates an atmosphere of creeping dread, where no one is safe, and women find themselves punished for their own misfortunes and those of their erstwhile friends and neighbors.” — Natalie Haynes, author of A Thousand Ships

The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer | Goodreads The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer | Goodreads

Books editor Claire Mabey talks with Margaret Meyer, whose historical novel about a brutal witch trial was the subject of a bidding war – a rare sort of publishing magic that can occasionally change an author’s life.

I read widely around witch hunting in general, and on this particular witch hunt. The other book that was very influential is something called The Midwives Book , which was written by a lady called Jane Sharp in the 1670s so it was contemporaneous with Martha [who is a midwife in the novel]. Our newsletter will gently land in your inbox at random intervals, bearing tidings of comfort and joy about new East Anglia, 1645. Martha Hallybread, a midwife, healer, and servant, has lived peacefully for more than four decades in her beloved seaside village of Cleftwater. Having lost her voice as a child, Martha has not spoken a word in years. Blood sang in her temples and ears: these things occurred when Mam was near. She put the dried toad on her bed with the other charms. The worst of her panic had subsided but still she paused, needing to gather herself. She regarded the charms. Not these. None of these. What she needed was still in the pouch. From its open mouth she thought she heard a tiny leaking – a sinister, persuasive hum . . . The doll seemed to cling to her skin. Mam had taught how a left eye was the witching eye, able to see things not readily visible but present nonetheless.

The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer: Haunting, harrowing and

Gone Prissy. Taken Prissy. They had wrenched her from here so roughly, from her hearth and her home, Prissy’s hard-won places. Everywhere there were reminders. Proving bread dough in a bowl in the hearth embers. Gold hairs, glinting from the floor rushes. In the time this book is set, disability can be a death sentence for one of a hundred reasons, and Meyer really shows ... the importance and value of compassion and social responsibility. ... This was my favorite aspect of the book and the primary reason I recommend the read. Such well drawn characters! This book will definitely make you think about the events that took place in it. I'm still thinking about those poor women. Especially Prissy. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience – the local community.The Witching Tide, a story about witch hunting in the 17th Century, is what I want historical fiction to be. Not just well written, but also enlightening. It’s a reminder that men held all the power and when things go wrong, it’s women that bear the pain. Even the drunkards’ words held more sway than a sober woman. Being rich provided no safety net. Even a careless remark by a priest could land him in hot water. With characters refreshingly of their time, rather than straw men parroting the mores of ours, this novel is an immersive tale of the East Anglian witch trials as seen through the eyes of an absorbing protagonist. It showcases the horrors inflicted by social hysteria, and offers a three-dimensional view of individual participants whose roles and motivations are differently shaped by religious faith, interpersonal connections, and intellectual acuity. This is an accomplished debut work by an author to watch.” — Booklist