Slewfoot by Brom

 

He has been sleeping for many years, weakened by the changes around him.  The place is New England, the year 1666.  He has many names.  The wildfolk call him Father and Protector.  The villagers call him Devil, Slewfoot, Satan.  He has now awoken and is figuring out what and who he is and how he fits into the world.

Abitha has immigrated to the village from England where she was alone.  She has come to marry Ethan, one of many women who come to America for this chance to start over.  Ethan is shy and quiet and totally under the thumb of his brother Wallace.  But he and Abitha form a relationship and she helps him start to become his own man.

Then Wallace gives them the news.  He inherited everything when his and Ethan's father died and Ethan has been making payments for his farm to Wallace and is about to pay it off.  But Wallace is in debt and has given Ethan's farm to his debtor as payment.  Ethan protests and the sheriff agrees he gets the chance to make his final payment and own the farm.  Then Ethan dies in an accident.  Agitha fights for the chance to finish Ethan's payments and is granted it.  But can a woman alone bring in the crops and make the payment?

The work is hard and especially for a slight woman on her own.  But Agitha is about to get help.  She comes from a line of wise women who used herbs and charms to heal.  Her background draws Slewfoot and she helps him discover his way.  In return he uses his strength and magic to help Agitha.  When she pays off the farm, she makes powerful enemies in Wallace and his friends.

Soon they find a way to destroy her.  They accuse her of witchcraft and she is condemned to death along with any who testify for her.  She is full of despair but Slewfoot is not through with helping her.  Can he save her?

I listened to this novel and the narrator set exactly the right tone.  She read with an English accent which is what Agitha would have had and probably many of the villagers as well.  This novel is marketed as a horror novel and it has plenty of that but it brought home to me in a way nothing else has the sheer terror a woman accused of witchcraft in that time period must have felt.  No one believes anything you say.  You are tortured and tormented in tests that you are set up to fail.  The crowd mentality takes over and everyone is against you, either because they believe you are a witch or because they are afraid they will be the next one accused.  Then you are sent to die for something you know is false.  This book is recommended for readers of both horror and historical fiction.