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Daughter Lays Foundation For Horrors In Salem

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By PENNY CARNATHAN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 19, 2008

"The Heretic's Daughter," by Kathleen Kent (Little, Brown & Co., $24.99)

She's 10 years old, the feisty and fuming daughter of an equally strong-willed mother. In the early chapters of Kathleen Kent's first novel, Sarah Carrier is at odds with her mother, Martha. Even hates her at times. She doesn't recognize that they are as alike as two tough-shelled black walnuts.

It will be the Salem witch trials - and Martha Carrier's courage in facing her accusers, judges, prison and condemnation - that change Sarah, giving her a sadly precocious wisdom.

Kent, a descendant of Martha Carrier, who was hanged as a witch in 1692, spent five years researching the trials. Her work gives strong bones to her well-crafted tale of love and fidelity, deadly hysteria and superstition.

Sarah is the young narrator. She begins her story in 1690, painting a picture of life in "the new England" of the late 17th century. The Puritans govern much of families' fortunes in the colony of Massachusetts, and while they can be harsh, it's murderous Indians who inspire fear. Sarah's days are filled with work, but she also finds time for play and friendships.

In sharing these lulling rhythms and relationships, Sarah slowly lays the foundation for the horrors that will unfold. It is a story she has kept secret for decades, as she tells her granddaughter in a preface letter.

"I pray that with this record you will understand," she writes, "and come to forgive me for what I did."

Penny Carnathan is an editor with The Tampa Tribune.

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