Conversion

Have you ever gone to the bookstore for one thing and come out with many more? True story of my life. There was this book with a beautiful yellow bird sitting on a thorny branch. Intriguing. I had just read about this novel on BN's website. I opened the cover to discover it was about the Salem Witch Trials and the town that now sits on the site of Salem- Danvers, Massachusetts. More intriguing. I love the witch trial history. How can people get so sucked into hysteria? It could never happen again-right? Well it did. This story is loosely based on the happenings in Le Roy, New York in 2012, when 16 girls were afflicted with various illnesses. The novel follows Colleen, an overachieving high school senior and her friends. A Mystery Illness starts to sweep through her exclusive private all girls school. It is college acceptance time, every quiz matters, valedictorians are being picked and every girl feels the pressure. When several girls start experiencing strange symptoms, the school quickly tries to sweep it under the rug. That never works. Colleen starts to try and figure out what is happening and she comes to a scary conclusion that it might be her best friend Emma causing the illnesses. But how can that be? There's no such thing as witches- right?? Interspersed between the current chapters is the story of Ann Putnam, one of the girls involved in the Salem witch conspiracy. It uses the actual testimony of the time to tell Ann's role in the dreadful events. The most interesting thing to me is the similarities of the two stories. The pressure on girls is immense, no matter what century you are living in. They want to be noticed, feel important and most of all, they want a place in society. They want a voice. And if no one is going to give it to them, they will find a way to take if for themselves. A teenager scorned... Anyway, I couldn't put this down and if you have any interest in that time period of our history, this one is for you. Happy reading my friends!