The family that includes Edward Tremain, the heir to Polneath, the father of William, is a man Ivy fell in love with. When she reads in the deaths section of the newspaper that Edward’s son had died in the war she begins writing to Edward in the hopes of rekindling their friendship and perhaps take it further, now that her husband does not have long to live. I have my theories, but it did not help keeping my attention every time I noticed one of these oddities. However, at night Ivy mourns another soul that was lost far before his time which sadly was still in the innocence of childhood yet this death was a decade ago but still feels as if it took place only yesterday as those memories of the fire, her father being sent to help someone who had the task of keeping her charge, the poor boy in questions well-being and a certain individual who is far from innocent, all start to play more and more on her thoughts when the death of the boy will not rest.

The Witchfinder’s Sister – Mind the blog The Witchfinder’s Sister – Mind the blog

Ivy is grieving and it brings back memories she'd pushed aside, and makes her determined to find the truth. Told in dual timelines, we are introduced to a host of characters, from the master of the Great House, and his son and heir, to his servants, the local doctor and his daughter, all of whom appear to have plenty of secrets, as the characters slowly reveal their ability to deceive. I did like the atmosphere Beth Underdown creates and the attention to period detail; I never felt that the language or attitudes were too modern.Even following a period of 28 weeks in which 81 women were killed, with male suspects in every case, women still aren’t being listened to (extra police presence will not make us feel safer) and will routinely get shut down in debates with men for being hysterical or too emotional, even for calmly stating reasonable arguments.

The Witchfinder’s Sister, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch Review: The Witchfinder’s Sister, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch

The witch trials themselves took place in the background of the stage, almost like a shadow of the main front performance. A chapter heading may indicate that we are in 1918, but after a few paragraphs Ivy starts to remember the events of 1888 again and it’s not always clear which period we are reading about. Gradually she puts things together; there’s a slow burn of horror, the sense of something huge she is powerless to stop. The tension increases as the two threads and timelines start to come to their conclusions, and the sedate pace of what has come before is ramped up a notch or two.

In the dead of night a fire sweeps through a Manor House claiming more than just timber and objects of every day life. Set in two time periods: 1918 and 1888, Ivy mourns the death of her son Tim in the first world war - often feeling that he is hiding under her bed, and she also looks back to thirty years previously when another boy died and was found under a bed. I really wanted to love this book, as the blurb sounded like something right up my alley, but unfortunately I did not. Now her son many years forward was killed in the war however, it’s not a straightforward telling of his death, her mind wanders to think if this is retribution for her lack of action or from someone’s blame.

Play Review: The Witchfinder’s Sister - The London Horror Play Review: The Witchfinder’s Sister - The London Horror

The question of whether Alice will be able to save Bridget, a friend of the siblings’ dead mother, forms a significant strand of the book. The story shows how women were both powerful and powerless at the same time, more than a hundred years ago, although I know that in some places this didn't change much. The author captures the many faces of a country community, from the rich and privileged to the servants below stairs. We also question the motherly Debra Baker as Bridget and watch as we start to doubt our trust in her. The Salem joke in particular had me cackling away in my seat, and it is a particular joy to see an Essex story put on in an Essex venue.

From there Ivy attends the house to look after Agnes, the housemaid, who has been accused of starting the fire and therefore murdering William. I often find if plots are gentle in motion, if the writing style isn’t quite ‘up to it’, I become a little bored when revelations take their time to unfold. In a story that goes back and forth in time, Ivy instinctively knows there was more to that tragedy, the repercussions of which have never left her, leaving her haunted, a woman with her own secrets, and there are hints that there is more to Tim's death too.

The Witch Finder’s Sister by Beth Underdown review

Set over two timelines, 1888 and 1918, this book is rich in detail of an era where the division of rich and poor is shockingly unfair and where life sits very closely to death and can be snatched away in the blink of an eye. We’ve already seen from the opening pages that she appears to be a prisoner: the novel we are reading is her attempt to set down her story and justify her acts. That aside, it was a thoroughly enjoyable play, and if you are looking for an atmospheric, emotionally charged production that’s rooted in history – then The Witchfinder’s Sister comes recommended.She also remembers another boy, a small child who died decades earlier under strange and tragic circumstances. We were shown the fraying relationship between George Kemp in a relatively minor role as Mathew Hopkins and Lily Knight as his sister Alice. I found this to be one of those stories that keeps you guessing, and gets you emotionally involved with the characters as secrets begin to reveal a shocking past! Matthew has installed that staple of historical fiction, a sinister and bullying female servant, whom Alice quickly recognises as an enemy. Also, the ‘key in the lock’ of the title turns out to be several keys to several locks in several doors and I struggled to keep track of the significance of them all.