Spanning the years leading up the famous Pendle Witch Trials in 1612, Daughters of the Witching Hill centres around the women of the Southern/Device family that were involved.

Old witch Demdike or Bess comes into her powers late in life, and eventually passes her knowledge onto her daughter Lisa, best friend Anne and grandchildren Jamie and Alizon. But as the years pass on, and King James I's insistence on the persecution of witches, the family become an opportunity for a local man seeking power from the King.

This was a grand book, and the storytelling was a bit slow and steady, with nothing too strange or startling. I liked learning about the particular time in history and what it was like to live in England with changing religions, and how fear and disgust of 'Papists' gradually changed people's feelings towards each other and neighbourly friendliness all but disappeared. Bess and her family never seem to live a particularly comfortable life and forever penniless and begging for work and scraps but there are times of simple family happiness in the story too.

I wasn't too crazy between the woman-on-woman hate that occurred between Bess/Liza and Anne and Annie Redfearn but this was apparently something that truly happened in history so so be it.

This book really shows what a farce witch trials were and how unfair the trials were to the people accused of witchcraft. There was never really a chance to defend themselves and it can be infuriating to read at times, and the story feels a bit hopeless.

I recommend for people who like historical fiction and prefer slower reads with not a whole load of action but more so a story of an interesting life.