When Adrianna arrives at the small, run-down cottage, near the sea in rural Norfolk, she can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Here she can forget her life in the city, and the problems she’s left behind there, at least for a while. But – like Adrianna herself – the cottage holds secrets. And when Adrianna finds a mysterious bundle of notes hidden under a floorboard, she can’t shake the idea that they’ve been waiting for her. Especially when – in the rambling, overgrown garden – she then finds a strangely-carved stone, drawing her into a centuries-old mystery…
The House of the Witch is certainly darker than my previous books. This was not intentional but the subject matter is by definition fairly grim! It is once again a dual timeline book but this time the past era is set slightly later than usual, in the mid seventeenth century during the witch trials in East Anglia.
The book is set in north Norfolk and the historical part follows the story of Ursula, a midwife and, by choice, a single woman. Having witnessed domestic violence as a child she has no wish for a man in her life. But back then it was a dangerous choice to make as she discovers when she catches the attention of a local doctor, Oliver Bruton. He wishes for more than just a working relationship and when she refuses, the whispers of witchcraft start to circulate.
Intertwined with this is the present-day story of Adrianna who, after experiencing burn out at work goes to stay in a cottage in Norfolk where she finds an old journal beneath a floorboard. Later she also uncovers an old rock covered in strange symbols half buried in the garden and she's drawn into Ursula’s tale, whilst also discovering her own story.
As mentioned before, this book is centred around some dark themes of abuse, both physical and emotional. The inspiration for the book came about as my books usually do when I fell down a research rabbit hole. I had read about a supposed haunted house in Essex where women who were accused of witchcraft were gaoled, and also the skeleton of a convicted witch discovered buried in a garden.
This all led to an article about feminism and the persecution of women in an era when they had no rights and could be called a witch and subsequently hung when they'd done absolutely nothing wrong. It was a way for men to abuse innocent women.
Frontispiece from Matthew Hopkins's The Discovery of Witches (1647),
showing witches identifying their familiar spirits (Wikimedia Commons)
And as I read more about it and the terrible way that Matthew Hopkins, self-appointed Witchfinder General set about having these women, the majority of whom lived alone or were widowed and old, executed with no tangible evidence of wrongdoing started me making comparisons with the modern day and how women are sometimes treated even today. So, with these themes in mind the book is inevitably darker than my previous ones.
And, what's next? well, I'm now writing two books a year so whilst I'm busy with the publication of The House of the Witch, I'm also just finishing my next book which will be released March 2025. This is another dual timeline, set at the court of Queen Elizabeth 1ˢᵗ and also in Norfolk (yes I do love my adopted home county!) close to Thetford. It currently has the working title of 'Where Two Rivers Meet' but I'm expecting that to change further down the process!
Clare Marchant
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