A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials($67.14Value)

Description

Yearning to join the girls who meet every week at the parsonage, Susanna English discovers that the group, led by malicious Ann Putnam, has unleashed false accusations leading to the imprisonment and deaths of innocent people in a witch hunt. Grade 6-10-- Well researched, this story of the Salem witch trials is told 14 years later from the perspective of a young woman who lin gered on the fringes of the bewitched girls' circle in 1692. Susanna English, daughter of a free-thinking Salem family, is both attracted to and frightened by what she sees brewing in Tituba's kitchen. When the group begins to ``cry out'' on townspeople, one girl admits to Susanna that they are playing a game, seeking freedom from the harsh Puritan code of con duct. As the game gains momentum, the circle begins to believe in its own power. One young woman warns Susanna that if she betrays them, the bewitched girls will accuse her fami ly. In fact, Susanna's family is torn apart, and so is all of Salem. The plot is rich with details and names that will be familiar to those who have read about the trials. However, despite the tumultuous events, the characters remain rigid. Contributing to the formality of the text is the author's use of Puritan diction and gram mar. Even Susanna's anguish, as she is torn between her fear of revealing her secret and her sense of responsibility because she is silent, is muted. Nevertheless, A Break with Charity portrays an excruciating era in American his tory from a unique perspective, and it will be enjoyed by readers who enjoy psychology, the supernatural, and history. An excellent com panion volume is Ann Petry's Tituba of Salem Village (HarperCollins, 1988). --Carolyn Noah, Central Mass. Regional Lib . System, Worcester, MA Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. Why, in 1692, did Salem execute 22 citizens accused by hysterical girls? Various causes--political, economic, scientific--have been advanced; Rinaldi makes a plausible case for a combination of these with the repression of a society with few amusements, late marriages, and young adults treated as children. As a wise old woman says here, ``...the spirit it took to tame this wilderness is so strong it would not bow to the authority of the Puritan covenant...They see this...as a failure of their vision. So they seek to lay blame.'' Rinaldi chooses as narrator Susanna English, ancestor of Nathaniel Hawthorne, fictionalizing her role of a fascinated, horrified observer who's told, early on, by ringleader Ann Putnam that the girls are deliberately seeking attention and power; Susanna keeps silent lest her own family be accused. The device works well as Susanna tries to negotiate with Ann; sees her parents accused despite her promise; falls in love with Magistrate Hathorne's son and persuades him of the ``witches' '' innocence; is taken in by Joseph Putnam, who is secretly encouraging opposition; and finally shares her knowledge, only to have her certainty challenged by prophecies that, amazingly, come true: ``...the line is thin between what is fanciful and what is real.'' Rinaldi's characterizations aren't subtle, but she has done her research well and fashioned an enthralling, authentic story that makes the results of compounding malicious lies with false confessions of terrified victims tragically believable. Fine historical fiction; Rinaldi at her best. Bibliography; excellent note sorting out fact and fiction. (Fiction. 11-17) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.