L M Shepherd

The Hanging Tree L M Shepherd

While taking a walk one evening, Grace has a life changing experience. A bohemian girl who suffers an over bearing Mother enters 1644 by accident. She rescues a new born child and is accused of Witchery by the Witch finder General, Matthew Hopkins. Desperate to get back to Huntingdon 2009 and helped by Will, the Gamekeepers son, she makes a bid for freedom. She befriends Elizabeth Chandler, a woman hung as a Witch in 1644. Grace's disturbing journey brings her closer to her critical Mother when they share a common experience. Based on some historical facts, Linda added her own fiction to create a spellbinding story. She places a modern woman in Medieval England with just a handbag, filled with 21st century paraphernalia; just to see if she'll survive by using her wits. She portrays the danger and uncertainty of those times candidly, adding love and romance to conjure up a totally believable slice of the reality of those dark times.. Thousands (mostly women and chidren) were murdered as Witches during the era Linda writes about, especially in the part of England she comes from. Misogyny played a large part in this anti-Christian behaviour. The subject still is, in some ways, taboo. Linda was one of many, who signed a petition to pardon the Witch's, unlawfully beaten, raped, ducked, burned or hanged during the 14th to 18th centuries. Some of these people...were our ancestors.