Six Women of Salem by Marilynne K. Roach tells the story of the Salem Witch trials through the stories of six women that were involved. It opens by providing brief bios of each of the women prior to the witch trials before then covering the actual events of the year 1692. Starting in January it moves forward from month to month chronicling the events of the actual trials making sure to cover the lead up to the trials as well as the actual trials. It incorporates family legends, any official documentation that may have survived and any private documentation that the author could access in order to attempt to create an accurate retelling of the events in Salem in 1692.
I think I can say that probably everyone in the U.S. has heard of the Salem Witch Trials. At the same time I can admit that I was relatively unfamiliar with the specifics of those events. This book did a pretty good job of enlightening me as to what might have happened. I could tell reading this book that the author did immense amounts of research in order to write it and made sure that their information was as accurate as possible. What I really appreciated though was where the author was unsure about how things might have occurred and they made sure to indicate they were unsure. They discussed why they were unsure and what they think might have happened based on what is known but they were always clear about when they were unsure. It was really reluctant to presume without evidence or proof which is nice when reading this kind of work. A lot of authors just present their theories as fact and act like it is the only possible explanation so I appreciated knowing when things were potentially murky. I like a good work of non-fiction but it has to be good and this was definitely a good one. It treated the topic respectfully and made sure to indicate when it was being faithful to the evidence and when it had to extrapolate or was unsure. Perhaps most important, it also created a well-rounded portrait of what might have happened. By focusing the story on six women it allowed a personal perspective to creep in which allows the reader to better connect with the people who had went through these events. However, by choosing women from multiple different classes that covered everything from slave to wealthy landowner we see the different class reactions. It also made sure to choose women that were accused, accusers, and potentially both in order to see those different reactions and perspectives as well. I feel like it was a relatively honest and well-rounded story that really helped to illustrate exactly what might have happened during the trials. I am happy giving this book four out of five stars.
This book is a good work of historical non-fiction so if you enjoy that genre than you might consider trying it out. It also is a book that focuses on the Salem Witch Trials so if you are interested in learning more about that or about early protestant beliefs about witches, or even about life in the early colonies, than you might consider it as well. The book is primarily aimed at an adult audience but it could be read by older teens or young adults as well. While there is some potentially disturbing content given the topic of the work there is little graphic detail provided so it should be suitable for that age range. I would not recommend it for younger readers though. Overall, a pretty good book and one that I enjoyed so I hope you consider trying it out. Remember to share your thoughts in the comments if you do.