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Julie Hearn: "The Merrybegot" |
She promised me I would not have to behave like this for much longer. In a day or two we would stage our recovery. Wake up all smiles and do our tiresome chores, like good obedient girls. It did not happen like that. It went too far.
We went too far.
Spring 1645: In a remote West Country village, all is not as it seems. There are rebel soldiers up in the hills, piskies tittering in ditches and a new minister challenging the old ways. When the minister's daughters take to their bed, howling and spitting pins, rumours of bad magic and ill-wishing spread fast - and fingers point at Nell, the cunning woman's granddaughter.
With Matthew Hopkins, the Witch-Finder General, on his way, Nell finds herself alone, trapped and in mortal danger. Who can she trust? Who will save her?
Summer 1692: Patience Madden, the minister's younger daughter, has a confession to make. A confession that shows another side to what happened to her sister, Grace, and the cunning woman's granddaughter, half a century before.
But why is her story different - full of sudden gaps and errors? Is her memory failing her? Or is she just being clever... very clever?
This novel is a remarkable balancing act; it uses modern idiom without losing historical credibility; it interweaves realism and fantasy without sacrificing emotional power and introduces real people (Charles II and witchfinder-general Matthew Hopkins) without undermining the invented characters. Ingeniously structured, with compelling plot twists, it is engrossing and immediate. Hearn has the skill of a conjurer and her novel casts a spell.
Sunday Times
Once again I am in awe of Julie Hearn's writing.
Clare Gambell, Ottakar's
Hearn writes with great brio and style. Her characters - human, supernatural and animal - all spring off the page.
The Guardian
The Merrybegot combines magic realism and historical fact in a formula that Julie Hearn has made her own, proving that her brilliant debut novel Follow Me Down was not just beginner's luck.
The Sunday Telegraph
Spiced with saucy idioms, the novel blends the spirit of two A-level classics, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Crucible.
The Observer
Julie Hearn... is one of the brightest new stars in the now star-studded world of children's fiction.
The Times
Bewitches and beguiles from first to last.
Celia Rees
A subtle, spirited and well-written book.
The Independent
Julie's fiction sparkles with wit and a deliciously ironic humour.
Writing Magazine
... a dreamlike saga rich in folklore and magic, brimming with lyrical prose, that transports the reader to the mystical border lands where piskies inhabit the hedgerows on one side and fairies roam the countryside on the other.
Western Morning News
A gripping, atmospheric novel which demands to be read at one sitting.
Books for Keeps
This book leapt out at me. It startled me and then held my attention [...] I learned about Merrybegots and frolicking on a warm night in May; I remembered Cider with Rosie and Hardy's Tess and all the literature of love and loss that awaits those who have enjoyed this book. I also learned about England during the Civil War, but more importantly the author trusted me as a reader. Together we examined the nature of sexual and religious desire; of jealousy and envy; of bravery and cowardice. This is a fine book and I accepted its piskies and its miraculous reversal of death with delight. They fitted into the story as the acorn fits into its cup.
Times Educational Supplement
Julie Hearn's second novel, following the spectacular eeriness of Follow Me Down is firmly rooted in her own researches at Oxford University into beliefs, interpretations and events concerning witchcraft in the 17th century. Her depth of knowledge and awareness of contemporary influences on individuals are impressive. However, what impresses even more is that the details and backgrounds are entirely the servants of the making of a cracking good and brilliantly-paced fiction and never overwhelm or inhibit the manner of the development of the story. [...] With touches of that folklore and myth which in many readers can awaken vague recognitions, even when such matters have never been credited with any conscious awareness, and with such a wealth of strength in feminine personalities, this book really is a terrific read.
The School Librarian