Beyond the Burning Time

By Kathryn Lasky

Published by Scholastic Paperbacks (September 1, 1996)

Summary:

Mary Chase and her family live in Salem, Massachussettes in 1692 as they watch the hysteria unfold surrounding innocent Puritan women accused of witchcraft. They watch one by one as their friends and neighbors are accused of crimes described by a few girls in the town who claim they are victims of the witches. Among political, religious, and social chaos, Mary's own mother is accused of witchcraft. Mary and her brother must decide how to free her from a town overcome with grief, guilt, and accusations.

My Review:

Kathryn Lasky has managed to take true facts and quotes and wrap them in her historically fictional story. The setting, most of the people, and the events are all accurate as Lasky creates the fictional Chase family immersed in it. Reading this story helped me understand the events of the Salem witch trials and how it affected families and the mindset of the town. I also found the story even more fascinating when I realized that Lasky used many true facts and testimonies of the accused women in her story because it made the events more real for me as I read.

WARNING: Even though it is written for a younger audience, there is some nudity (looking for marks of a witch) and violence (the way the women were treated in prison and their hanging) but it is all fact-based.