num_pages: 497
description: In the spring of 1688, Walter Stearne, Witchfinder-General for Mercia and East Anglia, roams the countryside in search of heretics. His daughter Jennet is left behind in the care of her Aunt Isobel, who schools her in the New Philosophy expounded by Isaac Newton. But her aunt's style of scientific enquiry soon attracts the attention of witchfinders.To save her aunt, Jennet travels to Cambridge to seek the help of Newton himself. On the way, she meets Dr. Barnaby Cavendish and his 'Museum of Wondrous Prodigies' including the Bird-Child of Bath and the Sussex Rat baby. jennet's masterplan is ultimately doomed, but in Isobel's dying moments, Jennet agrees to devote her life to overturning the Parliamentary Witchcraft Act. it is a task that will lead her on picaresque adventures: to the witch trials of Salem; to capture by Algonquin Indians; to an affair with Benjamin Franklin; to a shipwreck; and to the great final showdown between old superstition and new science.Hugely original, witty and tongue-in-cheek, The Last Witchfinder is a great rollicking tale, savagely funny and a tour de force of historical fiction.(from the book jacket)
language: English
title: The Last Witchfinder
titlecomplete: The Last Witchfinder
genres: Fiction, Historical, Witches, British Literature, 17th Century, Literature, Novels, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Witchcraft
ratings_count: 1580
places: Salem, Massachusetts, Colchester, Essex, England, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, London, England
awards: awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: John W. Campbell Memorial Award
category: Best Science Fiction Novel
publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson