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WORK TITLE: The Witchfinder’s Sister
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1987
WEBSITE: https://www.bethunderdown.co.uk/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: British
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2145562/beth-underdown
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1987, in Rochdale, England.
EDUCATION:Attended the University of York and the University of Manchester.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and educator. University of Manchester, England, lecturer.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Beth Underdown is a British writer and educator. She attended the University of Manchester and the University of York. Underdown serves as a lecturer at the former school.
In 2017, Underdown released her first book, The Witchfinder’s Sister. The book borrows details from the life of Matthew Hopkins, a witchfinder who lived during the seventeenth century. Underdown became interested in the era while reading a book by one of her ancestors, a historian named David Underdown. In The Witchfinder’s Sister, Alice has been living in London with her husband, the son of her family’s housekeeper, and has become pregnant. The year is 1645. When her husband dies, Alice is left with no money and decides to move in with her brother and his family in Manningtree, a small, rural town in Essex where they both grew up. Alice’s brother is Matthew Hopkins, the real-life witchfinder. She is surprised to find that citizens of the town treat Matthew with great respect, as Matthew was once a weak and reticent child. Alice comes to find out that Matthew’s change is social stature is due to his reputation as a talented witchfinder. Suspicion that women are practicing witchcraft has been running rampant in Essex, and Matthew has played a leading role in fomenting the hysteria. He has even persecuted several family friends and acquaintances. Part of his witch-finding process includes binding suspected women and forcing them to stay awake for many hours. Matthew’s skills are earning him a reputation throughout the county, with several communities requesting his services. He demands that Alice come with him on his witch-finding trips. Alice is inwardly shocked and appalled by her brother’s behavior. She wracks her brain, attempting to identify an event from Matthew’s past that could be influencing his behavior. Finally, she confronts Matthew, which puts her own life in danger.
Critics offered favorable assessments of The Witchfinder’s Sister. Henrietta Verma, contributor to Booklist, asserted: “Underdown’s well-researched, believable chronicle of persecution brings its era alive and will have readers rapt.” “Though histrionic towards the end, this is an entertaining yarn for readers who can’t get enough of the subject matter,” suggested a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Writing in the Washington Post, Carrie Dunsmore remarked: “It would seem that nothing more can be said … about the Salem witch trials. … But in her novel, The Witchfinder’s Sister, Beth Underdown has found a fresh approach, spinning a tale that’s entertaining and thought-provoking with a valuable message for our own times.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, March 15, 2017, Henrietta Verma, review of The Witchfinder’s Sister, p. 25.
Publishers Weekly, February 27, 2017, review of The Witchfinder’s Sister, p. 68.
Washington Post, May 8, 2017, Carrie Dunsmore, “Book World: The Witchfinder’s Sister Shows the Consequences of Unbridled Power,” review of The Witchfinder’s Sister.
ONLINE
Beth Underdown Website, https://www.bethunderdown.co.uk (October 30, 2017).
Penguin Random House Website, http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/ (October 30, 2017), author profile.*
Beth Underdown
Photo of Beth Underdown
Photo: © © Justine Stoddart
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Beth Underdown lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Manchester. Her first novel, The Witchfinder’s Sister, is based on the life of the 1640s witchfinder Matthew Hopkins. Beth’s interest in seventeenth-century England was sparked by the work of her great-uncle David Underdown, one of that period’s foremost historians. She came across a brief mention of Matthew Hopkins while reading a book about midwifery, igniting an interest which turned into an all-consuming hunt for the truth about this infamous killer.
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About
bethunderdown.jpg
Beth Underdown was born in Rochdale in 1987. She studied at the University of York and then the University of Manchester, where she is now a Lecturer in Creative Writing.
The Witchfinder’s Sister is her first novel, and is out with Viking in the UK and Ballantine in the US in Spring 2017. The book is based on the life of the 1640s witch finder Matthew Hopkins, whom she first came across while reading a book about seventeenth-century midwifery. As you do.
QUOTED: "Underdown's well-researched, believable chronicle of persecution brings its era alive and will have readers rapt."
The Witchfinder's Sister
Henrietta Verma
Booklist.
113.14 (Mar. 15, 2017): p25.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
The Witchfinder's Sister.
By Beth Underdown.
Apr. 2017.336p. Ballantine, $28 (9780399179143).
Witch hunts didn't start in Salem. Underdown builds upon documentation of trials instigated in 1645 England by
Matthew Hopkins, an obsessed preacher's son whose personal demons caused him to see evil in every woman. The
narrator and main character is Hopkins' sister, Alice, who recognizes that the accused, rather than causing their
neighbors' misfortunes, are simply mentally ill or poor. Alice needs help herself as she is recently widowed, but when
her brother takes her in, she's helpless to stop his madness and is forced to assist in his ever-widening search for
sorcery. Underdown's well-researched, believable chronicle of persecution brings its era alive and will have readers
rapt while they wait to find out the accused women's fates. This story of power being allowed to grow unchecked is
perfect for our political climate. That's why, while lhe Crucible is the obvious read-alike for this book, it also connects
nicely with such dystopian classics as 1984 and A Handmaid's Tale.--Henrietta Verma
YA: Despite the novel's adult cast, its themes should still resonate with teens who loved titles such as The Hunger
Games, The Giver, or A Handmaid's Tale. SH.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Verma, Henrietta. "The Witchfinder's Sister." Booklist, 15 Mar. 2017, p. 25. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA490998452&it=r&asid=899280be85e2216e1d3bf212272506ef.
Accessed 15 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A490998452
QUOTED: "Though histrionic towards the end, this is an entertaining yarn for readers who can't get enough of the subject matter."
10/15/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1508107386191 2/2
The Witchfinder's Sister
Publishers Weekly.
264.9 (Feb. 27, 2017): p68.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Witchfinder's Sister
Beth Underdown. Ballantine, $28 (336p)
ISBN 978-0-399-17914-3
This debut historical novel is a well-written dramatization of witch hunting in Europe during the 17th century. Based
loosely on the life of a real English witch finder named Matthew Hopkins, the story is narrated by his sister, Alice,
who, pregnant, must return to her brother's household in the village of Manningtree after the death of her husband in
London. As Matthew's ward, Alice can only watch as her brother's behavior spirals into fanaticism and cruelty. She
knows childhood trauma informs his actions--not only was his face disfigured in a mysterious accident as a child, but
he was denied the opportunity to follow in their father's footsteps as a minister. As Matthew coldly and methodically
goes about the business of "watching" several local women, keeping them awake and bound for hours on end while
waiting for their devilish imps to appear, Alice becomes desperate to get to the bottom of what is compelling him. As
the hysteria, and his influence, grows, Matthew is called to other communities, forcing Alice to accompany him. After
witnessing his failure to stop one particularly unspeakable act, she finally rebels, and he turns on her. Though histrionic
towards the end, this is an entertaining yarn for readers who can't get enough of the subject matter. (Apr.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Witchfinder's Sister." Publishers Weekly, 27 Feb. 2017, p. 68+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA485671139&it=r&asid=a2842c9351807be59a726eaf493aa9e4.
Accessed 15 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A485671139
QUOTED: "It would seem that nothing more can be said ... about the Salem witch trials. ... But in her novel, The Witchfinder's Sister, Beth Underdown has found a fresh approach, spinning a tale that's entertaining and thought-provoking with a valuable message for our own times."
Book World: 'The Witchfinder's Sister' shows the consequences of unbridled power
Carrie Dunsmore
The Washington Post. (May 8, 2017): News:
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
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Full Text:
Byline: Carrie Dunsmore
The Witchfinder's sister
By Beth Underdown
Ballantine. 312 pp. $28
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It would seem that nothing more can be said -- or even imagined -- about the Salem witch trials. We get it: The innocents were used as scapegoats for society's ills. But in her novel, "The Witchfinder's Sister," Beth Underdown has found a fresh approach, spinning a tale that's entertaining and thought-provoking - with a valuable message for our own times.
Based loosely on the true story of "Witchfinder General" Matthew Hopkins, the book focuses on the witch hunts during the early years of the English Civil War, rather than those that took place in colonial Massachusetts. Times are heady. There are rumors swirling and clashes between the Puritans and the mainstream Church of England (not to mention a few remaining Catholic holdouts). No one knows what will happen - the air is thick with paranoia and uncertainty.
Underdown beautifully creates a palpable sense of anxiety: "The next weeks were like one of those nightmares, the ones from which you cannot awake," narrator Alice thinks. "I searched women gently. ... Each one had a different tale, fit to break your heart, but what they had in common was loneliness, and too many nights spent listening; loose flesh where they had given birth or gained weight in other, better summers. What they had in common was fear."
It's 1645, and Alice has to return to her childhood home in Essex, England, widowed, penniless and pregnant. Her brother Matthew, who disapproved of her marriage to their housekeeper's son, takes her in. Alice soon realizes that things are not as they were when she left. Matthew, who was shy and awkward as a boy, has become a respected figure in the community, accepted by the local squires and businessmen. Unfortunately, the reason for his change in status is that he's become the county's lead witchfinder.
Alice doesn't believe in witchcraft and is shocked to learn that her brother is involved in persecuting harmless women, many of whom she has known her entire life. She thinks that the fuss will soon die down, but she comes to find that the stakes are deadly high - and perhaps not just for the women in question. The more she challenges Matthew, the more dire her own circumstances become, and she soon is forced (or chooses) to acquiesce to protect people she cares for, from their young serving girl to her own mother-in-law and, finally, herself.
Underdown has written a novel that grapples with two very important questions: how those in power oppress the powerless through fear and intimidation, and how the bystanders must decide what, if anything, they will do to stop it. "The Witchfinder's Sister" serves as an important reminder - especially valuable today - of the consequences of such an imbalance.
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Dunsmore is a lawyer who blogs at QueenofBooklandia.com.