First Lines Fridays | 23rd of June 2023

Hello Hello! How are you?

Today I’m bringing you yet another First Lines Fridays post because this week has been ABSOLUTELY INSANE. This week, in the town I work at, is the Ostensions celebrations (basically a regional specific Christian celebration that only happens every 7 years) and work has been just crazy crazy busy and it’s been a nightmare to park. So when I’ve been getting home from work, I’ve just wanted to die on the sofa, haha! I’ve got a picnic with some friends on Sunday, but then hopefully will have some time for myself on Monday, so will try to get a Down the TBR Hole post schedule for next Friday, if not it’ll have to wait until the next week!

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
• Finally… reveal the book!

In 1692 the Massachusetts Bay Colony executed fourteen women, five men, and two dogs for witchcraft. the sorcery materialized in January. The first hanging took place in June, the last in September; a stark, stunned silence followed. What discomfited those who survived the ordeal was not the cunning practice of witchcraft but the clumsy administration of justice. Innocents indeed appeared to have handed. But guilty parties had escaped. There was no vow never to forget; consigning nine months to oblivion seemed a more appropriate response. It worked, for a generation. We have been conjuring with Salem — American’s national nightmare, the undercooked, overripe tabloid episode, the dystopian chapter in our past — ever since. It crackles, flickers, and jolts its way through American history and literature.

But what book is this quote from?

The Witches: Salem 1692 by Stacy Schiff

It began in 1692, over an exceptionally raw Massachusetts winter, when a minister’s niece started to scream and convulse. It ended less than a year later, but not before panic had infected the entire colony, nineteen men and women had been hanged, and a band of adolescent girls had brought Massachusetts to its knees.

Vividly capturing the dark, unsettled atmosphere of seventeenth-century America, Stacy Schiff’s magisterial history draws us into this anxious time. She shows us how quickly the epidemic of accusations, trials, and executions span out of control. Above all, Schiff’s astonishing research reveals details and complexity that few other historians have seen.

This book has been on my TBR for ages and every time I see it on my shelves I have a strong urge to pick it up and read it. From the first paragraph included above, I have a feeling it’ll be a fantastic book, so I’m excited to pick it up sometime this year!

That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this post.

See you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx