A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials | Ann Rinaldi

A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials | Ann Rinaldi | The best historical fiction I've read in a while!

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A Break with Chari...

	A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials Ann Rinaldi Gulliver Books Paperbacks, 2003 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 114 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Susanna desperately wants to join the circle of girls who meet every week at the parsonage. What she doesn't realize is that the girls are about to set off a torrent of false accusations leading to the imprisonment and execution of countless innocent people. Susanna faces a painful choice. Should she keep quiet and let the witch-hunt panic continue, or should she "break charity" with the group--and risk having her own family members named as witches?
Reader's guide included.

A favorite from when I was young

I was addicted to historical fiction for young adults when I was growing up, and this was probably my favorite. I read it at least four times more than a decade ago. I recommend it to any young adults who are interested in learning a little bit more about historical topics and the events surrounding them.

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The best historical fiction I've read in a while!

"A Break With Charity" is definitely a historical fiction I would recommend to anyone interested in the Salem Witch Trials. When I studied the Salem Witch Trials in school, not much was covered, so I was curious to learn more.
Learning about this historical event in a history textbook isn't enough, as can be said about any other historical event. Taught through the eyes of a witness and great mind behind the witch hunts, I truly learned what evidence and guilt Susanna English held to herself for a very long time before telling someone.
Ann Rinaldi made this story seem almost like an autobiography, the way she spoke and described each happening.
"A Break With Charity" is a book that I will always remember and recommend to others.

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Wonderful historical novel set during a very fascinating time in Colonial America...

Salem, Massachusetts, 1692. This was a terrible time for the families of those who were executed at the Salem Witch trials. If only one of them, one who had a family member in peril, even if done in private, had the power to prevent further tragedies...

And that is what Susanna English does, or at least according to Ann Rinaldi's fascinating retelling of this historical occurrence. Her brother William is lost at sea, and she wants news about his return from any source. And that is what brings her to Tituba, a slave at Mr. Parris's parsonage. It has been rumored that Tituba deals with the black arts and is a fortune teller, and even though visiting with such person is a sin, Susanna is so desperate to hear about her brother that she throws propriety aside and pays her a visit. Little had she known the chains of events that would occur afterwards. She witnesses the members of the circle, including Ann Putnam, the youngest and most mean-spirited of them all, attending the parsonage while the reverend is gone. She knows all of the things that would make the girls' stories and accusations seem inconsistent, and yet she keeps quiet, for Ann Putnam has threatened to accuse her family of witchcraft if she says a word. But when her mother and father are taken anyway, it is time to take action...

Rinaldi's version of the events is well written, well researched and well crafted -- except for the part about Susanna staying behind when her family flees to New York and she stays with Joseph Putnam. I find it hard to believe that her parents would simply leave her behind, even if it is with people they trust. I know this plot turn is necessary for the story, but still. Other than that, I very much enjoyed this insightful and wonderful historical novel. The Salem Witch trials have always fascinated me, and I have always wanted to read a fictional account on life as a Puritan. Were those people happy with the rules placed upon them? Rinaldi does a wonderful job giving her take on the subject. Historical novels, good and accurate ones, set in the middle to late seventeenth century America are few and far in between. I am so glad I found one by an author who knows her American history quite well.

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Riveting historical narrative about the Salem Witch Trials

Having just read Kathleen Kent's debut novel, The Heretic's Daughter about the Salem Witch Trials, I had to go back and re-read "A Break with Charity" by Ann Rinaldi, also centering on the Salem Witch trials. Both works are fictionalised accounts of those dark and dreary days, but both novels are based on facts. Though Ann Rinaldi's novel is categorised as a Young Adult novel, it is well-written and the narrative appealed to me as a mature adult.

The story centers around Susanna English, daughter of a rich couple, termed 'the gentry'. Phillip English, Susanna's father was rather enlightened for his time and did not strictly subscribe to the harsh strictures of Puritan laws and customs. He put his wealth to good use and so did his wife. Together, they were generally held in high regard in society. Susanna's brother, William was feared lost at sea, and her determination to find out what has happened to William compels her to seek out the counsel of Tituba, a black slave in the employ of Reverend Parris, a harsh man who carries the mantle of a preacher but is anything but charitable. It is in Parris' house that a circle of girls gather during the dark winter days of 1692 and commit unspeakable acts such as conjuring, reading of tea leaves, palm reading and other 'sorcerous' things - an act that carries harsh punishments in those times.

Susanna is not admitted into the circle as she is deemed too rich and of the gentry - yet, she seeks out Tituba and pleads with her to foretell William's whereabouts. When the girls in the circle come to find out that she also knows about their heretical activities with Tituba, she is warned by Ann Putnam, the leader of the circle to stay out of their business, keep silent or suffer the consequences. Susanna soon realises what those consequences are for as the girls attract attention for being 'afflicted by the Devil [they throw fits and decry others as witches - all based on old family quarrels and petty disputes with their neighbors]- she finds her silence no longer guarantees her family's safety.

Things quickly spiral out of control as more and more people are 'outed' as witches by the circle of adolescent girls and worse is to follow as some of the innocent are found guilty and hanged. Throughout all these events, Susanna struggles with her conscience and how she attempts to make things right despite her reservations make up the rest of the story.

Ann Rinaldi convincingly posits an alternative view of what brought about the Salem hysteria and uses a real-life character, that of Susanna English to spin a riveting yarn about the Salem events. It makes for a gripping historical narrative, rich in descriptions of Puritan life, and of what transpired during those dark days between 1691-92. Highly recommended for anyone interested in historical fiction, and especially those who are keen on stories to do with the Salem Witch Trials.

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