The Witch's Tree

By: Elena Collins

Narrated by: Antonia Beamish

Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

A tale as old as time. A spirit that has never rested.

Present day.

As a love affair comes to an end, and with it her dreams for her future, artist Selena needs a retreat. The picture-postcard Sloe Cottage in the Somerset village of Ashcombe promises to be the perfect place to forget her problems, and Selena settles into her new home as spring arrives. But it isn’t long before Selena hears the past whispering to her. Sloe Cottage is keeping secrets which refuse to stay hidden.

1682

Grace Cotter longs for nothing more than a husband and family of her own. Content enough with her work on the farm, looking after her father, and learning the secrets of her grandmother Bett’s healing hands, nevertheless Grace still hopes for love. But these are dangerous times for dreamers, and rumours and gossip can be deadly. One mis-move and Grace’s fate looks set....

Separated by three hundred years, two women are drawn together by a home bathed in blood and magic. Grace Cotter’s spirit needs to rest, and only Selena can help her now.

USA Today bestselling author Judy Leigh, writing as Elena Collins, brings you this unforgettable, heart-breaking, gripping timeslip novel set in a world when women were hung as witches, and fates could be sealed by a wrong word. Perfect for fans of Barbara Erskine, Diana Gabaldon and Louise Douglas.

©2022 Elena Collins (P)2022 Boldwood Books

Critic reviews

"A wonderful book by a fabulous author, very highly recommended." (Louise Douglas)

LOVED IT!

This was my very first experience using audible. This book was amazing, and the narrator was great!

Magic and love

I very much enjoy the mixing of different errors together to create an interwoven story of time

Great story!

I absolutely LOVED this story from start to finish. I've had difficulty getting into a book lately, but not with this one! No doubt I will listen to it again.

Amazing

You’ll have to listen for yourself. This story reminds me of so many quotes about judgement and following the crowd eloquently entwined with peace, love and kindness.

The Witches Tree

A young girl .org deflowered against breast will!
Grace lost breast mother 10 years ago leaving breast Goodreads hard labor in the fields and taking care of her father while the babe grows Goodreads be healthy while he .org Silk in the womb!
His momma is hung to be hung as a witch when he is just one year old!
Why was Grace killed?
Because Prime lies, jealousy, fear!
Someone had to pay!
Grace died to save the lives of gram, daddy, and babe!
Can Grace find any peace?
We will find tears and peace for her in the future with flowers and prayers!

I

Enjoyed the story and the ending, even though there were a few unanswered questions. I would still recommend this book. My only issue is with the voices and certain voice changes from character to character took away from the story. Good listen overall.

Great Story

The author was able to switch between now and then seamlessly. Captivating, emotional, and felt true.

Loved this one!

Loved this book and narration! I was so moved by the characters that even though I had an idea what happened to Grace that I cried when she died! This is definitely something that has never happened listening to an audio book before! I don't usually do reviews and I have listened to hundreds of other audio books and this is the first one that I have had such a strong reaction to!

Would recommend

Thought it was very good, kept me interested throughout the book!! Author made me feel like I was there!

Tragic, Predictable, and Anticlimactic

I'll start with the positive. I thought the story was intriguing, and even though I knew it would be tragic, I was already drawn into Grace's story. I love the atmospheric descriptions, and I love the little "family" Selena created while she was on holiday. It gave the story a cozy feel, even though it was spooky and sad most of the time.

THERE ARE A FEW SPOILER ALERTS IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPHS, SO STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING.

Now here are a few reasons I only gave it three stars. Honestly, it was just "okay" for me. The narrator did the same voice for every character, so at times, it was hard to tell who was who, and the transitions were not that smooth. All the women sounded the same, and most of the men sounded sinister- even the good ones. This left me wondering about a part that happened near the beginning of Grace's story. *SPOILER ALERT* I was left confused because while the scene sounded, to me, like this man forced himself on Grace, the next line stated she gave him her full heart. WHAT? Whiplash. And I never did find out which was which, and his act of violation was never discovered or mentioned again.

Second of all, it was predictable. I won't go into details about why, because you'll see for yourself. Suffice it to say, it was tragic and sad, and the end was anticlimactic for me because (spoiler alert) they never did uncover the truth about the baby's true parentage, and I was so hoping they would somehow. The epilogue did redeem the author to some degree, but not enough to give this book more than three stars. In fact, it was a little unbelievable for me and farfetched that Grace had no ill feelings towards the woman who ended up raising her son.