The Witch’s Tree is a timeslip novel, moving from the present day to 1682, from Selena’s story as she comes to stay in Sloe Cottage in Somerset, to Grace who lived in Slaugh Cottage in the seventeenth century. It is a story of injustice and heartbreak. It is a story of a spirit who cannot rest.

Many people, mostly women, were accused of witchcraft and the reasons that fingers were pointed were tenuous and coincidental. It is a serous subject that affected the lives of many innocent women.

But, on a slighty lighter note, I have devised a quiz below which asks the question – would you have been thought a witch back then, in those days of superstition and fear?

It’s a fun quiz but, when you read The Witch’s Tree, you’ll see that gossip and suspicion have far-reaching consequences for innocent lives.

My own total was very high – I’d have had no chance!

I wonder how you’ll get on?

QUIZ:  Would you have been considered a witch five hundred years ago? Do the quiz below to check out your chance of survival…one point for each and 50 points for the first question:

1. You are female
2. You are young – between 16 and 35
3. You are older than 35
4. You have red hair, freckles
5. You are attractive – to anyone
6. You have beauty spots or moles
7. You have a wart, or a stray hair on your chin
8. You have an animal who adores you, especially a cat
9. Someone has a grudge against you
10. Someone’s husband ‘speaks you fair’
11. You have many children
12. You have no children
13. You are a little bit eccentric
14. You like to be out at night sometimes, or walk about in the woodlands, alone
15. You use herbs a lot
16. You sing or dance or talk to yourself
17. You sweep the floor with a besom broom – any broom…
18. You sometimes stand up against injustice to yourself or your family
19. You live alone
20. You have a birthmark, or something unusual about you that sets you apart –
21. You like animals. You have a way with animals
22. You can heal people a bit, or at least, you show empathy when people need it
23. The weather is particularly bad, or good, and you live locally
24. You have had an argument with someone at some point and they have a grudge
25. You look at someone – it doesn’t matter how or when – and then some misfortune happens to them within the next year. Or a cow or pig dies…and you live less than three miles away

17^th Century Score:

0-50: You are probably safe…but only probably…

 51-59:  You are at risk

60-67:  Bad luck. You are highly at risk

68-74: You have no chance. You will almost certainly be accused of being a witch.