Sorceress

by Celia Rees

Book Overview

For the legions of readers spellbound by WITCH CHILD, here's the fascinating next chapter - thanks to a Native American descendant with an uncanny link to the past. Agnes closed her eyes in the heat and steam of the sweat lodge. She woke to air that was dry and cold around her. She was no longer Agnes, or even Karonhisake, Searching Sky. She was no longer American or Haudenosaunee. She was English, and her name was Mary, and she woke to find that...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0763621838
• ISBN13: 9780763621834
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.1" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

great sequel

Sorceress is a continuation of Witch Child. The reader finally gets to find out what happened to Mary so many years ago. Only, Rees continues the story in such a unique fashion. Her research abilities come into practice again as the Reader gets an insight on the life and habits of Native Americans during the time of the French and Indian War. Agnes is having strange dreams in which she sees her self as Mary, her apparent ancestor, after reading the book Witch Child. (How you like that?) She decides to email the author by using the web address found at the back of the book. She comes into contact with Alison, who is doing the research on Mary and was one of the scientist who discovered the diary in an ancient quilt. They get together to join their talents. Through Agnes' eyes, the reader gets to relive the days of Mary's escape, rescue, hardships, and life with her Indian family. Wonderful read. I'm anxious to find out whatelse Rees has up her sleeve.

An excellent sequel...

The end of "Witch Child" left me dying for more. I was too pleased to discover "Sorceress," though bewildered by the cover portait. It came to understand, as I read, that the portrait depicts a girl named Agnes, a Native American college student, who finishes reading "Witch Child" and has a vision, sent from, it seems, Mary herself. After contacting Allison Ellman, the ambitious young woman who has taken it upon herself to discover Mary's history and that of those she tells of in her diary, Agnes sets off to the Mohawk Reservation, seeking her aunt, a medicine woman who she thinks will try to help her solve the mystery of these visions, and of Mary. It is at this point in the novel, with her aunt at her side, and Allison fervently researching in Canada, that Agnes begins her spiritual journey to uncover Mary's future and her own past, linking Mary, the Pennacook, the Mowhawks and even the French Canadian as both Agnes and Mary's stories evolve simultaneously. I thought this book was just as superb as the first. I was startled at first by the rapid change in the cast of characters--where did Agnes and Allison come from? I thought. However, when Agnes' visions begin, I understood, and settled in to enjoy the novel. It definitely did not disappoint me. I was thrilled at the turns Mary's life took, and engrossed in all the details about Native Americans. One of the most fun parts of the book were the encounters with characters like Rebekah Rivers, who had been prominent in the first novel, and faded into Mary's past in the second. Overall, "Sorceress" was written as beautifully as "Witch Child", and the story was as fascinating, if not more so, being that there were two stories unfolding at once. I loved the end, with all the "notes" on the histories of the Riverses, Jack Gill and other notable characters, and was extremely satisfied with the culmination of Mary's story. I most definitely reccomend this book to anyone, provided you've read "Witch Child" first, of course.

Better than the first

I loved Soceress, it read so quick and easy. In Witch Child i found myself getting bored and waiting for something exciting to happen. In sorceress I was never bored and I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. This sequel is a great way to finish Mary's story.

A vision quest into the past...

Agnes Herne is a Mohawk Indian living in Boston attending college when she begins to start getting visions from this girl named Mary. All she knows is that the visions are somehow connected to the girl she read about in the book "Witch Child"(Sorceress's prequel)named Mary Newbury. Agnes soon begin to suspect Mary is the woman in the legend of the white woman who joined the people and was a very skilled healer. Agnes decides to return to the Mohawk Indian reservation where she could get advice from her aunt, also a healer. Soon she goes on a powerful vision quest that will conclude Mary's story, the story of a girl who beat all odds and used her special powers to become a healer.This was a fitting ending to Witch Child. Mary's ending wasn't exactly how I expected it to be but it was nice to find out about all the other people at Beluh and how the quilt where the original diary was found got to the museum. A definite must read for Witch Child fans!

Tht Thrilling sequel to Witch Child

Agnes, a Canadian Indian, is spending her time in college in Boston when she runs across a published diary of a girl that was an accused Salem witch. The Book is called Witch Child. Agnes can't get over the similarities from the book to one of her ancestors, a white woman that lived with the Indians. Combine that with the fact that she is beginning to have mysterious visions from the past, and Agnes realizes that something big is about to happen. She contacts the woman named Alison who is mentioned in the back of the book Witch child, a woman who is looking for information about Mary. Alison is eager to find info on Mary and will help Agnes in any way that she can. This sends Agnes away from school back home, where she is sent on a vision quest to find out what happened to Mary.Although the books Witch Child, and Sorceress are fictional novels, Celia Rees makes you almost believe that every thing is real. It's thrilling to find out what happened to Mary for pretty much the rest of her life, and Agnes is a very strong and amiable character. Another great thing about this book is the appendixes in the back. It's filled with diary entries and letters written by the characters in Witch Child whom we don't unfortunately don't see anything of them in the book. Another thing that was great to see is the representations of Native Americans in not a negative light, but in a realistic one. If your a fan of great historical fiction, especially one that realistically shows Native Americans, I highly recommend this to you.