The Witch Of Brentwood

In 1684, a ten-year-old Isabell Whitlock and her twin, Alexander, play in the field near their Salem home where they encounter a woman rumored to be a witch hanging by the neck in a nearby wood. This vision gives Isabell recurring nightmares into adulthood. Now at eighteen, Isabell still has nightmares and is also plagued with a deadly disease and wishes death to come swiftly. Things change when she is given a beautiful antique brooch by her mother that appears to have special mystical powers and allows Isabell to recover from the disease stronger than ever. Soon, Isabell befriends an old cunning woman who teaches her about the meaning of the mysterious powerful brooch and the true person Isabell Whitlock really is.

Suspense, and magic abound in this edge-of-your-seat thriller! Available in hardcover, and paperback. Purchase here.

Excerpt:

The noose around her neck was tighter than she thought it would be when the two men made their intentions clear to her. The frayed filaments of the rope dug in and stung her skin. She pleaded with them. She tried to appeal to the compassion of the small crowd that had begun to gather, but none would hear of it. The sound of rustling leaves in the wind did nothing to relieve anguish, nor was the fragrance of the honeysuckle, as the realization of her impending death rose to a fever pitch and was torture in itself. The sun shining in her eyes made her squint when she looked up to the sky for guidance and prayed for courage. Still, she always loved blue skies with a few puffy clouds on beautiful sunny days in the summer. It made her feel young, vibrant, and full of life. But not this day. This day marked the end of her life at the hands of her accusers whose denunciation without a fair trial or even a fair tribunal found her guilt an accepted fact.

Then, came the chants; witch! witch! witch!… and then die! die! die!…

As she tried to breathe her last, she suddenly felt her neck crack and started kicking her feet as a last effort to free herself. This only caused more pain through her bones, but still she had to try. The breaking of her neck was never heard above the cheers and praise of the crowd. Soon, her pain and effort gave way to numbness and then blackness.

The woman was dead.

Before the crowd dispersed, one of the men who was pulling the rope, wrapped it around the tree to leave the witch hanging. He then pinned a sign to the woman’s thigh with a hunter’s knife for all to see and believe. The sign read, WITCH!

Five star review from Readers’ Favorite:

Reviewed By Jessica Barbosa for Readers’ Favorite

The Witch Of Brentwood by Real Carpentier is set in 1684, a time when people’s cries of witches and magic were a common thing. Everyone feared the unexplainable and even the slightest accusation or suspicion of magic could have you hanged. Twins Isabell and Alexander Whitlock experience the shock of their lives when they see a woman, accused of being a witch, hanging from a tree in the nearby woods. Due to this traumatizing incident, nightmares plague Isabell and her health takes a turn for the worse as she grows older. However, one day, her mother tells her a story about her grandfather and a mysterious brooch he kept. She gives this brooch to Isabell who recovers miraculously from her illness. Due to her almost impossible recovery and the circumstances of her family, the people in her town began casting a suspicious light on the Whitlock and Arington families, so they have no choice but to move to a new town to start again. What new adventures and intrigue will they face?

Real Carpentier’s The Witch Of Brentwood opens with an interesting prologue that gives insight into the various false witch accusations in the past because science was still too new to disprove them. If something unusual occurred or deaths became common in an area, most people assumed that was the work of witches. As a result, many innocent people suffered and died prematurely. The first chapter was powerful and tragic. After reading the prologue, the story opens with the point of view of an innocent person accused of being a witch. From the very start, the story left a deep impression on me and I was hooked. I was devastated for the falsely accused woman and I followed Isabell and Alexander’s adventures right to the very end. It was hard putting this book down because of its intriguing and compelling plot and uniquely written narrative. The lives of the Whitlock family were not easy and along the way, they experienced pain and heartaches. The paths they chose were sometimes wrong and to keep the peace they had to make excuses for another’s action. I appreciated Isabell’s righteous fury on her family’s behalf and her determination to do right by her family is what made this story shine. Carpentier took me through an exhilarating adventure filled with interesting plot points and occasionally steep hills. Overall, The Witch Of Brentwood has captured my heart and my thoughts with its spellbinding plot and outstanding characters.