Six Women of Salem

"Readers still reap the benefits of Roach's thorough researched and expertise on the subject."

"Roach animates information woven together from court records, trial notes, diaries, vital records, sermon notes, and family lore in a successful attempt to personalize [the women's] lives, drawing the reader away from commonly believed stereotypes and sensational folklore."

"[A] richly detailed tapestry of life in 17th-century Salem."

"A focused look at the lives of six of the accused, their accusers, and their neighbors who were part of a dark period in American history."

"Ambitious...It is astonishing to our twenty-first-century minds to see magistrates and judges believing the accusers."

"Super detailed and fantastically informative...An eye-opening piece of work...Each page drips with an honest and impartial narrative...Roach has done a great job in honoring the memories of these women with a tasteful and harmonious book."

"[Roach's] fact-based insight into these women's lives, along with the moments she breaks into short, fictionalized scenes, puts these lives into perspective, allowing readers to connect with the events in a way not afforded in other accounts of this period...Roach's work will shed new light on the Salem witch trials, not only by showing how the accusers may have truly believed they were bewitched and tortured, but also by making the innocent women come to life."

"Six Women of Salem immediately immerses its readers in the events of that horrible, vertiginous year, a year which almost certainly started off as a mere pranking by some mean-spirited girls but then grew into something much blacker and more complicated. Roach immerses her readers through her customary vivid, forceful writing...The seriously inquisitive now have another great book on the subject."

"[Full of ] the author's deep knowledge of virtually every man, woman and child affected by the trials in this bizarre period."