Burning Issy

Ignorance breeds prejudice and prejudice breeds fear - the fear that hanged eight people in 1613 for witchcraft. These people came from my area - a small corner of NE Lancashire - and this book looks at what their lives and deaths were like. Issy acquired her nickname because she'd been scarred in a fire whose origins she couldn't remember and was adopted by Nat, a cunning man or healer. The story is told by Issy and the flavour of those miserable and suspicious times is clearly conveyed through the narrative. What chills most is the realisation that very little has changed over three centuries. People are still persecuted because they're different, or tolerated until some legitimate form of removal can be found. Issy is imprisoned (and her friend Iohan is brutally tortured to death) because she has healing powers and chooses to worship the god from whom she believes they come. Issy is given her freedom by the use of benign magic and joins her friends for a new beginning, living in the way she feels is right: surely a basic tenet of a civilised world?