![]() It is her husband Richard’s dearest wish that his wife be safely delivered of an heir and, God-willing, a spare. Mistress Fleetwood Shuttleworth is pregnant for the fourth time: her previous three pregnancies ended in miscarriages. That and a young wife’s desperate wish to bring a healthy baby to term. There is great religious tension in England because “demonstrations of loyalty” to the Crown do not easily co-exist with the “old ways of faith.” That struggle is at the core of The Familiars. England is ruled by King James I, a Protestant monarch. The Familiars is set in Pendle Hill, Lancashire, a site famous for the witch trials of 1612. ![]() But when Alice is accused of practicing witchcraft, Fleetwood must decide whether she can trust her for the sake of her unborn child. After three previous miscarriages and with a baby on the way, Fleetwood Shuttleworth leaps on the opportunity for assistance from a midwife, Alice. Stacey Halls’s The Familiars is set against the backdrop of the Pendle Witch Trials of 1612. ![]()
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