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The Burning of Isobel Key by Jen McConnel
Published: October 1st, 2012
Genre: New Adult > Travel & Witches
Summary:
When
Lou travels to Scotland, she’s a mess. She’s twenty-six, unemployed,
and unsure of herself. It doesn’t help that she’s traveling with Tammy,
her best friend, who is everything Lou is not.
At
first, the trip pushes Lou towards the brink of depression, but then
she meets Brian, a handsome local tour guide. When Brian tells the
tourists about the countless witches burned in Scotland, Lou starts to
listen. And when she discovers information about Isobel Key, one of the
victims of the seventeenth century, Lou finds renewed purpose.
Lou
has begun exploring the Neo Pagan faith, a dramatic shift from her
wealthy Catholic upbringing. Despite her fears of being too “hocus
pocusy”, Lou turns to her new faith as she struggles to unravel the
mystery surrounding the death of Isobel Key. But faith or not, Lou must
face her demons if she has any hope of righting the wrongs of the past.
Lou is twenty-six and working in retail at a book store, even though she has already graduated college and she has no idea what she wants to do. She lives with her best friend Tammy who she's grown up with and has parents who are constantly questioning her life. No wonder she moved out! When Tammy's job sends her to Scotland she takes Lou with her and there is where Lou finally begins to put her pieces together. The book also focuses on Isobel Key who lived in the 1600's. She came from a loving family, following her mother on herbal studies. And fell in love fast, running away with her love to be married only to face the ultimate betrayal from him and later on be wrongfully accused as a witch.
I don't know much about Scotland nor have I read many books based in Scotland so to read about trials of witches being burned... well I wasn't expecting that. The only place I've heard of such a thing was the Salem Witch Trials (which, btw, we had to watch a movie on in 8th grade History and I will never be able to get the image of the hung witches whos eyes popped out and splatted on the floor out of my head).
The Burning of Isobel Key started off slow, and in the beginning Tammy was really starting to work my nerves. She had a travel guide yet she didn't believe any of the legends or stories that the locals would tell her, especially the ones regarding witches. But then she grew up believing in God and well, I guess that explains that. She wasn't supportive of Lou's own religious practice and on various occasions disrespected it without even bothering to hear her out. Where did this stereotype come from that Pagan's worship Satan? We don't even believe in Satan so I mean, that would make it pretty impossible to worship him, don't you think?
The book switches back and forth between Lou and Isobel and somewhere in the middle, I began to be more engrossed with Isobel's story than Lou's. I wanted to know more about Isobel and her sister. I wanted to know more about the scandal and why her sister's husband hated her so much when in reality it should be her who hates him.
It's a little hard to review this book the way I want because so much happens and I'm incapable of condensing it all :P but The Burning of Isobel Key is incredibly interesting. I admired Lou for standing her ground and for going after what she was entitled to. I also admired Isobel for never giving up on her sister, that even though she was denied the right to her sister didn't mean she was going to give up on family. The only thing that annoyed me was Tammy and her ridiculous accusations as to what Lou was up to. Even if it isn't far from reality.
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Thanks for hosting me today! I'm glad you found the story interesting! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway. The story does sound interesting! The witch trials were such a horrible thing. I went to Salem, MA once to see the town and visit all of the sites. I never heard of this in Scotland, but that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteScotland's history of witch trials makes Salem look like a short event: they started in 1592 and continued into the 1700s! Doing research for this book was eye-opening (and horrifying!). Let me know what you think of the book, Tracy. :)
DeleteThanks for hosting and have a nice day.
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