The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Potzsch

And yet another treasure found from BOOKSALE! Can you ever believe my luck?

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Jakob Kuisl is the official hangman of Schongau (a town in Bavaria). There has been a sudden commotion in Schongau. A boy has been found dead and incidentally has the witch's mark on him!

The town goes berserk as rumors of witchcraft spread.

Martha Stechlin, a midwife who brought Jakob's children to being, is the main suspect. She was immediately held in captive and due for stating a confession that would determine whether she will be burned at stake.

Meanwhile, Johann Lechner (court clerk) is provoked to act upon the matter swiftly for he does not want things to get out of hand as it did seventy years ago. Half of the women of Schongau were burned at stake seventy years ago, everyone was accused of being a witch.

The hangman strongly believes that Martha is innocent. Although he understands what the court clerk's intentions are, he couldn't help but meddle in the case.

Together with his daughter Magdalena's swain (Simon Fronwieser, the town physician's son), Jakob delves in deeper in this medieval mystery crime!

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I like it as much as I didn't like it. I have mixed feelings about this international bestseller. The prolonged agony of reading this book is tiresome. It was all too much but all too little. I don't really know what I want from this, really. It's just that, though I've enjoyed the medieval feel of it and having to encounter words such as doublet, tankard & wench, I needed something more emotional. The title as well is a little too misleading. Halfway through, I was thinking 'ooh, Magdalena is the witch! She is!'.

It's not a disappointment. It was still worthwhile.


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