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

The story of the Salem Witch Trials told through the lives of six women

Six Women of Salem is the first work to use the lives of a select number of representative women as a microcosm to illuminate the larger crisis of the Salem witch trials. By the end of the trials, beyond the twenty who were executed and the five who perished in prison, 207 individuals had been accused, 74 had been "afflicted," 32 had officially accused their fellow neighbors, and 255 ordinary people had been inexorably drawn into that ruinous and murderous vortex, and this doesn't include the religious, judicial, and governmental leaders. All this adds up to what the Rev. Cotton Mather called "a desolation of names."

The individuals involved are too often reduced to stock characters and stereotypes when accuracy is sacrificed to indignation. By examining the lives of six specific women, Marilynne Roach shows readers what it was like to be present throughout this horrific time and how it was impossible to live through it unchanged.

"This style of narrative provides an intimacy with the Salem people. . . . yet readers still reap the benefits of Roach's thorough researched and expertise on the subject." —Publishers Weekly