Madeline Martin, a bestselling author who has written historical fiction and romance, will promote her new novel “A Time of Witches” with a stop in Greenville.
While it normally takes Martin around a year to write a book, her inspiration for this story began 25 years ago with a recurring dream.
Since Lilith Legare’s mother’s death, strange things have been happening – plants turn toward her touch, animals linger in her path and the birthmark on her arm has started tingling. Worse still is her recurring nightmare of being burned alive at the stake. Her search for answers brings her from Savannah to England, to the decaying Brackenmere Manor where the past blurs with the present.
In 1645 Suffolk, Sybil Brantham stands accused of being a witch. An educated, wealthy widow, she is branded a threat by men who fear her independence. As arrests begin and suspicion abounds, Sybil must protect her younger sister, even as betrayal takes root within her household.
“When I was in high school, I was having this recurring dream that I was being burned alive at the stake,” Martin said. “I was this overly dramatic teenager with this incredibly active imagination, and of course my first thought (was) ‘maybe that was me in a former life or an ancestor.’ This idea has been percolating in my brain for the past 25 years.”
To create her characters, Martin decided to make Lilith someone in a contemporary time period who was struggling with self-worth and societal expectations, such as getting married, while Sybil was completely inspired by stories from the 1600s.
She used 150 nonfiction books in her research on witch trials and their victims. She also visited both England and Savannah to help her picture where her novel was set.
“When I do my historical research, I use historical fiction for reference,” Martin said. “I look(ed) at bibliographies, see what other books are suggested there and research those books. The topics that I used were England in the 1600s, old Savannah and herbal lore and remedies.”
Martin will participate in M.Judson Booksellers’ Lunch and Lit Sept. 3 at Soby’s downtown Greenville from noon to 1 p.m. Admission is $55 per person and includes a three-course meal and a signed copy of “A Time of Witches.” For more information, visit mjudsonbooks.com.
