SAVE UNIVERSITY

MAXIXE EXTENSION

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

BA in English Language (and teaching)

Reading and Writing in English

Lecturer: MSc. Daniel Muando

Student: Walter Simione da Silva Malambane

Book Review
- Reference: Akinyemi, R. (2000). The Witches of Pendle. Oxford University Press.
Book Worms Library. Stage 1.

About The Author: Rowena Akinyemi is British, and after many years in Africa, she now
lives and works in Cambridge. She was worked in English Language Teaching for twenty
years, in Africa and England, and has been writing ELT fiction for ten years. Love or money?
Was her first story for the Oxford Bookworms Library, and she has now written several other
stories for the series, including Remember Miranda and The Witches of Pendle (both at Stage
1). She has also written books for children.

The Witches of Pendle

1. Critical review

A true story genre centred on the life of Jennet Device and her family of witches. Jennet tells
how miserably their lives were and explains how she wanted out of it. As we read the book it
feels as if we wanted to learn more and more from it, the story is interesting.

My first thought when I read the title and introduction was that I was going to read about
witches’ practices in the 17th century England. I was wrong, the book is much more than that,
it teaches valuable life lessons and I invite you to read it.
2. Review outline

Introduction

The book narrates events from England in the 1600s, when many people believed in witches.
“A witch could be an old woman, or a young woman - sometimes even a man or a boy. But
they were usually women, and everybody was very afraid of them. Because a witch could kill
you - just with a curse.” (Akinyemi, 2000)

The Witches of Pendle is a story about the Device family, a family of witches and a role of
unfortunate events that led to the family’s demise. The story is told by Jennet Device as she
quotes “My story begins on the eighteenth day of March in the year 1612. I was nine years
old, and my life began to change on that day.” (Page 9, paragraph 1)

Development

The book’s title, introduction and back cover suggests that it is truly about witches and
witchery. However, as we read the book, we understand that its about a poor girl called Jennet
who wasn’t a witch and wanted to escape the poor and sad life she lived.

When Roger Nowell is introduced to the story a man who was a rich and important man in
Lancashire, and he was the judge for all the villages near Pendle Hill. He lived at Read Hall,
seven miles from Newchurch. We begin to understand Jennet Device desire after being called
to Roger Nowell’s house to be questioned about her sister Alizon, who cursed Mr Law the
pedlar because he had refused to give money when Alizon asked for. Jennet says “Malkin
Tower was my home, but I didn’t want to go back there. I was a little child, and I wanted
someone kind to take care of me.” (p. 19)

Jennet desire to escape the poor and sad life was accomplished when she accused her mother
of being a witch and her brother James confessing to be a witch as well. “On the twenty-
seventh day of April, the guards took my mother and James to Lancaster Castle, and my life
at Read Hall began.” (p. 29)

Her grandmother old Demdike died in prison before trial. Jennets’ mother, her sister and
brother stood in trial, when she was asked for the truth about her family she explained about
how they were witches and their practices. “- ‘My mother is a witch,’ I began. ‘She has a
friend, a dog called Ball. When she wants to kill somebody, she tells Ball . . .’ I talked and
talked; I told the judge everything. -” (p. 32)
She lost her family when she was a child because she wanted to be happy. Jennet wanted to be
warm, to wear shoes, to eat good food, she wanted someone to take care of her. Her life for
the next 21 years would be as she had wanted as a child, a happy and comfortable life. “I was
happy for years at Read Hall. For twenty-one years, I forgot my family. I learned to cook for
the Nowell family; I worked many hours every day, but I was warm and I ate good food.
Every Sunday, in my best dress, I went to church; every summer I walked over Pendle Hill. I
never thought about my family, because I was happy at Read Hall.” (p. 37)

Jennet was 9 at the time, she was a child who firmly accused her family of being witches.
Further into the story as faith would tell, she too was accused by a child of being a witch,
that’s how she met her family again. “In August 1612, the guards hanged my family in front
of Lancaster Castle. But their dead faces waited for me there; and a year ago, in 1633, when
the guards put me in the prison in Lancaster Castle, I met them again. Day after day, I see
their ugly, dead faces and hear their cold, angry voices.” (p. 37)

Conclusion

Very unfortunately for Jennet truth is what made her escape the poor and sad life she had as a
in a courthouse but lies from a child would be the reason for her to lose all she had desired
and accomplished. This child was Edmund Robinson, who desired his father’s love. “-
‘Edmund Robinson and his father told the truth in London,’ he says quietly. ‘The child told
lies about you because he was afraid of his father. He wanted his father to love him.’ -” (p.
39)

In the end all she wanted was as we quote her words “I only wanted to live quietly at Read
Hall and watch the changing skies over Pendle Hill” (p. 39) As this is based on true events it
is choking enough to know that a whole family met their demise in very tragic ways. Even
though, the book is very interesting, it hooks the reader, and helps improving reading skills.
Additionally, we can learn from the story that one’s life desires cannot be achieved by
sacrificing others, life may find ways to balance that in the future.

3. Description of the book

The British author Rowen Akinyemi adapted the story from books about witches in the region
of Pendle Hill in the 1600s where many people believed in witches.

The story is structured by a Story Introduction followed by 4 chapters:

 The pedlar;
 Roger Nowell;
 A family of witches; and
 Truth and lies.

The characters of the book are:

- Main character - Jennet Device.

- Supporting characters - old Demdike, Elizabeth Device, Alizon Device, James Device,
John Law, Robert Nowell, Mr. Webster, Edmund Robinson and Edmund Robinsons’
father.

Hence, as it is on elementary level of English Learners the language is modern and simple but
without removing key aspects from the language and habits of the 17 th Century. A glossary is
provided to bring an understanding of the passive and active vocabulary, as well as
vocabulary from the 17th Century.

- There are three activities Before Reading, While Reading, and After Reading.
- Page 52 is reserved to the author of the book, and page 53 is about Bookworms
collections.
4. Genre

True stories are based on real life events, they provide true locations, historical facts, and they
provide specifics of a certain period of time.

As we dwell in the intricacies of the book and the story, we understand that it is based on the
main character and her family. The events occurred mainly the Villages of Newchuch: Read
Hall, Sabden Brook, Fence, Hoarstones, Colne and Barley where the Malkin Tower was
located, and the city of Lancaster. The Malkin Tower is where Jennet Device and the Device
family lived, a family composed by her grandmother, Old Demdike, her moher Elizabeth, her
sister Alizon, and her brother James. Who said they were all witches except for Jennet.
Akinyemi (2000) sets her adaptation in a plot twist manner, starting with main character in
prison Jennet in Lancaster Castle, who narrates her story about how she ended up there. Jennet
tells her story from the age of 9 when she was poor, thin, hungry, had no shoes, no coat, and
sometimes nothing to eat for days.

5. The author
Rowen Akinyemi family lived near Pendle Hill for ten years, and before she wrote this story,
she read many history books about witches in 17 th century England and about the Device
family. All the people in The Witches of Pendle were real people who lived in the 17 th
century. Malkin Tower has gone, but all the other places and villages are still there in
Lancashire today. A well-known novel, Mist over Pendle (1951) by Robert Neill, tells an
exciting story about the witches of Pendle.

6. Appraisals
 This is a book based on true events as the book is part of “The Oxford Bookworms
Library” True Stories genre. Adapted from many books about witches in the 17 th century
England and about the Device family.
 The author’s and Editor’s purposes for the book have been achieved. They were able to
tell the story in a comprehensive way, with an appropriate vocabular and grammar. As it is
intended for Stage 1 learners.