Laird has created a suspenseful story about a young girl's resilience in the face of persecution and betrayal. Maggie Blair is a poor orphan being raised by her strange, bitter, and often cruel grandmother. When a baby in their hamlet dies, everyone suspects that Elspeth Blair had cursed him, and both women are arrested and tried for being witches. Maggie escapes and flees to her uncle's home, where she learns that he and his family are devout Presbyterians, "Covenanters," who are secretly defying the efforts of King Charles II to place Anglican bishops in charge of their worship. During this period, known as the Killing Times, covenanters are persecuted and often tortured and executed as a consequence of their faith.
Maggie is a spirited and strong heroine, a hard worker and willing student. Her nemesis, Annie, is unrelenting in her hatred for Maggie, but actually understandable as she schemes to escape the dismal future that awaits for her. Many of the stories in the book about the Blairs and other simple farmers and their families reveal the extreme sacrifices many are willing to make for faith and are founded in actual events. Laird's book provides a compelling introduction to the hard lives and religious controversies of the time.
