The Craftsman

Author/Guide: Sharon Bolton

Why a Booktrail?

1969, 1999: You never forget the Craftsman and he certainly never forgets you…

ISBN: 978-1409174110
Genre: Crime, Folklore, Ghost/supernatural, Thriller

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What you need to know before your trail

1969: A series of missing teenagers. Florence Lovelady was the police officer on the case. It made her name but nearly killed her

1999: Lovelady, now Assistant Commissioner, has returned to Pendle Witch Country, to attend the funeral of convicted killer Larry Glassbrook. But then she starts to fear that events are starting to repeat themselves. And it’s a gruesome reminder – young people are being taken and buried alive

Could it be that there are much darker forces at play than she first realised?

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Pendle Witch country

At the start of the book, the author has written a letter explaining the story behind the story and it’s just as interesting as the book itself. It really helps to set the scene and give an insight into the time and setting of the novel.

“On a spring day in 1612, a mill owner called Richard Baldwin, in the Pendle forest of Lancashire cased two local women off his land, calling them’ witches and whores’ threatening to ‘ burn the one and hang the other’ and, in doing, so, set in motion events that led to the imprisonment, trial and execution of nine women on the charge of murder by witchcraft: the infamous Pendle Witch Trials.

Pendle in Lancashire is of course the location of the infamous witch trials which took place. Women in a man’s world were suspected, trialed and condemned on a man’s whim. In the novel, Florence is the only woman in a man’s world, suspected of being involved too much in the case and suspected of dealing in the dark side herself when working out clues the man can’t. History repeating itself?

It’s also the well known, infamous setting of other horrific murders and killers who roamed the area such as the Moors Murders and Peter Sutcliffe. In the novel, it’s as dark and darker still – young people are being buried alive so the sense of fear, claustrophobia and the taste of earth is high throughout the deadly and chilling read.

Booktrailer Review

Susan @thebooktrailer

Hands down one of the most interesting and chilling stories I’ve read in a while. I’m interested in the Pendle Witches and have read plenty of historical fiction about them, but never a crime thriller set over two time periods! Sharon Bolton has conjured up a very clever read this time. The theme of children being buried alive is as dark as you get, and there’s a lot of detail about how a person would feel, act and think during the most horrific of times, knowing they were going to die. This novel had me shocked and scared from page one but knowing I was in the hands of a masterful storyteller, I knew it was going to be good.

There are few words to really explain how brilliantly evil this novel is and brilliantly good in its execution. sharp writing and a strong desire to show how women in a man’s world are still fighting to get their voices heard. The historical background of the witches, their roles in society at the time, the fear of them in the recent present…there is SOMUCH to this novel – read it slow and preferably not on a dark night.

Oh and the title – the Craftsman – oh dear – if you have a bed with a space underneath…we all remember those terrifying tales of the bogeyman who would come to get you..this is that times 1 billion.

Creepy and compelling is not a good enough descriptions. Bolton brilliance is what I call it!