The Witch’s Tree Book starts in present-day Manchester with Selena, an artist brooding after a heart-wrenching heartbreak. Her boyfriend, David, a photographer dumps her after she reveals to him that she is pregnant for him. Devastating, right?
Yes! Selena was beside herself, but she was comforted by the fact that she had a baby growing in her, one that would be her companion. The Witch’s Tree Book now takes us back in time to 1862 at Ashcomb Somerset where Grace Cotter lived with her not-so-aged father but he looked aged because of the amount of work he had frowned used to doing on his farm.
Will Cotter, Grace’s father lived with her in a cottage named Slaugh Cottage, and often set her free because he didn’t have the strength that a man his age should have to compel his daughter to do the right things for her age, like get married.
Grace Cotter was deeply embedded in her work and created a safe haven for her father. When she had the time, she went outside to the lush green of the compound she lived in and meditated deeply with the plants, flowers, trees, and even the well where she fetched water from.
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- Part 1: Main Story of The Witch’s Tree
- Part 2: Main Characters of The Witch’s Tree
- Part 3: Evaluate The Witch’s Tree
Part 1: Main Story of The Witch’s Tree
In The Witch’s Tree Book, Grace Cotter made a trip on a fine Sunday morning to visit her grandmother. The old lady, as old as she was, still had a knack for coaxing Grace to do the right thing for herself at the time, since Grace’s father was not capable of coaxing her.
It would interest readers to know that Grace Cotter, as busy as she was tending to her father, cooking and cleaning in her cottage, had a crush on a young man in Somerset called Nathaniel Harper, the son of John Harper a farmer much like Grace’ father Will Cotter.
Grace Cotter was so infatuated with Nathaniel Harper, that she often echoed his name into the well that sat beside her house when she was taking a walk in her compound. When she echoed Nathaniel Harper’s name into the well, the well would send her voice back at her, and Grace Cotter loved to hear it. Grace’s grandmother coaxed her to spill out whom she was interested in romantically.
The old lady actually already knew who the person was, but she wanted Grace to say it by herself. To cut the long story short, Grace’s grandmother, who was skilled in using herbs to create potions, suggested creating a love potion for Nathaniel Harper so that he would be interested in Grace.
Grace refused this, telling her grandmother that as much as she liked Nathaniel Harper, she would love for him to be interested in her genuinely, and not be influenced by a spell or potion.
Grace knew how to mix the potion that would cause Nathaniel Harper to like her, but she didn’t do it all this while because of the reason she gave to her grandmother. Along the line, whatever happened in between, happened, and Grace Cotter ended up with Nathaniel Harper. But he didn’t treat her well, and she ended up losing her life.
Fast forward to the present time, Selena felt terrible after David broke her heart, and decided on a getaway to the countryside.
She intended to live within nature for a while, painting the trees and landscape, so she sought somewhere that would give her fresh inspiration, and a fresh start, and she surfed the internet for the best spot where she could find such a place to seek solace in, and was met with Sloe Cottage.
Sloe Cottage appeared perfect and modern, and for some reason, the price was so cheap, so Selena booked it. It was at this point that the past met with the present. It was at this point that Selena felt Grace Cotter. Sloe Cottage, the home away from home that Selena moved to was the same Slaugh Cottage that Grace Cotter lived in back in the day as far as 1862.
While Selena was in Sloe’s cottage, she was greatly disturbed by Grace Cotter’s ghost. Grace”’essence” lingered. Everything in the cottage seemed to speak to Selena in diverse ways. The notorious tree that was used to slap its branches against Grace Cotter’s window was still standing on the same spot, unwithered.
For some reason, long after Grace Cotter had died, the tree remained there, living longer than its original life span. It seemed like it remained there for a purpose. Read The Witch’s Tree Book to know what happened to Selena while she was in Sloe Cottage, and how she was able to put Grace’s soul to rest after such a long time of her death.
Part 2: Main Characters of The Witch’s Tree
Selena
The female lead of The Witch’s Tree Book converges with Grace Cotter at a point in time. After being used and abandoned by her ex-boyfriend, David, and losing her pregnancy after David’s wife harassed her, Selena ends up in Sloe Cottage in a bid to spend time away from her depressing life in Manchester.
Selena’s destiny and turn of events are tied to the young girl that lived in Sloe Cottage, formerly called Slaugh cottage. Selena and Grace Cotter had the same luck in love, and coincidentally, Selena ended up at the former Slaugh Cottage, arousing the ghost and essence of Grace Cotter.
Grace Cotter
Grace Cotter is the owner of The Witch’s Tree. She is the witch the book is titled after. After facing a bad relationship with Nathaniel Harper, she dies, but does not rest in peace” as is the usual phrase. From as far back as 1862, Grace Cotter’s ghost roamed Somerset until Selena visited the cottage for a getaway.
Is it safe to say that Grace Cotter tormented Selena while she was in Sloe/Slaugh Cottage? I would love to think that because there were episodes of Selena finding herself in unnerving fear that chilled her bones to the max, all because of The Witch’s Tree as well as Grace Cotter’s presence and essence hovering in the cottage.
Part 3: Evaluate The Witch’s Tree
Apart from the fact that the book is slow-paced, as in frustratingly slow-paced, The Witch’s Tree is not a bad read at all. It triggers various feelings in readers, at least it triggered various feelings in me when I read the book, such as anger, suspense, humor, and fear.
Elena Collins delivered the plot in a thoughtful way by narrating two timelines in the course of the book and merging them later on. I think that alone makes the book stand out from other books which would be seen as mundane as far as The Witch’s Tree Book is concerned. Nine out of ten for me, and that is only because of the slow pace at that the author delivers the narration of the book.
