Trailing the Hunter
Page 32
Clara giggled. “Maybe we should get her a costume and let her try. Come, let’s humor her by going for a promenade in her garden.”
Christian fetched Clara’s shawl and placed it around her shoulders. She hooked her arm in his, and together, they went outside and strolled to the edge of the water lily pond. A dragonfly buzzed by in the stillness.
Clara cleared her throat and stared into Christian’s hazel eyes. “I have decided to go back to Rossby.”
“I see. When?” His voice sounded humble and low.
“As soon as possible. I received a letter from Bess yesterday. She has returned to Frue farm. I need to see her and make sure she and her family are all well.”
He hung his head a little. “I understand.”
She gently stroked her hand across his cheek.
“I’d like you to come with me, Christian Ivershall. I want to show you the parsonage where I lived as a child, the long, rocky beaches by the ocean, and I want to introduce you to my Bess. She will be delighted to meet you.”
Clara took a deep breath. Christian loved her, and every fiber of her body loved him back. Her heart beat fast, and she wanted to shout her answer, call out so the sound would echo through the forest. Instead, she moved closer and smiled at him. “After that, I would like to come home with you.”
His face lit up as she spoke. When she finished, he put his hands on her waist, lifted her up, and swung her around.
As he put her down, he looked her in the eye. “Home…here at Ivershall?”
She leaned against his chest, closed her eyes, and smiled. She was willing to hand over to Christian the key—the only key—to her heart. With him she had found common ground. No doubts. No fear.
“Yes, Christian. Home.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
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As I finished writing the novel Catching a Witch, I knew Clara Dahl still had much more to tell us. I was curious and wanted to see what she would do next.
I let her follow the witch-finder, Angus Hill, to Berg, a small village in southeastern Norway. The place is on the map today, situated between the towns of Fredrikstad and Fredrikshald (now called Halden), but modern-day Berg is somewhat smaller than the village Clara settles down in.
Clara’s desire to teach children to read is strong. Martin Luther’s principles had changed the school system, encouraging compulsory schooling for both girls and boys. Luther was even positive to female teachers. Still, the change from only young male schoolmasters, tutors, and priests teaching took time. Opposing conventions of the time, some women organized classes and even opened schools. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe, there were nuns and other brave women with some knowledge who taught children. Though faced with disapproval and resistance, Clara will not give up her dream to help children learn skills of reading and writing.
There is no recorded history of anyone using a weigh house to test witches in Norway. The practice of witch weighing started in Holland in the sixteenth century. Someone decided that the scales made to weigh crops and farm animals could also be used to find out how light a woman was. One of the weigh houses in Holland is still in use, open for visitors to watch how cheese is weighed. Another is located in a museum, where curious tourists can be weighed and receive a certificate that they are heavy enough.
I have found little information about the English author Thomas Ady and had fun inventing what he looked like and his character traits. I tried to create the kind of person I believed would fight for the things he talked about in his books, and in the end, I came to like him very much. The topics he discusses at the dinner party at Ivershall are actual thoughts from his texts. I enjoyed reading his book A Candle in the Dark, published in 1656 (paperback copy from Theophania Publishing 2011). He was very brave to go against the mainstream beliefs of his time and claimed the Bible does not state that witches can do magic tricks.
The story Dorthea tells Clara about sisters Marte and Anne Rimer is true. Their father, Halvor Rimer, was the local executioner. In 1623, four ladies were accused of being troll women. I live in the small harbor town in Norway where Halvor Rimer tortured the women for eight days and then had them burned.
Clara knows a lot about the origin and usage of black books. The small booklets with collections of spells, instructions, and folk magic were known by the name Cyprianus in Scandinavia, but similar writings were used in the Middle East before the Middle Ages.
The oldest known black books in Norway were written during the latter part of the fifteenth century, while others were written as late as during the nineteenth century. More than a hundred Norwegian black books are still intact.
Several kings and rulers are mentioned in this novel, and I have tried to tie them into the story with their appropriate historical background.
Angus Hill’s mentor and role model, Matthew Hopkins, was a self-appointed witch-finder general. He is said to have been responsible for between 200-300 deaths during the two-year period he worked as an active witch-hunter in England. Hopkins published a pamphlet with answers to queries about witches before he died in 1647, and his influence and methods reached even the trials in Salem, Massachusetts in the 1690s.
And lastly, Christian Ivershall lives at Ivershall. Why did I use the same name? In Norway, a family name is often the same as the name of the farm or family estate. My grandparents lived at Fjellberg, a small homestead close to the woods. On paper my grandfather’s surname was Hansen, but he was known as Kristian Fjellberg. Another example is my daughter-in-law’s name. Her last name is Skjerve, and the eighteenth century family farm she comes from is called Skjerve, as well. Confusing? Could be, but I like to think about it as simpler.
Thank you for taking the time to read about Clara’s quest. Her integrity and charity inspires me to want to be a better person.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Heidi Eljarbo grew up in a home filled with books and artwork, and she never truly imagined she would do anything other than write and paint. She studied art, languages, and history, all of which have come in handy when working as a freelance writer, magazine journalist, and painter.
After living in Canada, six US states, Japan, Switzerland, and Austria, Heidi now calls Norway home. She and her husband have a total of nine children, twelve grandchildren—so far—in addition to a bouncy Wheaten Terrier and a bird.
The family’s chosen retreat is a mountain cabin, where they hike in the summertime and ski the vast, white terrain during winter.
Heidi’s favorites are her family, God's beautiful nature, and the word whimsical.
If you would like to know more, please visit:
heidieljarbo.com
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Catching a Witch
by
HEIDI ELJARBO
CLARA DAHL, an educated and upstanding minister's daughter, returns to her childhood home in Norway after several years abroad. She reconnects with her lifelong friend Bess and spends time becoming reacquainted with the townsfolks. But before long, Clara realizes her sleepy, picturesque corner of the world has been invaded by evil.
The year is 1660, a time in history when women—especially poor women—were tried and executed for witchcraft. When an English witch-hunter arrives in Clara’s seaside village home, she watches in horror as the townsfolk not only welcome him but begin to work with him. As neighbor turns against neighbor, Clara finds herself drawn into the fray, forced to do what she can to protect her friends and others she cares about.
Clara struggles against the witch-hunter’s influence, speaking out against his unjust treatment of those accused of witchcraft as he plays on other peoples’ superstitious and religious beliefs. She is appalled by the townsfolks’ behavior, and aside from a handful of close friends, she feels she has no one she can trust. But when Clara’s best friend Bess is accused of being a witch, Clara must find oth
ers to join her quest to save not only her friend but the entire town…before it’s too late.
Catching a Witch is an unforgettable tale of loyalty, deception, and superstition.
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