Content levels
Trigger warnings
Hero archetypes
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Themes
Synopsis
Set in 17th-century England, when Cavaliers struggle with Puritans to keep the throne safe for King Charles 1st. The wise and gentle Froniga Haslewood, is caught between two worlds. Divided between her Puritan family at the Oxfordshire village's manor house and her relatives in the Gypsy community, she works using her skill in healing to help those in need. Her cousin Robert, a local squire, is gripped by the prospect of war. Following his boyhood hero, he leaves his family and travels away to fight for the Parliamentarian cause. While his wife Margaret and their twin children wait in the manor house for news about him. Left behind with her brother, Robert's daughter Jenny grows up under the shadow of conflict, until she encounters mysterious royalist Francis Leyland. While Froniga's gypsy cousins sometimes camp near her, and have befriended Yomen, who conceals a grand past, but is now a tinker and royalist spy. The women must choose between family loyalty and their own heart. As their lives entwine, the villagers struggle to stay true to their beliefs as war threatens to tear their community apart.
Is The White Witch appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 10 and up.
Set during the English Civil War, this novel depicts families torn by political and religious conflict, with war as a backdrop. Violence is referenced but not graphic; themes of loyalty, healing, and community prevail.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, no sexual content, and clean language. Content notes include war, class struggle, and abandonment.
Who'll love this
Readers will enjoy following characters caught between two worlds during a time of war, with gypsy communities, royal spies, and difficult choices about loyalty.