Analysis Of The Novel The Minister’s Daughter By Julie Hearn

In the 1640’s England was torn in two, and caught between the opposing factions of the Royalists and the Parliamentarians. The people of England were in conflict mainly more of the rural parts of England. These radical rituals such as superstition, atheist ritual, and many harsh looks of Christianity help start these impacts in England. The story is told by an awesome author named Julie Hearn in which wrote “The Minister’s Daughter”. This Novel goes in depth of what happened during this rough, and harsh time period. The novel expresses these conflicts in the private and personal story of two young women from opposite sides of the divide. Nell is the granddaughter of the local cunning woman. Nell herself is a Merrybegot, a child conceived on May Day, one of the most magical festivals of the year. Part healer, part midwife, part wise woman, Nell's grandmother feels the change in the air and, fearing for her own sanity as well as for her ability to continue practicing her arts in the changing political and religious environment, eagerly apprentices Nell to her craft. Soon enough, Nell is ministering not only to laboring human women and to flatulent men but also to piskies and other magical creatures, one of whom recognizes her as a chosen Merrybegot and rewards her with a gift more precious than anything she could have imagined. Grace, on the other hand, is the older daughter of the village's Puritan minister. Virtuous, devout and submissive, Grace is nothing like wild, bold Nell. Smitten with a handsome local boy, Grace soon finds herself pregnant with her own Merrybegot. Desperate to hide her pregnancy from her authoritarian father, she convinces her naïve younger sister Patience that her condition is the result of witchcraft practiced by Nell and her grandmother. Soon the villagers, torn between loyalty to the past and fear of the unknown, don't know whom to trust.

In “The Minister's Daughter”, Julie Hearn masterfully condenses so many of the vast political and religious conflicts of the day into what seems on the surface to be a very small story about one girl's unwanted pregnancy and its unforeseen consequences. At the same time, she manages to craft a tale that is both historically resonant and genuinely magical, peopled as it is with real-life historical characters such as Charles II as well as by piskies. These magical creatures are not just your average diaphanous fairies, though; like much of the magic in the novel, their influences are far-reaching and, although they provide comic elements, their concerns are great. Nell herself acknowledges the power of the supernatural the first time she attempts to perform significant magic after her grandmother's death: 'This is a trip of the most terrifying kind, so weird yet so utterly believable that to suffer it is to know yourself at the mercy of whatever devil's your mind cares to spit in your face.' The narrative structure of the book also contributes to its effectiveness. The bulk of the novel is narrated in a third-person present tense voice set in 1645 but carrying an oddly prescient tone, often prophesying events that will happen to minor characters months or even years in the future. Interjected with these chapters, though, is the voice of Grace's younger sister Patience. In 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, Patience narrates the events of 1645 through the lens of the Salem witch trials and her own tragic miscomprehension of those earlier days, in a tone that grows increasingly hateful until it reaches the chilling climax. “The Minister’s Daughter” is Julie Hearn's first novel to be published in the United States. If this superb tale is any indication of her talents, readers soon will be clamoring to read much more from this accomplished writer.