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Mist Over Pendle
Against a background of witchcraft in 17th-century rural Lancashire, ROBERT NEILL has woven an extraordinary novel of the power of evil...
404 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1951
89 people are currently reading
1127 people want to read
About the author
Robert Neill
15 books8 followersRobert Geoffrey Neill (1905 – 1979) was an English writer of historical fiction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_...
Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_...
Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 128 reviews
December 6, 2011
This is one of my favorite books of all time and I have read it many times. I was of course influenced to a certain extent because the story is set in Lancashire, England where I hail from. The story is based on true facts regarding witch trials in the 1600s in Lancashire and there are several books written about this subject. This book is esentially a historical fiction including original names of the witches and certain prominent names from that time. Another book called, "The Lancashire Witches", written by Harrison Ainsworth is a more terrifyingly fantastic book based on the same facts but "Mist over Pendle" takes a more believable and explanable stance on the 'witch powers', includes a look into Lancashire life, fashions, religion at that time and adds a touch of romance, mystery, and intrigue. Well worth the read if you enjoy spotlessly clean romance and history.
August 2, 2011
I absolutely LOVE this book!! Being raised in Lancaster the place where the Pendle witches stood trial it has always been a big part of the towns history and I have been brought up with the story. It has always fascinated me and even taken me on a Pendle Witches Tour from Lancaster Castle to Pendle Hill and the surrounding areas.
I found this book so powerful and moving that I saw myself walking down the country lane cursing the peddler! just imagining what the 12 accused must have gone through even before the trial took place they had to walk from Pendle to Lancaster over 46 miles on foot. The youngest being 9 and the oldest 80....can you imagine?!?!
I have read and re-read this book and never fail to be amazed by the power of it! a must read for anyone whatever genre you are into.
I found this book so powerful and moving that I saw myself walking down the country lane cursing the peddler! just imagining what the 12 accused must have gone through even before the trial took place they had to walk from Pendle to Lancaster over 46 miles on foot. The youngest being 9 and the oldest 80....can you imagine?!?!
I have read and re-read this book and never fail to be amazed by the power of it! a must read for anyone whatever genre you are into.
August 16, 2011
I'm sad that this book wasn't as awesome as I was expecting/hoping it to be. I mean, it sounded like a good idea... and I generally love witch-trial type of books, and for the first say hundred pages I was really into it. But then it somehow changed. Or maybe it was just too long and the style that held me for 100 pages just couldn't hold me for 300 more. It was rather dry and stodgy, and there were just too many characters to keep track of. I liked Roger and Margery a lot, but then more people kept being introduced and I was getting so lost in all the small details! It was way too wordy and would have been so much better at half its length with all the extraneous stuff trimmed out. In the end, my eyes kind of became glazed over and it was like my vision was passing over all the words without really seeing or ingesting them. Which is sad, but after a time I was just so unable to engage in most of what was going on.
June 28, 2013
Utter rubbish. I feel conned. Witchcraft? What witchcraft, it's all about sewing dresses and moaning. Bloody dreadful. And I've owned this book for thirty years, finally got to read it, I wish I'd burned it at the stake instead.
June 4, 2013
Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill
★★★★☆
The Lancashire Witch trials of 1612 were the basis for this story. We have a young puritan girl, Margery, sent to her cousin Roger Nowell because her family doesn’t know what to do with her (she is distinctly un-puritan) and nobody can provide her with a dowry to marry her off. Roger’s way of life is more to Margery’s taste and, freed of the restrictions her upbringing had imposed on her, we see her blossom into an intelligent young woman. She accompanies her cousin, a Justice of the Peace, on his investigations into increasingly frequent accusations of witchcraft, soon becoming an integral part of the inquiries, her actions leading to at least one incidence of romance and several incidences of execution.
My opinion:
✔ I loved the writing, you could tell at once that it wasn’t written in recent years, it was lighter and more tongue-in-cheek (in places) than novels written in recent decades.
✔ The descriptions were evocative of the time and place, I could feel the icy cold of the winter rains as they rode around the county and the warmth of a blazing fireplace afterwards. I could feel the threat emanating from the witches and feared for the young girls, Margery and Grace, in particular
✔ The dialogue could be very amusing, the characters of both Roger and Margery made me smile on more than one occasion
✔ The minor elements of romance (after all, she was there to find a dowry if not a husband) were handled delicately and left me smiling
✖ The only negative aspect I found was that it was getting a little bogged down in the beginning with the descriptions of the area. I found that a little tedious but it was obviously meant to set the scene and introduce the different locations in the story.
I really enjoyed this book, it put a smile on my face in some places, made me anxious in others and entertained me throughout, The focus is more on the investigation and Margery’s ‘coming of age’ than on the witchcraft side of it, so if that is what you are looking for then this probably isn’t the story for you. However, if you are interested in the psychological aspect on the populace in general, then you might find this interesting.
★★★★☆
The Lancashire Witch trials of 1612 were the basis for this story. We have a young puritan girl, Margery, sent to her cousin Roger Nowell because her family doesn’t know what to do with her (she is distinctly un-puritan) and nobody can provide her with a dowry to marry her off. Roger’s way of life is more to Margery’s taste and, freed of the restrictions her upbringing had imposed on her, we see her blossom into an intelligent young woman. She accompanies her cousin, a Justice of the Peace, on his investigations into increasingly frequent accusations of witchcraft, soon becoming an integral part of the inquiries, her actions leading to at least one incidence of romance and several incidences of execution.
My opinion:
✔ I loved the writing, you could tell at once that it wasn’t written in recent years, it was lighter and more tongue-in-cheek (in places) than novels written in recent decades.
✔ The descriptions were evocative of the time and place, I could feel the icy cold of the winter rains as they rode around the county and the warmth of a blazing fireplace afterwards. I could feel the threat emanating from the witches and feared for the young girls, Margery and Grace, in particular
✔ The dialogue could be very amusing, the characters of both Roger and Margery made me smile on more than one occasion
✔ The minor elements of romance (after all, she was there to find a dowry if not a husband) were handled delicately and left me smiling
✖ The only negative aspect I found was that it was getting a little bogged down in the beginning with the descriptions of the area. I found that a little tedious but it was obviously meant to set the scene and introduce the different locations in the story.
I really enjoyed this book, it put a smile on my face in some places, made me anxious in others and entertained me throughout, The focus is more on the investigation and Margery’s ‘coming of age’ than on the witchcraft side of it, so if that is what you are looking for then this probably isn’t the story for you. However, if you are interested in the psychological aspect on the populace in general, then you might find this interesting.
September 17, 2014
It's always weird when you realize that what you read is not what you thought you read. I had no idea until today that this story had a historical basis: the Pendle witches of Lancashire.
Neill fleshed out the historical record by supposing motive and character and (I assume) adding the wholly fictional Margery Whittaker. Aside from Margery's involvement, he takes a very conservative approach: the witches are not recast sympathetically as humble practitioners of folk medicine, nor were they part of some grander Satanic conspiracy. The Demdike and Chattox families sit at the pathetic fringe of society, using their reputation to elicit unwilling charity, and not much energy is spent explaining why they would say or do anything suspicious in front of witnesses.
Neill fleshed out the historical record by supposing motive and character and (I assume) adding the wholly fictional Margery Whittaker. Aside from Margery's involvement, he takes a very conservative approach: the witches are not recast sympathetically as humble practitioners of folk medicine, nor were they part of some grander Satanic conspiracy. The Demdike and Chattox families sit at the pathetic fringe of society, using their reputation to elicit unwilling charity, and not much energy is spent explaining why they would say or do anything suspicious in front of witnesses.
March 15, 2014
I loved this book, sadly I believe it might be out of print. My mother recommended it to me when I was about 16 and it is just lovely, I've read it and the read it many times I'm the years since. Some people may not appreciate the subtleties of the anxiety and superstitions of the Jacobean period surrounding the idea of witchcraft which this book presents because it is very subtle and usually suggested rather than explicit; to me this is what is so clever about this book it shows that the fear of witchcraft was engrained deeply in society and was so heightened due to the uncertainty over whether or not it was real. It is beautifully written, somewhat of a coming of age story about a funny, witty and extremely clever young women, yes she does also enjoy a spot of fashion, but what is wrong with that?! I would fully recommend.
January 6, 2015
A wonderful old-fashioned romp of a story, well-researched historically, and not without humour. None of the sighs and shrugs usually abundant in historical romance, but plenty of crinkled foreheads. I enjoyed the depictions of the Puritans and Catholics. I didn't enjoy the depiction of the poor and disabled. The heroine, Margery, was a bit of a goody two shoes. First half of book was fascinating, second half was a slog, and there was no build up of tension to what I thought was a weak ending.
October 7, 2019
I wasn’t sure how to rate this book. As I’m fascinated by the history of the Pendle witch trials I have read many novels based on this subject and find that each story is told from a different angle. This book was really difficult to get into until about halfway through when it picked up to a decent pace. I would have given it two stars but it got much more intriguing towards the end. Still, this is definitely not the best historical novel based on the Pendle witches out there.
December 28, 2011
An amazing re-reading experience after almost 20 years. This is a beautifully told tale of events leading up to the Pendle Witch Trials, firmly grounded in the beliefs, customs and everyday life of the 17th Century. The characters are well drawn and, though perhaps a little unsubtle for modern readers, this does not detract from the strong story-telling.
November 9, 2020
Margery is a young woman sent from London to reside with a distant cousin in Lancashire. On the edge of the moors she is brought into the world of the families known as the Pendle witches. This novel was first published in the 1950s and centres around the famous 17th century witch trials. It's more about Margery and her life in a different world but does give an insight into the locals and their reactions to the people accused of witchcraft.
November 2, 2012
My Halloween reading 2012.
I first read this book when I was teenager at school - so that's long enough ago for me to have forgotten just how good this story is.
The story of the Pendle witches is particularly relevant in 2012 as it is the four hundredth anniversary of the Lancashire witches. This most famous of witch trials took place in the forest and hills of the North Lancashire moors, a place that was as cold, dark and inhospitable as the landscape.
When Margery Whittaker is sent to live with a distant cousin in the wilds of Lancashire she is little prepared for the superstitious happenings which take place within days of her arrival. A man dies in suspicious circumstances and the finger of blame is pointed towards the old crone Demdike and her gaggle of strange relatives.
The story abounds with malicious gossip, religious fervour and superstitious calamity.
I loved it.
I first read this book when I was teenager at school - so that's long enough ago for me to have forgotten just how good this story is.
The story of the Pendle witches is particularly relevant in 2012 as it is the four hundredth anniversary of the Lancashire witches. This most famous of witch trials took place in the forest and hills of the North Lancashire moors, a place that was as cold, dark and inhospitable as the landscape.
When Margery Whittaker is sent to live with a distant cousin in the wilds of Lancashire she is little prepared for the superstitious happenings which take place within days of her arrival. A man dies in suspicious circumstances and the finger of blame is pointed towards the old crone Demdike and her gaggle of strange relatives.
The story abounds with malicious gossip, religious fervour and superstitious calamity.
I loved it.
May 29, 2018
Not as I expected as there really was very little on the actual Pendle witches, the majority of the book focused around Margery’s Puritan family and how she likes her cousin Roger with a bit of romance thrown in when she meets another guy. It was only after the second half of the book that any mentions of witches began and then only very very slowly towards a bit of a dragged out ending. Sorry found it a bland read.
April 16, 2016
Not what I imagined based on the cover blurb. Lots about dresses, horseriding, etiquette, men, & court proceedings. Not so much about Witchcraft, forests & mysterious mysteries! Ok, but not really what I had in mind when I started the book. This book is Historical Fiction, & I think the version I have got is very poorly represented by the cover Illustration & description.
March 12, 2009
One of my all-time favorite books from childhood. I often liked to read it around Halloween. A mystery set to the backdrop of the a real historical event of the Pendle witches. Love this book.
Note: alternate title is "Mist Over Pendle" which I believe, is the title released in the UK.
Note: alternate title is "Mist Over Pendle" which I believe, is the title released in the UK.
October 19, 2013
Mist Over Pendle was nothing like I had imagined it to be, and was probably all the better for it.
The story is set in 1611-12, against a background of the events leading up to the famous Pendle Witch Trials; using what was known of the trials, from Thomas Potts' contemporary account in The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches, and of social mores at the time, Robert Neill presents a fictional imagining of the events leading up to the final committal for trial. A book centring on witchcraft was, I assumed, going to be quite dark, a little gothic maybe; but if an interest in witchcraft and the occult is what brings you to this book, you may be disappointed. Because what Neill has done s produce a light, and highly readable, impression of how much of the concern over witchcraft was born out of hysteria and lack of knowledge.
Margery Whittaker, a lively, intelligent young girl brought up in, but longing to rebel from, a stern Puritan household, becomes a concern to her elder brothers and sisters when their mother dies. Anxious for Margery to be away from potential trouble and distractions, they decide to send her to a distant cousin, one of the landed gentry with an estate near in Pendle, and a Justice of the Peace, by the name of Roger Nowell. Luckily for Margery, it turns out that she was cut from the same cloth as her cousin, and a strong bond builds between the two.
While able to write, Roger is not a wordsmith, so Margery takes up the quill and acts as clerk at the weekly magistrate hearings. Through this, and her increasing familiarity with the people living in the area, she becomes aware of the undercurrent of concern over witchcraft.
Rather than having his characters immediately assume witchcraft, author Neill demonstrates that witchcraft could be, and was blamed, for deaths that may have been chance or likely to happen anyway; and that some of what was considered witchcraft was more down to good knowledge and application of the properties of plants. .
In Margery, Neill has created a wonderful, lively, intelligent central character; the sardonic cousin Roger is also beautifully drawn, as is the relationship between the two cousins.
The book is a gentle read, and at times it does feel that things are moving a little slowly, but on the whole I found it and excellent read, full of evocative images of the landscape and weather.
The story is set in 1611-12, against a background of the events leading up to the famous Pendle Witch Trials; using what was known of the trials, from Thomas Potts' contemporary account in The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches, and of social mores at the time, Robert Neill presents a fictional imagining of the events leading up to the final committal for trial. A book centring on witchcraft was, I assumed, going to be quite dark, a little gothic maybe; but if an interest in witchcraft and the occult is what brings you to this book, you may be disappointed. Because what Neill has done s produce a light, and highly readable, impression of how much of the concern over witchcraft was born out of hysteria and lack of knowledge.
Margery Whittaker, a lively, intelligent young girl brought up in, but longing to rebel from, a stern Puritan household, becomes a concern to her elder brothers and sisters when their mother dies. Anxious for Margery to be away from potential trouble and distractions, they decide to send her to a distant cousin, one of the landed gentry with an estate near in Pendle, and a Justice of the Peace, by the name of Roger Nowell. Luckily for Margery, it turns out that she was cut from the same cloth as her cousin, and a strong bond builds between the two.
While able to write, Roger is not a wordsmith, so Margery takes up the quill and acts as clerk at the weekly magistrate hearings. Through this, and her increasing familiarity with the people living in the area, she becomes aware of the undercurrent of concern over witchcraft.
Rather than having his characters immediately assume witchcraft, author Neill demonstrates that witchcraft could be, and was blamed, for deaths that may have been chance or likely to happen anyway; and that some of what was considered witchcraft was more down to good knowledge and application of the properties of plants. .
In Margery, Neill has created a wonderful, lively, intelligent central character; the sardonic cousin Roger is also beautifully drawn, as is the relationship between the two cousins.
The book is a gentle read, and at times it does feel that things are moving a little slowly, but on the whole I found it and excellent read, full of evocative images of the landscape and weather.
June 21, 2022
This is one of my go to "comfort" books and this was the annual read of it! Margery Whittaker has gone to live with a distant cousin after the death of her mother, upon arriving from London she discovers that murder and witchcraft is what her cousin Roger is up against - she adds her wits to his and together they hope to find out what is happening and to try and stop it.
An interesting take on the Pendle Witch Trials.
An interesting take on the Pendle Witch Trials.
February 13, 2020
2.5*
that was a very... abrupt ending, and pretty anti-climatic. the entire plot had a lot less energy than i was expecting - to be honest, after a while, it all started to drag.
also, if i never hear the phrase "god's grace!" again in my life, it'll be too soon.
that was a very... abrupt ending, and pretty anti-climatic. the entire plot had a lot less energy than i was expecting - to be honest, after a while, it all started to drag.
also, if i never hear the phrase "god's grace!" again in my life, it'll be too soon.
June 24, 2023
This book was on my mother's bookshelf throughout my childhood. Since I was in charge of dusting the bookshelves, I came across it frequently. My older sister and I decided to read it at the same time. We encountered many new words to describe clothing such as "kirtle." We also got curious about what "syllabub" tasted like. The main character, Margery, and her cousin, Roger, were interesting at first but pretty much one-dimensional. The plot about discovering who was behind the ongoing witchcraft was intriguing but ended with a thud. Lots of descriptions of people riding horses in the woods, drinking wine and ale by the fire, eating heartily, going to church and pondering what to wear. A bit tedious at times. I will put it on my own bookshelf now but probably won't dust it as often as I did as a child.
November 11, 2017
A friend recommended this read as it's set where she grew up and she has read it many times. Apart from the fact that the Pendle witch trials are scary and fascinating, the writing style adds to the enjoyment. The 'old fashioned' language is so evocative of the time period that the book draws you in further so you can really imagine being alone on a windy cold hillside, terrified of what you may find.
May 28, 2017
I liked the feel of this book and the setting of the Lancashire hills and moors that our protagonist finds herself in. I was interested in the history of witches and the religious history that this book provided, it just didn't quite deliver for me. I wanted to be genuinely unnerved by the demdikes and I wasn't!
May 18, 2017
Published in 1951, Mist Over Pendle is a series of fictional events leading up to the historic witch trials of 1612. Don't expect sorcery and witchcraft in the Dennis Wheatley/Harry Potter style, this has more than just a touch of gritty reality about it whilst still preserving a fine tale with humorous moments and some brilliant characters.
August 9, 2018
Reading shouldn’t be such a bloody slog. I should have figured an historical romance was never going to keep my interest. I got past 180 pages and still only recognized the two main characters. Just extremely stuffy, slow and dull. I have to give up.
November 15, 2021
A great deal of fun to read, but overlong and far too preoccupied with taffeta and kirtles (not to mention crinkling brows), with some rather stereotypical (spitting, cursing and eye rolling) witches.
April 10, 2010
I have reread this and although its a little dated it is a good read about the Pendle Witches.
March 19, 2011
A splendid piece of historical fiction.
September 23, 2011
I cant say that this is anything like i would have expected,
I enjoyed this book so much, fab writing style , wonderful characters , loved it.
I enjoyed this book so much, fab writing style , wonderful characters , loved it.
February 21, 2020
Finishes very abruptly. In parts the story seemed more like a daft historical romp of a plucky young woman roaming the Lancashire countryside. Not the best fictionalised account of Pendle.
January 22, 2025
This was written in 1951 and I wonder if a modern re-writing by a more sympathetic writer would tell a different story. We know from the history books that innocent women in this period were often driven to confess to witchcraft by torture and humiliation, yet the author glosses over this, painting a picture of a righteous band of the King’s justices ridding Pendle of all evil accompanied by a fair young lady. I could have stomached this more easily had the opening and middle chapters not been a tedious repetition of the protagonist making various journeys through Pendle on horseback, visiting the same handful of properties and people over and over. The pace does pick up towards the end, and aside from the witch hunt we are incentivised to keep reading to find out which of the protagonist’s various suitors she will fall for. My favorite chapter was “The Traveller by Night”, set on Christmas Eve with a rich depiction of many old festive traditions. Oddly, the book’s copyright page states “any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental” however many of the characters (Elizabeth & James Device, Ann Redfearn, Alice Nutter) share names with the real Pendle witches. In that sense it presents an interesting theory about the possible circumstances and events that could have led to the Pendle witch trials.
November 23, 2024
Similar in style, genre and respect for historical accuracy (up to a point) to Lorna Doone, Moonfleet, various novels of Geoffrey Treace (The Grey Adventurer, Cue for Treason. All written by men. All with a teenage central character with greater than average resources. All taking a particular time and place and all enjoyable enough. I love the title and was a little disappointed to find that (to me at least) the book failed to live up to it. I’m taken with the genre and have got hold of another book with a title that tempted me as a young fellow; Children of the New Forest.
It may serve a minor role in my law and literature studies. I’d be interested to see just how accurate Neill is on that score. Not that he needs to be.
Where it is very good is in showing how ideas develop their own momentum. The novel is at pains to find these Lancashire women witches; but it leaves the reader space to doubt that they were simply downtrodden and failed by everybody except themselves. The crowd near riot scenes are not dissimilar to situations played out in the north of England in the summer of 2024. Vicious rumours and misinformation are not inventions of a social media age.
Not a great novel but I’m glad I have finally read it.
It may serve a minor role in my law and literature studies. I’d be interested to see just how accurate Neill is on that score. Not that he needs to be.
Where it is very good is in showing how ideas develop their own momentum. The novel is at pains to find these Lancashire women witches; but it leaves the reader space to doubt that they were simply downtrodden and failed by everybody except themselves. The crowd near riot scenes are not dissimilar to situations played out in the north of England in the summer of 2024. Vicious rumours and misinformation are not inventions of a social media age.
Not a great novel but I’m glad I have finally read it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 128 reviews