After visiting and speaking with her at the jail for the first time, Charles writes “She is child-sized. A man of compassionate faith, Reverend Charles Leslie is initially repelled by Corrag and, as are the majority of persons, he instantly assumes she is guilty of all charges and worthy of her fate. I loved the way the author accomplished the telling of this story in these different layers of communication to the reader. The novel alternates between Corrag’s voice and Charles Leslie’s point of view which is cleverly related to us by a series of lovely letters written by him to his wife back home. In order to do so, he must speak with Corrag, the one person that perhaps can reveal what really happened on that night of death and destruction. Irish Jacobite and man of God, Charles Leslie journeys to the Highlands to uncover the truth behind the massacre.

Ultimately, Corrag is arrested and accused of witchcraft and murder for her supposed involvement in the Glencoe Massacre. It had the thick, earthy smell of plants at night, and water, and water sounds… A valley of such narrowness, and with such steep sides that it is like walking into a hand, half-closed… It was an open hand that I could lie inside, and it would keep me safe.” This beauty is eventually destroyed by the massacre of the MacDonalds at the hands of the soldiers, their own guests. It was a quiet, night-time valley which I crept into, with mud and moths in my hair… It was cool air, with the sea’s breath. 'Before it was bloodied, or snow-thick, Glencoe was lit by moon. This is where some of the most beautiful descriptions of the Scottish Highlands can be found. She falls in love with the highlands and with a powerful member of the clan. Here she uses her knowledge of nature and herbs to help and heal. Corrag is forced to flee alone to the Scottish Highlands where she settles near and befriends the MacDonald clan. I’ve never turned into a bird, skimmed a night-time loch, or settled on ships to make them drown… I’ve not summoned anything… I pray – not in church and with no Bible, but otherwise I reckon it’s probably like how you pray, which is with the heart’s voice talking, not the mouth’s.' Misunderstood, misjudged, and persecuted, Corrag, her mother and her grandmother are called “witch” due to their differences and strengths as unattached women.

I’ve never plucked out gizzards or howled at moons. “What townsfolk say we do and what we truly do are very different things. Susan Fletcher tells this story with gorgeous, poetical and vivid prose. It is about learning to truly understand the people we encounter in our lives. Alternately titled The Highland Witch or Witch Light, Corrag is a magical story about opening your heart to the beauty of your surroundings. Haunting and beautiful, Corrag drew me in and transported me to the Scottish Highlands of the seventeenth century.

The Highland Witch by Susan Fletcher