The Way Back Book Review: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Spears

It's been over fifty years since this book was first published, and sixteen since I first read it. Here's the description from Goodreads:

Orphaned Kit Tyler knows, as she gazes for the first time at the cold, bleak shores of Connecticut Colony, that her new home will never be like the shimmering Caribbean island she left behind. In her relatives' stern Puritan community, she feels like a tropical bird that has flown to the wrong part of the world, a bird that is now caged and lonely. The only place where Kit feels completely free is in the meadows, where she enjoys the company of the old Quaker woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond, and on occasion, her young sailor friend Nat. But when Kit's friendship with the "witch" is discovered, Kit is faced with suspicion, fear, and anger. She herself is accused of witchcraft!

I was in the sixth grade when I picked this gem up. It was the first book I'd read with a romantic subplot and I was done for right there and then. I'm not ashamed of loving love and kissing in books. But that's not the only reason this book has been my favorite for so long. It was my first walk into historical fiction . Reading about the going ons of the Puritan people and the discrimination against Quakers. It was fascinating learning about the way of life, the language, the history. This was the first book I really got lost in, the first time I truly discovered reading for pleasure, and for that reason this book is so much more special to me than most. If you haven't already picked it up, give it a go!