In the winter of 1581, Davy Thurlowe was “strangely taken” with fits. His parents, Grace and John, hired Ursley Kempe, a woman of poor reputation yet renowned as a healer. Ursley helped Davy, but took offence when the pregnant Grace Thurlowe refused to employ her as a nurse. Ursley was angry and insistent, Grace infirm and frightened. The baby, Joan, was born safely, but Grace suffered persistent lameness, and friction between mother and healer intensified. When Joan fell from her cradle and died, Grace blamed Ursley - and witchcraft.
The setting for this gripping drama is the Essex village of St Osyth, quiet today but in the 1580s a busy port where people worked in various occupations, from servicing the quay to farming. The hinterland was a damp, misty place,…
