Set in 1612 during the Pendle witch trials, this story follows 17-year-old Fleetwood Shuttleworth, wife of a noble house, who is on her fourth pregnancy and desperate to give her anxious husband an heir after miscarrying three times before. Fleetwood is heartbroken after discovering a hidden letter from a physician predicting that she will not live through the birth of her child.

Young Fleetwood is uninterested in ladylike pursuits and has a knack for adventure and riding in the woods. This is where she chances upon the mysterious Alice Grey who happens to be a successful midwife. Fleetwood hires Alice after she promises to do everything she can to bring her baby to term and the pair become unlikely friends. Alice uses unconventional methods involving medicinal herbs but manages to bring Fleetwood’s pregnancy further along than she’s been before.

Unfortunately, this was a cruel time in European history and the tale takes a dark turn when Alice is accused of murder and practicing witchcraft along with several others. Fleetwood must do everything in her power to prove Alice’s innocence and free the only true friend she’s ever had—Fleetwood and her unborn child depend on it. Weaving together fiction and historical truth, this is a beautiful story about the injustice against women, witchcraft, female connection and survival.