Confess: The Untold Story of Dorothy Good
Juliette van der Molen
Twist in Time Magazine
Publish date: October 9, 2020
Based on A True Story
1692 Salem, Massachusetts- Dorothy and Sarah Good are arrested for witchcraft. Dorothy is four years old. Sarah is her mother. Over the course of the year, more than two hundred people are accused of witchcraft and thirty are found guilty. Nineteen will be sentenced to death.
Dorothy will confess.
Sarah will hang.
This is Dorothy’s story…
Review: Confess: The Untold Story of Dorothy Good by Juliette van der Molen
Juliette van der Molen writes with thoughtful observation. Through documentation and the gift of her provocative prose, we learn of the epistemic value of testimony and see how fear and spectral evidence caused Dorthy Good to be jailed and her mother, Sarah Good, executed for witchcraft.
While Dorothy was in custody much of 1692 and never charged, her mother Sarah was found guilty and hanged at Gallow's Hill.
Through this evocative compilation, we are led to critically think about important issues. We must acknowledge our conceptions of reliability, recognize the fallibility of human justification, and assess the consequences of being wrong.
I received a copy of this manuscript from the Managing Director of Fly on the Wall Press
Of note: It's reported that in July 2017, the City of Salem Massachusetts dedicated a formal memorial to those who were murdered at the Salem Witch Trials.
About the Author
Juliette van der Molen is an expat poet living in Wales. She is an intersectional feminist and member of the LGBTQIA community. Her work has also appeared in The Wellington Street
Review, Nightingale & Sparrow, Burning House Press and several other publications. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of The Net. Juliette is also the Poetry Editor for Mookychick Magazine. She is a spoken word performer and has had the honour of appearing in several venues in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Her books include Death Library: The Exquisite Corpse Collection, Mother May I? and Anatomy of A Dress. Forthcoming: Confess: The untold story of Dorothy Good (TwisiT Press, October 2020).