Click Here To Purchase The Emancipation of Giles Corey

Author: Michael Sortomme
ISBN: 9780983051756
Publisher: Singing Lake Press


The Emancipation of Giles Corey caught my attention as I was curious to learn more about the Salem Witch Trials.  I had only heard sketchy details about what happened and why.  I was looking forward to reading the story and finding out more about the individual people tried as witches and killed.  However, I was slightly disappointed as the book only really tells the story about the character mentioned in the title, Giles Corey and his family.  I would have preferred more background as to the other people involved in the trials.  There was some information in the book about the others, but not a lot.  So, I would not recommend this book to anyone who is looking for more of a history of the Witch Trials.  This is a work of fiction, based on true events, which mainly revolves around the life of one man, Giles Corey, the only person to be pressed to death in the Salem Witch Trials.

Perhaps if I had read or known more about the Salem Witch Trials before reading this book I would have enjoyed it more because there is a lot of information throughout the book about the history of the town and the occupants. 

That said, I did find the content satisfying for the most part.  There are a lot of references to spiritual beliefs and Shamanic practice, theories about ghosts and reincarnation, all of which interested me.
There are beautiful illustrations throughout the book.

The main issue I had with this book is that there are just too many words.  I prefer books that move at a faster pace, so for me this one was hard to get through and took ages to read.
To sum up, Michael Sortomme has created an intriguing book about a believable eccentric character, Sophie St. Cloud, who is on a mission to free the spirit of Giles Corey.  There was nothing that I could really fault in regard to the writing or the story, just that for my personal taste it was a bit long-winded and slow moving.  Perhaps also, the main characters in the story, other than Sophie, (Poe, Dora and Dylan) did not really have much substance; I didn’t feel that I really got to know them at all. 

For historians, and people who prefer to take their time when reading a book, this would probably be the perfect read.