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The Last Witchfinder by James Morrow
The heroine at the center of The Last Witchfinder is Jennet Stearne. In the late 17th century, her father is a witchfinder, testing and executing women alleged to be witches. When her Aunt Isobel, who had been teaching her the scientific method, is burned at the stake, Jennet decides her role in life is to bring an end to the Parliamentary Witchcraft Act and use science and philosophy to put witchfinders out of business for good. Her father moves the family to Massachusetts, and passes his career to his son. As Jennet fights against the family business, she becomes involved with the Salem witch trials and Caribbean pirates, takes a young Ben Franklin for a lover, is captured by Indians, meets Isaac Newton, and eventually decides that her best approach to be put on trial herself. James Morrow's novel has received positive reviews with the Washington Post saying, "The Last Witchfinder flies us back to that thrilling period when scientific rationalism was dropped into the great cauldron of intellectual history, boiling with prejudice, tradition, piety and fear. The result is a fantastical story mixed so cunningly with real-life details that your vision of America's past may never awaken from Morrow's spell."
