It is fitting that today we should mention Temperance Lloyd, noted as being one of the last people to be hanged for witchcraft in England, in 1682. Her name has echoed down the centuries and together with Susanna Edwards and Mary Trembles, she lives on in North Devon folklore. What is she doing in a novel set in the early twentieth century? She appears in Barefoot on the Cobbles as a reminder that elderly women, women whose names may well have been known to my characters, were convicted of capital crimes. Precisely what Temperance was, or was not, guilty of is debatable. Like Polly, hers too was a crime that hinged on the accusations of others. I do have another reason for mentioning Temperance, one that may become clear in the coming months but for now, that is a secret.

Here is Polly, on her way to court in Bideford: ‘Then there was the old cemetery, the school, and the site of the house where it was said the witches used to live. Polly was not the only parent who had threatened her recalcitrant small children with tales of how Goody Lloyd would cast a spell on them if they did not behave. Temperance Lloyd and her co-accused had been hanged outside Exeter jail. Reminders of capital punishment were hardly reassuring.’

Barefoot on the Cobbles will be published on 17 November 2018. More information about the novel can be found here. Copies will be available at various events in the weeks following the launch or can be pre-ordered from Blue Poppy Publishing or the author.