June Book club: I, Tituba; Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé

I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem is an award winning novel by author Maryse Condé. In this book, Condé imagines the life of Tituba: one of the most fascinating and influential women in American history. In 1692, Tituba was a slave of Reverend Samuel Parris. She was one of the first individuals accused of witchcraft in Salem Village, and one of the first to confess. Little is known of Tituba beyond what appears in 17th century trial records, and she has fascinated historians and history lovers for more than three hundred years.
About her book, Condé says, “… I decided I was going to write her story out of my own dreams. … Tituba is the opposite of a historical novel. I was not interested at all in what her real life could have been. … I really invented Tituba. I gave her a childhood, an adolescence, an old age.” (paperback, 1992)
Translated from the French. Winner of France’s prestigious Grand Prix Litéraire de la Femme award in 1986.