Rose Hall's White Witch


Book Description

The themes of betrayal, romance, love and mystery underpin this epic drama about Annee Palmer, one of the most memorable characters in Jamaica's history who was the bewitching owner of a plantation; Millie, a beautiful and determined slave; and John Rutherford who was caught in the middle of the torrid love story.




The White Witch Of Rosehall


Book Description

A very striking and curious story, founded on fact, of the West Indies of the early nineteenth century. Robert Rutherford is sent to the Islands to learn the planter’s business from the bottom. He becomes an overseer at Rosehall, the property of a young widow, Mrs Palmer, whose three husbands have all died in curious circumstances. She takes a violent fancy to Rutherford, who is also embarrassed by the attentions of his half-caste housekeeper, Millicent. His housekeeper is urging him, with some success, to fall in with West Indian habits, when Mrs Palmer arrives. Millicent defies her and threatens her with the powers of Takoo, an Obeah man. Mrs Palmer, herself skilled in Obeah magic, puts a spell on the girl, which Takoo’s rites, shattered by the white woman’s stronger magic, are powerless to remove. “de Lisser utilizes the conventions of a romantic entanglement to investigate and debate the wider socio-political issues within the novel that relate to colonialism, Jamaican identity and culture... The White Witch of Rosehall is a delightful read, written by an author who sought not only to entertain, but also to educate.”—Donna-Marie Tuck, Society for Caribbean Studies Newsletter




The White Witch of Rosehall


Book Description

In 'The White Witch of Rosehall,' Herbert G. de Lisser spins a bewitching tale of love, power, and the supernatural set against the backdrop of 19th-century Jamaica. Drawing on the rich tapestry of Jamaican folklore and colonial history, de Lisser weaves a story that is both captivating and eerie, rooted in the prototypical plantation narrative and infused with gothic elements. His prose style marries the lush descriptions of the Caribbean landscape with the haunting aura of Rosehall, the reputedly haunted great house at the story's center. The novel's exploration of complex themes such as racism, slavery, and the cultural mysticism of obeah—an Afro-Caribbean spiritual practice—places it in the larger conversation of postcolonial literature and the legacy of the British Empire. Herbert G. de Lisser (1878–1944), a preeminent Jamaican journalist and author, was a seminal figure in his homeland's literary scene. His proximity to the sociopolitical developments of his time, including the stark racial and class divisions in post-emancipation Jamaica, profoundly influenced his writing. 'The White Witch of Rosehall' is perhaps his most famous work, arising from the legendary lore surrounding the real Annie Palmer, the alleged 'White Witch' who reigned with infamy over the Rosehall plantation. De Lisser's narrative is not only an unveiling of the deep-seated superstitions of the time but also a reflection on the complexities of colonial power dynamics. Recommended for aficionados of historical fiction and gothic romance, 'The White Witch of Rosehall' invites readers to delve into the dense underbrush of Jamaica's past. De Lisser's novel is an essential entry for those intrigued by the intersection of history and myth, and it provides a critical lens through which to examine issues of cultural identity and the unseen scars of colonialism. This DigiCat Publishing edition honors de Lisser's remarkable storytelling and ensures that new generations can unearth the chilling, yet telling, chronicle of The White Witch and the hauntingly beautiful land over which she ruled.




Jamaica White


Book Description




Unsilencing Slavery


Book Description

Popular references to the Rose Hall Great House in Jamaica often focus on the legend of the “White Witch of Rose Hall.” Over one hundred thousand people visit this plantation every year, many hoping to catch a glimpse of Annie Palmer’s ghost. After experiencing this tour with her daughter in 2013 and leaving Jamaica haunted by the silences of the tour, Celia E. Naylor resolved to write a history of Rose Hall about those people who actually had a right to haunt this place of terror and trauma—the enslaved. Naylor deftly guides us through a strikingly different Rose Hall. She introduces readers to the silences of the archives and unearths the names and experiences of the enslaved at Rose Hall in the decades immediately before the abolition of slavery in Jamaica. She then offers a careful reading of Herbert G. de Lisser’s 1929 novel, The White Witch of Rosehall—which gave rise to the myth of the “White Witch”—and a critical analysis of the current tours at Rose Hall Great House. Naylor’s interdisciplinary examination engages different modes of history making, history telling, and truth telling to excavate the lives of enslaved people, highlighting enslaved women as they navigated the violences of the Jamaican slavocracy and plantationscape. Moving beyond the legend, she examines iterations of the afterlives of slavery in the ongoing construction of slavery museums, memorializations, and movements for Black lives and the enduring case for Black humanity. Alongside her book, she has created a website as another way for readers to explore the truths of Rose Hall: rosehallproject.columbia.edu.




The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe


Book Description

C. S. Lewis was a British author, lay theologian, and contemporary of J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia.




Wiccapedia


Book Description

Learn how contemporary practitioners go about the magickal business of witchcraft, including how to cast spells positively for better results. Wiccapedia provides a fresh, innovative, and thoroughly up-to-date look at witchcraft—and gives readers a prescription for happiness. “Spiritual life coaches” and celebrity witches Shawn Robbins and Leanna Greenaway unlock the secrets of the Wicca universe, explaining what it means to become a “simply fabulous” 21st-century Witch. Newfound Witches will learn how to tap into magic, re-empower themselves, and realize their dreams through a little witchy know how.




Thornyhold


Book Description

'A comfortable chair and a Mary Stewart: total heaven. I'd rather read her than most other authors.' Harriet Evans The rambling house called Thornyhold is like something out of a fairy tale. Left to Gilly Ramsey by the cousin whose occasional visits brightened her childhood, the cottage, set deep in a wild wood, has come just in time to save her from a bleak future. With its reputation for magic and its resident black cat, Thornyhold offers Gilly more than just a new home. It offers her a chance to start over. The old house, with it tufts of rosy houseleek and the spreading gilt of the lichens, was beautiful. Even the prisoning hedges were beautiful, protective with their rusty thorns, their bastions of holly and juniper, and at the corners, like towers, their thick columns of yews. 'Mary Stewart is magic' New York Times 'One of the great British storytellers of the 20th century' Independent




Over Our Way


Book Description

There have been many great and enduring works of literature by Caribbean authors over the last century. The Caribbean Contemporary Classics collection celebrates these deep and vibrant stories, overflowing with life and acute observations about society. Over our way lies a world of flame trees and hot beaches rimmed with hills, of raucous laughter in the market and shouts in the street, of bare feet running down dusty lanes and across burnt savannahs, splashing beside the boats of fishermen or inching up the ringed bark of coconut trees. A long way, full of laughing, weeping, blessing, cursing, explaining, quarrelling, accusing and lamenting. We cannot see the beginnings or ends of our way, but we can tell some of the stories of what happens over our way: stories which we alone can tell, stories about our friendships, our lonelinesses, our games, our crimes, our sorrows and joys, our triumphs and dreams. Suitable for readers aged 11 and above.




A Discovery of Witches


Book Description

Book one of the New York Times bestselling All Souls series, from the author of The Black Bird Oracle. “A wonderfully imaginative grown-up fantasy with all the magic of Harry Potter and Twilight” (People). Look for the hit series “A Discovery of Witches,” now streaming on AMC+, Sundance Now, and Shudder! Deborah Harkness’s sparkling debut, A Discovery of Witches, has brought her into the spotlight and galvanized fans around the world. In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont. Harkness has created a universe to rival those of Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, and Elizabeth Kostova, and she adds a scholar's depth to this riveting tale of magic and suspense. The story continues in book two, Shadow of Night, book three, The Book of Life, and the fourth in the series, Time’s Convert.