The Sacrifice

Kathleen Benner Duble’s novel, The Sacrifice is full to the brim of conflict, both internal and external. First, at the beginning of this novel, Abigail Faulkner, a young, courageous girl of the 1600s, thinks her problems are bad when she gets caught running, here in shaming her family. Little does she know that things are just heating up and within a few months, this minor offense will be all but forgotten. The external conflict she is experiencing at this point in the story seems awful to her and her family but soon the conflict within them will rage to what seems beyond compare. Suddenly, the small town of Andover goes from peaceful to demon possessed. Is this possible? Could she really have been living next to witches her whole life and never known? Her suspicions are confirmed when she and her sister are accused of witchcraft. She knows she is not a witch and she now feels the pain of all the other falsely accused. Conflicts with the accusatory girls, and the jailor and almost everyone in the nearby town, Salem, get worse and worse. Will it ever get better? Last, internal conflict starts when Abigail’s mother, a loving and sensitive caretaker who will do any thing to free her children, tries to get her to tell the court that she was taught witchcraft by her mother. At first Abigail is appalled, but then she sees the urgency in her mother’s eyes. It is the only way to keep Abigail from hanging. Torn between the love of her mother and her mother’s wishes, Abigail is faced with the decision of her life. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Find out what happens to Abigail and her family. Don’t take my word for it, solve to conflict in your own mind.