The Witch by Freida McFadden | Plot Summary | Spoilers

My Readers Guide to The Witch by Frieda McFadden has my Quick Take, plus a character list, plot summary, spoilers and a Q and A! Let’s discuss this seemingly paranormal book by Freida McFadden.

The Witch by Freida McFadden | Plot Summary | Spoilers

Jen’s Quick Take on The Witch by Freida McFadden

• The Witch by Freida McFadden seems a little different than her prior books. It has a past/present timeline, with a historical timeline set in the 1690s, and a second narrative in the present.
• Both timelines feature young women living in Woodhaven, MA.
• All in all, I don’t consider this one of McFadden’s better books.
• The suspense level in the present-day narrative is low. I thought the historical narrative was far more interesting, if a bit light on historical details.
• There were some good reveals. I predicted one (as always, her small number of characters limit the options).
• My overall take: if you’re a Freida fan and want a mildly spooky story for Halloween, give it a try.
• Free on Kindle Unlimited
• Publication date: October 6, 2026. I purchased my own copy.

Character List for The Witch by Freida McFadden

Present Day

• Julia Barlow: narrator
• Mick Wheeler:  groundskeeper/housekeeper
• Leticia /Letty Barlow /Gram: Julia’s grandmother
• Ethel: Gram’s sister
• Henry Ziegler: curator of the Woodhaven Museum
• Celia Caine: Mick’s former fiancee
• Alastair Dixon: a ghost hunter

1692 Characters

• Caroline Eldridge
• Archibald “Archie” Eldridge: Caroline’s older husband
• Molly Howe: the Eldridge’s maid
• Hitty Atkins: local herbalist and healer
• Hiram and Judith: neighbors
• Dr. John Shaylor
• Jonas Reeve: suspect as The Night Reaper
• Deputy Sheriff Oliver Strickland
• Magistrate Putnam

Plot Summary for The Witch by Freida McFadden

Some chapters in The Witch are VERY short, so at times I have combined two chapters into a single entry.

Prologue 1692

Caroline reveals that every woman in her family died young. But she didn’t expect to be killed for being a witch.

Present Day:

After losing her job, Julia Barlow goes to stay at Pemberton, her grandmother’s house in Massachusetts.

Ethel and Gram tell her she’s staying in Caroline’s old room. Julia’s ancestors, Molly and Archibald, lived in the house, but before that, Archie married Caroline, who was burned at the stake as a witch. Caroline is buried in an unmarked grave in the backyard.

1692:

Caroline lies to her husband Archie and tells him she is finally pregnant. They discuss the fact that three girls have been found strangled in Woodhaven by The Night Reaper. As Caroline feeds a stray cat, Molly, her housemaid chastised her because cats are creatures of the devil. Molly also says she knows that Julia is not really pregnant.

Caroline goes to the town market, where her friend Hitty Atkins gives her a tonic to encourage conception. She also tells Caroline that she’s afraid the Reaper will get her. She buys meat from Elias Fenn, who warns her to stay away from Hitty, who is a witch. Caroline notices a stranger with long flowing hair.

Present:

Julia’s father tells her that the Woodhaven museum wants to buy the house and preserve it as a museum.

Ethel tells Julia to lock her bedroom door at night. Julia remembers that as a child, she heard the voice of a ghostly woman in the house. After that, she had a white patch of hair. That night she hears loud moaning. The next morning, Gram tells her that the moaning was Caroline, who didn’t want her decorative hair combs moved.

1692:

Caroline’s neighbor Hiram comes over to say that his wife Judith is very sick. Hiram asks Caroline to get the doctor, but she decides to talk to Hitty instead. Molly tries to discourage her, saying that Hitty is a witch. At the market, Caroline can’t find Hitty. By the time Caroline returns, Molly already summoned the doctor for Judith.

Present:

Mick tells Julia that the grandfather clock stops every night at 3:41. And his watch does at well. Julia goes to the Woodhaven Museum and meet with the curator, Henry Ziegler, who invites her to dinner to discuss Pemberton. He is about to tell her how Caroline died, but then the chapter ends.

1692:

Dr. Shaylor wants to do a bloodletting, despite Caroline’s objections. But when Judith has some kind of a seizure, the doctor says Judith must be possessed by the devil. He leaves, and Caroline brings Judith’s fever down with compresses.

Caroline walks home through the woods and encounters a cloaked figure. It’s Archie, who tells her the authorities charged Hitty with witchcraft.

Present:

Ethel and Gram tell her that the lights in the house flicker frequently, which Ethel says is Caroline. 

That night Julia hears a woman crying.  She also sees a strange glow coming from the attic, but can’t open the locked door.

1692:

Judith is recovering. Molly asks Caroline if she will attend Hitty’s hanging. Caroline insists that HItty is innocent.

Caroline goes to the jail to advocate for Hitty. She sees the man with long hair being led through the square in shackles. The sheriff tells her he is Jonas Reeve, suspected of being the Night Reaper.

Present:

Julia searches for the key to the attic, and tries to get Gram (who suffers from mild dementia) to loan her copy. Henry arrives to take her to dinner. Henry argues that selling by Pemberton to him, Julia can put Gram in assisted living. They discuss witchcraft accusations and how the girls suffered “fits” that could have been self-induced.

1692:

Caroline learns that Jonas Reeve allegedly murdered a woman named Leonora Row. Archie wants to attend Hitty’s hanging and Caroline reluctantly agrees. Caroline tries to defend Hitty to the crowd. Molly tells Archie that Caroline isn’t really pregnant. Caroline is arrested as a witch and put in jail with Jonas Reeve.

Present:

Henry tells Julia that Caroline was burned, not hanged. Julia insists that Caroline haunts the house, and that there are strange noises and lights in the attic of Pemberton. She wants him to dig up Caroline’s grave, and then downloads a ghost hunter app on her phone. Julia finally gets the attic key from Gram.

Julia goes into the attic. Her ghostbuster app seems useless. She finds a peacock blue dress and two letters from Ethel to her mother that were never mailed. But one is unsealed and Julia reads it. In the letter, Ethel tells her mother that her fiancé died in Vietnam and that she’s pregnant.  The sisters have a maid, Celia, the fiancee of Mick. The next night Julia sees a noose hanging rom a tree and a handprint on the window.

1692:

Reeve tells Caroline she’s going to be hanged. They strip her naked and search her body for a devil’s mark. Jonas is digging into the floor of his cell in an attempt to escape.

Present:

Julia runs into Henry at a local coffee shop. Just then, Alastair Dixon, ghost hunter, shows up. Apparently Julia called him for help.  

Ethel agrees to let Alastair come to the house, which has a huge electromagnetic field. He says they are making Caroline angry, and installs an EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) recorder.

1692:

Deputy Strickland brings Caroline a dress and makes her change in front of him. Jonas tries to defend her but Strickland beats him unconscious. 

Caroline’s trial begins. Before she heads to court, Jonas tells her that Hitty talked to him about Caroline. In court, Caroline sees Molly wearing her peacock blue dress. Witnesses tell outlandish and false stories about Caroline’s alleged witchcraft.  Molly testifies, giving eyewitness accounts of Caroline consorting with the devil. Archie refuses to speak on his wife’s behalf. 

Present:

Julia finds Gram in the yard holding a bone.  Did Caroline tell Gram to dig her body up?

Julia brings the pelvis bone to the museum. Henry is horrified but agrees to send the bone to a friend in Boston for analysis. Julia then moves out of Caroline’s room. She decides to open the second letter that Ethel wrote. Based on the date of this letter and the timing of Ethel’s pregnancy, Ethel must be her biological grandmother. 

Julia realizes there’s a person who should know: Mick. She goes out to the gardening shed to talk to him and sees two small footprints. Mick says he sometimes hears Caroline in the shed. Mick denies knowing anyone named Celia.

1692:

Caroline denies all the accusations. Deputy Strickland offers to show the court the devil’s mark on her arm. He says he will prove to the court that she does not bleed, but pokes her with a dull needle. She’s sentenced to death by hanging.

Present:

Henry calls and says he will have the bone analysis results the next day. He also invites Julia to dinner. Alastair is coming to pick up his EVP recorder, and will have the results analyzed in a week. He thinks there’s something off about the painting of Archie and Molly.

At dinner, Henry offers to help Julia locate Celia. He also thinks Julia should take a DNA test. Henry teaches Julia the foxtrot and she decides she likes him.  When Julia gets home, she steps on one of Caroline’s hair combs, which was on the floor. She then sneaks into Ethel’s room for a hair samples. 

1692:

On the morning of Julia’s execution, Jonas tells her that Hetty said Julia was a witch. As Deputy Strickland comes in with food, Jonas starts having a seizure. When Strickland unlocks his cell, Jonas knocks him unconscious. Jonas tells Caroline that they must burn down the jail and flee so that everyone thinks they died.  They set the jail on fire with Strickland still inside.

Present:

Julia goes over to the museum to talk to Henry. She’s told that Henry worked there in the 1950s but died in a fire, but Henry’s colleagues are pranking her. Henry says the pelvis she found belongs to a man. He also says that Celia Caine had a criminal record for theft before working at Pemberton. When Julia gets home, her room has been searched. 

1692:

Jonas and Caroline flee through the woods. He says he is not a killer, but found Leonora’s body. He suggests Caroline to go her home to try to get some money or jewels.

Present:

Julia can’t find Celia Caine. She asks Gram about her, and Gram becomes very agitated and says that she can’t talk about her. Alastair calls and says there’s something on the tape she needs to hear in person. That night she sees a light in the shed and hears someone outside her bedroom door.  She opens the door to see muddy footprints. 

1692:

Caroline sneaks into the house and starts to break into Archie‘s desk. She hears a woman’s screen. She finds Archie strangling Molly, who is visibly pregnant. Archie is the Night Reaper. (THAT’S why she bumped into him skulking around the woods in a hooded cloak!)

Present:

Alistair Dixon shows up at the door. He plays part of his tape which includes a voice saying “Celia.”  Ethel accuses Julia of calling adult protective services to report Gram, while Julia denies it. Ethel throws Julia out of the house.

Henry calls and confesses to alerting APS. Julia tells him she is leaving Pemberton. On her way out, she decides she has to put the bone back. She sees writing on the wall that says “Julia get out now.” She goes to the backyard with a flashlight, digs a hole, and puts the bone back. When she checks her phone, she sees that Henry left her frantic messages.

Julia calls Henry back. He says Ethel isn’t her grandmother and she isn’t related to Julia at all.  Just as she loses phone service, Ethel appears and says, “I really wish you hadn’t found Ethel.”

Spoilers for The Witch and the Ending Explained

The woman Julia knew as Ethel is actually Celia. Celia smothered Ethel after she gave birth to Julia’s father, then and told Letty that Ethel died in childbirth. Then she engineered “Ethel’s” falling out with Letty and Ethel’s parents so that they wouldn’t expose her. Pemberton isn’t haunted. Mick shows up and confesses to staging all of the spooky goings on in the house. Celia shoots Mick.

1692:

Caroline is shocked. Archie explains that he killed his first wife, which is why he couldn’t kill Caroline. But he satisfied his killer urges with other women. When Molly turned up pregnant, he knew he had to murder her as well. Archie says he will tell everyone that Caroline killed Molly and when she says that makes no sense he says he’ll kill her. He starts to strangle her.

Present:

Julia is in shock. Celia tells Julia that they have to bury Mick and keeps a gun pointed at her while she digs. Julia tells Celia that Henry knows everything.

Celia’s plan: kill Julia and stage her disappearance. Julia manages to get away and run to the house, but Celia locked the door. Celia is about to shoot Julia when all of a sudden Gram shows up and hits Celia with a shovel.

1692:

Archie strangles Caroline, but Jonas shoots him. Caroline wants to call the police butt Jonas says no one will believe them. Jonas suggests that maybe everyone will believe that Archie and Molly left town after Caroline’s conviction. They should bury Archie and Molly and then assume their identities in a new town.

Present:

Henry had already called the police, who arrest Celia. Gram says that she saw Celia shoot Mick. She swears that her Ethel told her to go outside and get the shovel.

1692:

Jonas buries Archie and Molly’s bodies and then proposes to Caroline.

Epilogue:

Caroline Eldridge finally has a grave next to Archibald and Molly. Henry is convinced that Celia and Mick were the ones who staged the haunting, but Julia wonders if Ethel was whispering to them. Celia was found guilty of murder and sent to prison. They found Ethel’s body and held a funeral for her. Julia’s father got power of attorney over Celia’s estate and the museum purchased Pemberton. When looking for Ethel, they found a man’s skeleton buried with Caroline and are not sure who he was.

1717:

After twenty-five years Jonas and Caroline a.k.a. Archie and Molly do return to Pemberton with a portrait they had painted.

Questions and Answers