The Witch

Freida McFadden, the best-selling author of psychological thrillers like The Housemaid (2022), blends domestic suspense with historical fiction in her 2026 novel, The Witch. The story follows 27-year-old Julia Barlow, who, after losing her job and apartment, moves into Pemberton, her family’s ancestral home in Massachusetts. Haunted by a terrifying childhood experience in the house, Julia’s fears are reignited by a series of strange occurrences that suggest that the estate is haunted by Caroline Eldridge, an ancestor accused of witchcraft in 1692. The narrative alternates between Julia’s investigation in the present day and the tragic story of Caroline’s life in the 17th century, forcing Julia to uncover dark secrets that connect the past and present.

Through its dual timelines, the novel explores The Endurance of Patriarchal Oppression Across History, contrasting the overt persecution of women during the witch trials with modern-day betrayals. The story also investigates Respectability as a Shield for Corruption, suggesting that true evil often hides behind a facade of social respectability. Ultimately, Julia’s search for answers becomes an excavation of The Cyclical Nature of Family Trauma and Secrets, as the protagonist reckons with a violent, buried history. Published in 2026, The Witch was McFadden’s first major hardback release in the UK. McFadden’s novel The Housemaid won the 2023 International Thriller Writers Award for Best Paperback Original Novel, and its sequel, The Housemaid’s Secret (2023), won the 2023 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Mystery & Thriller.

This guide refers to the 2026 Poisoned Pen Press edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, graphic violence, sexual violence and harassment, rape, physical abuse, emotional abuse, gender discrimination, and illness.

Plot Summary

Recently laid off and no longer able to afford her apartment, 27-year-old Julia Barlow moves into Pemberton, the 17th-century Massachusetts estate of her grandmother Letitia “Letty” Barlow. Julia is deeply concerned about her grandmother’s deteriorating memory and the neglected state of the house, which is also occupied by Letty’s sister, Ethel Eldridge, and a frail groundskeeper, Mick Wheeler. As a child, Julia experienced a terrifying incident at Pemberton, where a ghostly voice whispered “See…” in her ear, causing a patch of her hair to turn permanently white. She still finds the house unnerving, seeing an unexplained peacock-blue flash in the attic window as she arrives. Ethel is inexplicably hostile, warning Julia to lock her door at night, while Letty is perpetually confused, showing early symptoms of dementia. 

The story alternates with a narrative from 1692, following Caroline Eldridge, the former mistress of Pemberton. Married to wealthy merchant Archibald “Archie” Eldridge, Caroline is desperate to conceive a child. She lies to her husband about being pregnant after he has a prophetic dream of them having a son. Only their resentful servant, Molly Howe, knows about Caroline’s deception. Caroline befriends Hitty Atkins, a local herbalist whom many townspeople suspect of witchcraft, while a serial killer dubbed the “Night Reaper” stalks the women of their town, Woodhaven.

In the present, Julia’s unease grows as she experiences escalating paranormal phenomena: a grandfather clock that stops at 3:41 am each night, the disembodied sounds of a woman moaning and crying, and inexplicable cold spots in her bedroom. Letty claims that these events were caused by the ghost of Caroline, who was burned at the stake for witchcraft and buried in an unmarked grave in the backyard. She suggests that Caroline’s ghost is angry because Julia moved the coral-blue combs that once belonged to her. Julia’s father informs her that the Woodhaven Museum, represented by its charming curator, Henry Ziegler, has made a generous offer to purchase and preserve Pemberton. Ethel is fiercely opposed, claiming that it will disturb Caroline’s angry spirit. 

In 1692, Hitty Atkins is arrested and hanged for witchcraft, despite Caroline’s attempts to defend her. Soon after, Archie angrily confronts Caroline after Molly tells him about the faked pregnancy, and Caroline is arrested for witchcraft due to her friendship with Hitty. She’s imprisoned in the jailhouse cellar with Jonas Reeve, the man accused of being the Night Reaper. 

In the present, Julia investigates the attic and discovers unmailed letters written by Ethel decades ago. They reveal that Ethel was pregnant by a soldier killed in Vietnam and that her parents disowned her. Ethel’s letters recount how Pemberton’s housekeeper, Celia Caine, who was engaged to the groundskeeper, Mick, supported her during this difficult time. They also suggest that Ethel, not Letty, is the biological mother of Julia’s father. 

After seeing a noose mysteriously appear and then vanish from a tree in the yard, Julia hires a ghost hunter, Alistair Dixon. Dixon claims that there is a powerful spiritual presence at Pemberton and leaves recording equipment beneath a portrait of Archibald Eldridge and his third wife, Molly. The situation intensifies when Letty digs up a human pelvic bone in the yard. Believing it to be Caroline’s, Julia secretly takes it to Henry, whom she’s now dating, for analysis. Determined to find out if Ethel is her true biological grandmother, she also gives him strands of Ethel’s hair for DNA testing. 

In the 1692 timeline, Deputy Oliver Strickland sexually harasses Caroline during a search for a “witch’s teat” and nearly assaults her. Jonas Reeve intervenes by throwing a bowl at Strickland’s head, and the deputy retaliates by beating him unconscious. At Caroline’s trial, many of the townspeople give false testimony against her, providing “evidence” that she’s a witch. Molly Howe, now pregnant and wearing Caroline’s peacock-blue dress, testifies that she has seen her former mistress consorting with the devil. Archie refuses to defend Caroline’s character, and she’s found guilty of witchcraft and sentenced to death. Later, in the jailhouse cellar, Jonas claims that Caroline has bewitched him and fakes a seizure. When Strickland enters his cell, Jonas knocks him unconscious, grabs his keys, and frees them. As they make their escape, he sets fire to the jailhouse so that the authorities will believe they died in the fire. Caroline is skeptical when Jonas claims that he isn’t the Night Reaper, but she agrees to run away with him, seeing no other alternative.

Jonas and Caroline return to Pemberton to steal money. There, Caroline hears screams and discovers Archie strangling Molly. Archie confesses to being the Night Reaper, having murdered his first wife and several other women. He then attacks Caroline, but Jonas intervenes and shoots him dead. Jonas reveals his plan: They will bury Archie and Molly in the backyard, assume their identities, and flee Woodhaven to start a new life together. Caroline, realizing that it’s her only chance at survival, agrees.

Back in the present, Dixon plays the recording captured by his equipment: a voice whispering the name Celia. Furious, Ethel claims that Dixon is a charlatan and orders Julia to leave Pemberton. That night, Julia packs her things and then goes to the backyard to rebury the bone. As she does so, Henry calls with the test results. The 300-year-old pelvic bone belongs to an unknown man, and the DNA test on Ethel’s hair sample reveals that she isn’t related to Julia or Letty. Immediately after the call, Julia is confronted by Ethel and Mick. Mick calls Ethel “Celia,” confirming that she is Pemberton’s former housekeeper, Celia Caine. Celia confesses that she murdered Letty’s sister after she gave birth to Julia’s father. She then told a grief-stricken Letty that her sister had died in childbirth and convinced her to go along with a deception. Letty agreed to pretend that the child was hers and help bury Ethel’s body, believing she was protecting her late sister’s reputation. Meanwhile, Celia assumed Ethel’s identity. Celia and Mick orchestrated Pemberton’s “haunting” to scare Julia away and prevent the sale of Pemberton, which would have unearthed Ethel’s remains. 

Celia shoots and kills Mick, believing that he betrayed her by planting Ethel’s letters where Julia would find them and manipulating Dixon’s recording to include her name. She forces Julia into the grave she dug, but just as she’s about to shoot, Letty appears and knocks Celia unconscious with the shovel. The police, alerted by a worried Henry, arrive and arrest Celia. Lucid for the first time in weeks, Letty claims that the real Ethel’s spirit woke her and urged her to save Julia. 

In 1717, 25 years after their escape, Caroline and Jonas return to Pemberton as Molly and Archibald Eldridge after raising a family together. They hang a new portrait of themselves, cementing their new identities and legacy. 

In the present, a year after the novel’s main events, Julia and Henry are living together. Pemberton has been sold to the museum, and Julia manages the property. Celia is in prison for killing Ethel and Mick, while Letty has moved to an assisted-living facility. The police investigation uncovered three skeletons in Pemberton’s yard: Ethel and the 300-year-old bodies of a man and a woman. No one suspects that the older remains belong to Molly Howe and Archie Eldridge. The dead woman was incorrectly identified as Caroline Eldridge and reburied in the town cemetery with a memorial gravestone. The man’s identity remains a mystery.