The Witches of Cambridge

In the fall, the Lilith Society initiates two new members—Hailey, a legacy; and Cleo, who grew up on a horse farm in Connecticut practicing magic as she pleased and whose supportive, magical parents discouraged her from joining the Lilith Society. Ava continues working at a café, while Lauren stays on at the Peabody Museum but moves from leading tours to selling tickets, which gives her free hours to wander the museum or write in her grimoire. Lauren is dismissive of Maureen Healy, whom she considers an outsider because she does not belong to the Society despite her magical ability, though Ava defends their friend and accuses Lauren of snobbery. Lauren has spent the summer exploring dark magic, performing a spell to seal her heart that causes flowers to wilt at her touch. In a Shakespeare seminar, her intense reading of Macbeth and her resentment of the era’s academic sexism fuel her turn toward the left-handed (or crooked) path.

When words she has written in her grimoire appear on her skin and begin to fade, Lauren—fearing their disappearance—decides to have them permanently tattooed. She finds a reclusive artist in Central Square named Carrick, whom locals call Goliath due to his height, despite his gentle, introverted personality. He is intrigued by her and agrees to tattoo the word “conjure” over her heart. He works slowly to ensure she will return. They begin a physical relationship, and Lauren discovers that he has tattooed the letter “L” on his arm. Believing the connection is a weakness, she gives him a banishing spell to perform. He secretly keeps the candle, and after she leaves, completes the word he had begun with “L.”

Ava wonders why she hasn’t heard from Jamie now that the school year has begun. She finds him at a dive bar and confronts him, asking why he hasn’t sought her out. They go on a walk together, and Jaimie finds a discarded newspaper and folds another paper crow, explaining that his mother taught him how to do it. Though the men in his family try to bully him into following in their conservative footsteps, his mother encourages him to be true to himself. He tells her a story his mother told him, about a crow who fell in love with a human woman. He became a man, and for a time they were happy, but soon his crow nature reasserted itself, and he flew away. When he returned, back in his crow form, he couldn’t speak, and she didn’t recognize him. The crow turned white from grief, and the woman died by suicide, hanging herself from the same tree in which the crow had once roosted. Jamie speculates that his mother told him this story to impress upon him that “love is complicated,” but that this doesn’t mean it isn’t worth the potential pain. He and Ava share a kiss and reconcile. After they part, Ava goes to the library, believing that the uncatalogued manuscript she found before was a message and hoping to find another one.

The narrator is the same young woman who was rescued from Bridewell Prison by Maria Mather in the previous Interlude. She soon discovers that her mistress, who goes by “May,” also has a suppressed magical nature. They travel to Salem during the height of the witch trials to witness the execution of Reverend George Burroughs, which is based on spectral evidence—that is, flimsy testimony about paranormal events supposedly connected with the accused. On the journey, Increase’s son, Cotton Mather, makes an unwanted advance, and the narrator bites his hand. Disturbed by the injustice against the innocent George Burroughs and fearing for her mistress, the narrator devises a plan. She plants the idea among the other servants that May Mather is a witch, waits for the gossip to take hold, then tells the Reverend that his wife is under suspicion, using those pre-existing rumors as leverage. Fearing for his beloved wife’s safety, Increase Mather publicly denounces the use of spectral evidence, delivering a sermon that helps turn the tide against the witch hunt. Two years later, the narrator leaves the Mathers’ service. May Mather tells her that she will miss her like a daughter and gives her a substantial amount of money as a parting gift. She renames herself Rose Bridewell, uses the money May gave her to buy land in Cambridge, and establishes a safe community for other outcast women accused of witchcraft.

As Senator McCarthy’s anti-communist “witch hunts” continue, Lauren becomes infatuated with a professor, Eugene Sharpe, who teaches Anthropology of Magic. When he invites Lauren and several other female students to view artifacts up close—a privilege not normally afforded to female students—he conjures a brief flame from his hand. While the other students believe this is a magic trick, Lauren recognizes it as genuine magic. She also spots a ring on his finger that signals his affiliation with the Crooked Path. Another Lilith Society member, Ashton, is also romantically interested in the professor, and Lauren promises Ashton that she is not interested while secretly wearing magical perfumes to attract his attention. Meanwhile, a new, magical tattoo appears on her shoulder: the same letter L that Carrick tattooed on himself. Believing this is a message, she sends a magical reply to Carrick’s doorstep—the word “NEVER.” However, Carrick immediately pours ink over the first letter of the message, revealing what he interprets as the true message hidden within it: “EVER.”

Ava returns to the Divinity School library and finds another letter from the Lilith Society founder hidden inside a 17th-century cookbook.

The narrator visits her former mistress, May Mather, revealing that May’s son Cotton secretly possesses the magical inheritance he despises and punishes himself for it. To ensure the safety of the women’s community she has built, the narrator asks May to have her powerful husband appoint a constable who will protect witches. May knows such a man—her cousin from England—and promises to contact him; not long afterward, Amadis Grey is appointed to the post.

When Amadis meets the narrator, they immediately fall in love. He is the son of a woman skilled in magic, and he respects the narrator’s magic. They begin a life together, and the narrator becomes pregnant, but their happiness is shattered when Amadis reveals that he has a congenital heart defect and will die young. Unwilling to have her watch him decline, Amadis decides to return to England to die. After his departure, the heartbroken narrator finds a gold ring he left for her. She slips it on her finger, considering herself married to him.

At Christmas, Jamie Mather brings Ava to his family’s estate in Sudbury. The visit is fraught with tension. Jamie’s brothers, Brent and Sawyer, and his father, Paul Mather, are openly hostile. During the uncomfortable dinner, Ava becomes so angry at Brent’s mockery that she unconsciously uses magic to shatter a wineglass in his hand. Later, Jamie’s mother, Louise Mather, confides in Ava, admitting that she knows both Ava and Jamie are “magic” and warns that her husband will never accept their relationship. In the library, snooping during the after-dinner poker game, Ava finds a family history book containing a letter from Cotton Mather reading, “I have taken care of Rose Bridewell. There will be no more magic” (198). Recognizing the evil in it, she leaves the letter where it is. That night, Jamie and Ava sleep together. The next morning, Ava overhears Paul telling Louise he will do whatever it takes to separate Jamie from Ava. The overheard conversation reveals that Paul himself was born with the magical inheritance but has suppressed it. Ava also learns that they have known of Jamie’s magic since he was an infant and could not be drowned. As they depart, Louise waves a tearful goodbye while Paul watches menacingly from a window.

At the Lilith Society’s end-of-year dinner in spring 1952, Ashton, a graduating senior, is missing. The members cannot locate her with magic, as a stronger power seems to be blocking their efforts. They call the police, and Detective Billy Healy, Maureen Healy’s brother, is assigned the case. Lauren Bell is hostile toward him, but Ava confides her suspicion that Ashton was in love with the wrong person. The name “Lauren Bell” unnerves Billy, triggering a memory of his past romantic encounter with Lionel Bell, who he does not know is Lauren’s brother. Fearing another witch hunt, the society institutes new safety rules.

Disturbed, Lauren seeks out the tattoo artist Carrick, who reveals that it was Jamie Mather specifically whose father had him followed by a private detective, resulting in the drug arrest that sent Carrick to jail and led indirectly to his brother Frankie’s death. This news hardens Lauren’s resolve to protect Ava from Jamie, who she believes is bad for her. Meanwhile, Ava waits for Jamie, with whom she has planned to spend the summer. She ties ribbons and keys to a tree to call him to her. Jamie arrives late, explaining he was fighting with his family. He gives Lauren a note for Ava, asking her to meet him so they can run away together. Convinced that any Mather will only bring Ava pain, Lauren tears up the note after he leaves.