Alice Molland

So the story opens in 1656 with the execution of a woman who has been accused of witchcraft.

And one of the people in the crowd that is watching this execution happen is 10-year-old Alice Molland.

And this woman's name is Gudi Luscombe, and she had been a mentor to Alice.

So there's Alice being forced to watch one of her favorite people in the world be executed.

Like, you know, I, I went into it and I kind of knew where we were going, but I was like, oh gosh, maybe, maybe she'll, she'll be okay and nothing will be that bad.

But unfortunately, obviously we kind of, we know that that's not the case, but, um, I guess to give everyone a little bit of context as well, I think people will notice, of course, if they pick up the book, that Alice's last name is also Molland, which is your last name.

And so fascinatingly, when you were younger and doing some research and some reading, you stumbled upon Alice Molland's name in a text and then kind of wound up coming to find out that she was more than likely anyway, and I think confirmed now, correct me if I'm wrong, she's your ancestor.

Yeah.

I thought this was fascinating.

As Judy was researching, I think certain things about like the witch trials in England at the time, she discovered that more than likely her ancestor, Alice Molland is one of the final people to be executed in after being accused of witchcraft in the 17th century.

And she obviously became fascinated with it.

And she wrote a historical fiction novel about Alice and her life and everything that she kind of dealt with from the time that she was a child and began witnessing these sorts of things happening and these and women being accused of witchcraft at this time and how she had to, kind of hide herself and her talents that she had for things and was ultimately persecuted for really just wanting to help people because she couldn't really stop herself from wanting to help people anyway.