The Hangman’s Daughter (Extra book)

The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzsch was written in Germany and translated into English.  The book is set in the mid-1600s in Germany which tells the story of a series of children found murdered with marks on their bodies and the local midwife is blamed as the murderer because they believe she is a witch.  In the book, we learn about the life of the professional hangman (what he does, and how he makes a living), living life in a small town, and the “justice system” of the day, which seeks to punish the woman, though there is little evidence to hold her accountable for the murders.  The lead character is the hangman (Jacob Kuisi), who works to ensure the midwife gets a fair trial, though the aldermen just want to have someone to blame so that they can reduce the growing fear in the community.  There are a number of scenes where Jacob is attempting to make his case, scenes where Jacob is asked to force a confession from the innocent woman (even with her being brutalized to say she is guilty, she does not buckle under the severe pain).  It is a very cyclical story that is slow paced and rather boring at times.  While the early premise gets the reader excited for “the secret murderer,” it never really meets the intended goal of keeping the reader in suspense, it just becomes a “blah story”…  I was not a huge fan of this one, sorry!