How does "The First Witch of Boston" by Andrea Catalano end? Have you finished reading "The First Witch of Boston" and desperately need to discuss it? Or maybe you've read it, but can't remember how "The First Witch of Boston" ends, or do you want to skip ahead to discover all the spoilers? Need a refresher on "The First Witch of Boston" before heading off to book club tonight? Keep reading to discuss this historical fiction novel and all the twists and turns at the end!
How Did "The First Witch of Boston" by Andrea Catalano End?
What Are the Twists and Spoilers?
Goody Longfellow shares the story of Lady Wembly
Goody Longfellow, aka Widow Hallett, tells the court about Lady Wembly and Maggie. While in London, Maggie had given Lady Wembly a drug for depression, but the Lady was using more than she should. When Maggie told Lady Wembly that she would no longer give her the drug, Lady Wembly threatened to have her arrested. Stuck in that spot, Maggie continued to give her the drugs. Ultimately, while under the influence of that drug, Lady Wembly killed her husband Lord Wembly. Meanwhile, the real issue causing the depression and anger was that Lord Wembly had his fifteen-year-old mistress living in their house.
Maggie is accused of "seeing secrets"
More women testify about Maggie's "witchcraft". Maggie is accused of seeing secrets, because when Maggie was delivering ababy, she made a joke because of the dark curly hair that the woman had had an affair. Come to find out, she likely did and her husband is seeking to divorce her. The mother in law then stands against Maggie in the trial, saying that she could only know what she did if she were a witch. There are also claims presented that Maggie would know that someone was pregnant before they knew themselves. Maggie states that she knows this not because she is a witch but because she is familiar with what women look like in the early stages of pregnancy.
Maggie's body is inspected
Three women come to inspect Maggie's body to check for signs of witchery. They have a magnifying glass and strip all of Maggie's clothes off. The women find a birthmark on Maggie's inner thigh and decide it is a "devil's teat." Maggie lets them know it is a birthmark she has had her entire life. One of the women responds that that means the Devil chose her before birth. They use a "witch pricker", a needle, claiming that if they poke her birthmark and it bleeds, then it is not a devil's mark. She is "pricked" but feels no pain, and there is no blood coming from the birthmark. Maggie realizes that they did not really stab her with the needle, and that is why it did not bleed.
Maggie is visited by a Constable and Bess
They then have a Constable watch Maggie overnight. Maggie is not allowed to sleep while they wait to see if "the veil in the shape of an animal" will visit her in the night. In the night, she begins talking to the Constable. He shares with Maggie that he lost two sons to the pox and can not talk about them. The constable asks about her daughter, and Maggie shares about Bess, talking about her in the present tense. Maggie has a fever at this point, and reality continues to slip away from her. Maggie's conversation with the Constable about their children is touching and kind. However, it takes a turn as Maggie's fever worsens and she becomes convinced that Bess is hiding under her skirt. She asks the Constable if he can see Bess, insisting that she is in the room with them. Maggie insists that Bess ran out of the room. The Constable gets up to see if there is any truth to this, and startles a maid in the jail. The maid begins to have a seizure, and the constable reports "the devil took hold of her". Afterwards, Maggie's cat, Molly, appears in the jail cell as well. Both of these don't bode well for Maggie's not being a witch in their eyes.
Maggie is frustrated and lashes out
At this point, Maggie knows she is going to be executed and stops participating in the theater of her trial. "I knew there was no hope for me. What was left for me? Nothing was left but to make them all aware of their folly, their crime." When the woman states that Maggie has a "devil's teat" on her inner thigh and that, according to her, it looked " recently sucked on," Maggie shouts out that it was "these men seated before us". There is a large outburst from the crowd after this comment, and the Constable turns to her, telling her that if she does not stop provoking the audience, he will make her regret it tonight, seeming to threaten that he will rape her.
The court adjourns, and the judges leave to decide Maggie's punishment - it is clear what they have already decided. Thomas sees Maggie being mishandled by the Constable. Thomas puts his hands around the Constable's throat and threatens him. The Constable says that Thomas will have to stand before the court as well for putting his hands on a constable, but Maggie intervenes, calming Thomas. Thomas notices then that Maggie has a fever, and her behavior makes more sense.
The verdict is then announced as guilty. When Maggie is taken back to her holding cell, the Constable begins to get undressed with plans to rape her, but is stopped by Governor Bellingham. Governor Bellingham then fires the Constable and arrests him. He is put into the stocks for the night. Bellingham apologizes to Maggie, but she tells him to save his false pity, considering he wouldn't support her in testimony.
Thomas visits Maggie
Bellingham states that his wife requested that he allow Thomas and Maggie to have one last night together before she is executed. Thomas comes to Maggie's cell. Thomas expresses anger and regret about leaving London, and then not leaving Boston as soon as people started making comments about Maggie being a "cunning woman," as it is one step away from being called a witch. Thomas confesses to Maggie that he slept with Widow Hallett, aka Goody Longfellow. From this, Maggie deduces that Hallett's pregnancy is not her new husband's but actually Thomas's child. Maggie confesses to Thomas about her being raped as a child.
As dawn approaches, Maggie asks Thomas to leave Boston and make a new life for himself. Maggie asks Thomas to burn her hope chest. She had written a letter and hidden it in the chest, but she did not want him to find it, so she asked him to burn the chest. Thomas agrees.
Before she is executed, they ask her to confess - to confess that she is guilty of witchcraft. She refuses to confess to that but feels bad for the parishioners who came with good intentions, hoping that she would confess. She confesses instead to stealing some ribbon as a young girl, but explains that she had already confessed to Christ and was forgiven of that sin. At the end, they asked to pray for her soul.
Goody Longfellow visits Maggie before she is executed
Goody Longfellow, of all people, next decides to visit Maggie. She has come to make sure that Maggie knows before she dies that she is pregnant with Maggie's husband's child. Longfellow seems to suggest that she plans to pursue Thomas after Maggie is executed. She also tells Maggie that she knew about their flight from London because Lady Wembly is Goody Longfellow's great aunt. Maggie shows Longfellow the small puppet she found of herself that belonged to Longfellow. Maggie tells her that she knows about Longfellow's use of dark arts; she is actually the one who "works with the Devil".
Maggie is executed, and Thomas finds her letter
Maggie is hanged for her execution. She looks up before her hanging to see how the rope is set up, and realizes what she did wrong when she tried to commit suicide at 15. There is a storm that the townspeople assign to the Devil and witchcraft, of course. Alice, their neighbor and friend, yells that Maggie is innocent.
We flash back to Thomas in present day. He did not destroy the chest and is reading through Maggie's journals. Thomas finds the paper that provoked Maggie to ask him to burn the chest. The letter is dated the day of her arrest. In the letter, Maggie states that she became pregnant after being raped at 15. She did not want an abortion, and instead gave birth, nursed her baby, and then her grandmother took the baby away. Maggie was incredibly sad after the birth, and she tried to commit suicide. Maggie says that her daughter was given to a family with the last name of Wells. Thomas is crushed that she felt she had to keep this secret from him, and decides to find Maggie's daughter.
Thomas finds Constance
There is a time jump forward of two years. Thomas is now back in England visiting. After Maggie's execution, Thomas left Massachusetts and moved to Maryland. He is still close with their neighbors, Alice and Samuel. Alice was accused of witchcraft after defending Maggie, but was found not guilty. Six months after Thomas left Massachusetts, Goody Longfellow died, along with her child, while she was giving birth. Her husband, Reverand Longfellow, committed suicide shortly thereafter. Thomas feels satisfied that in the end, Goody Longfellow's evil deeds caught up with her.
Thomas is in England to visit the Wells' farm and try to find Maggie's daughter. When he arrives at the farm, he stumbles onto a gardener. When the gardener turns around, Thomas is struck by how much she looks like his wife and also his deceased daughter. Thomas tells the girl that he knew her mother. The girl, Constance, was told that her biological mother died giving birth to her. Thomas explains to her the truth, that Maggie did not die at that time, and that Thomas was married to her. Thomas tells Constance the whole story, including that Maggie was hanged for witchcraft, though innocent.
Constance tells Thomas that her adoptive parents have forbade her from getting married. They instead use her as a hand around the farm because she "owes them". Thomas invites Constance to come back to Maryland with him. She declines. Thomas then gives her a large amount of money and tells her to leave the farm with it. Thomas leaves to head back to Maryland. When he arrives at the boat he is greeted by Molly, Maggie's cat.
Constance changes her mind and arrives at the boat asking to sail home with him to Maryland. When the captain asks Thomas who the young girls is he answers that she is his daughter.
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