When William, in his disguise, confronts the Fiers, another witch is revealed: Matthew Fier. He curses the Fier family and they quickly begin succumbing to accidents, death, and misfortune. When he finally finds them, he disguises himself with magic, revealing that he was, in fact, a witch. William Goode, father to Susannah and husband to Martha, swears revenge on the Fiers and spends years tracking them down. This leads to the women being burned at the stake while the Fiers flee the village after robbing it blind. When Edward declines to do so, Benjamin takes matter into his own hands and accuses not only Susannah of witchcraft, but Susannah’s mother Martha as well. So when Benjamin discovers Edward is keeping company with Susannah, a girl with little to her name, he is less than happy and demands that Edward cast off Susannah. Benjamin has arranged a marriage for Edward with a girl from another town who comes from an impressive family. However, trouble begins to start when Susannah Goode’s and Edward Fier’s relationship is discovered by Fier’s father, Benjamin.īenjamin has big plans for his son, Edward, as he and his brother Matthew arrived in Wickham as poor men who built up their wealth and power over the years.

The Fiers more or less run the village while the Goodes are simple, if a little poor, villagers. The 1692 timeline serves as a setup for the beginning of the “relationship” between the Fiers and the Goodes who are two families living in Wickham Village. Once the 1692 timeline is introduced, readers spend most of the time there with little breaks back to 1900 when Nora needs a break from writing. She then sets about writing down the history of the Fears (once known as the Fiers) and the Goodes which is what leads to the 1692 timeline with Susannah Goode.

The books opens with Nora’s timeline as she watches her home burn down with family and husband inside. The books jumps back and forth between two timelines: one in 1900 which follows Nora Goode and one in 1692 which follows Susannah Goode. I didn’t pick this book up looking for scares but rather to have fun in the horror genre and because I had finished Netflix’s Fear Street saga over the summer which was inspired by R.L. Stine’s Are You Afraid of the Dark? will enjoy Stine’s classic style. This particular YA novel I would place for those around 14 years old, although anyone who grew up with R.L. Keep in mind, most will place young adult (YA) fiction as fiction for those between 12 years old and 18 years old.

Stine’s The Betrayal is a (technically) young adult fiction horror novel.

Betrayal by rl stine