The Witch by Freida McFadden: Summary and Ending Explained (Spoilers)

All in all, I thought it was a good mystery! I was curious what was going to happen and was even surprised at parts. It’s not a perfect read, and there are some narrative choices that don’t make sense. But all in all, it’s a breezy and easy read.

Let’s take a closer look at the summary and then the ending.

Summary

Julia loses her job and apartment in New York and decides to help her aging grandmother (Letty) at her sprawling estate in Massachusetts. Pemberton was home to good memories for Julia until a potential encounter with a ghost as a child made her scared to return.

But she has no other options, and of course, she wants to be there for her grandmother, so back to Pemberton she goes. Living there is also her great-aunt Ethel, who was estranged from the family, so Julia never got to know her. And also Mick, the long-time groundskeeper.

Curator Henry wants to turn Pemberton into a museum, which does interest Julia and her parents. After all, her grandmother has dementia and is too ill to live there on her own. But Ethel is determined not to sell the house, even though she has no rights to it.

Ethel and her grandmother warn Julia that the house is haunted by a ghost. They believe it’s Caroline who lived in the house in the 1600s, but was accused of witchcraft and was murdered as a result.

Julia does hear strange things in the night that do sound like a ghost.

There’s also the second timeline where we follow Caroline from her somewhat decent life married to Archibald and living in Pemberton to eventually being accused of being a witch.

The Ending

So it seems there is no actual ghost, as it turns out Ethel is lying. She is actually Celia, who killed the real Ethel after she gave birth to Julia’s father. She kills her in order to steal her identity and take over her seemingly privileged life. Mick is her fiancé who helped her cover up everything.

All is revealed, and Celia then, for some reason, kills Mick. Was he getting too old to be useful? Who knows. When Celia goes to kill Julia, her grandmother saves her. Celia goes to jail, and the family sells Pemberton so it will become a museum. Julia will work there and also finds love with the curator, Henry.

Caroline’s story actually ends up on a happy note. While accused of witchcraft and in jail awaiting her fate, her jail mate Jonas (who is falsely accused of being the Night Reaper) helps her escape and burns the jail to the ground.

They plot to leave the town, but Caroline first goes back to her home to retrieve money and things to sell. There, she discovers her husband has killed his mistress, Molly, and it turns out he’s the real Night Reaper. He goes to murder Caroline, but Jonas saves her.

Jonas realizes they can’t go by their own names anymore, and he convinces her they must take on Archibald and Molly’s names. Eventually the two marry, have children, and do fall in love.

After their children are grown, they move back to Pemberton. But no one will ever know their true story.

Are the Ghosts Real?

So I didn’t think Caroline was really the ghost and figured something more was going on. And yes, we do learn that Caroline is definitely not haunting the place, and it’s revealed that Celia and Mick are tricking Julia.

But there are certain small hints that perhaps Ethel is trying to communicate from beyond the grave that Celia is a fraud. So maybe she is the ghost?

I think the author is trying to give it a bit of a supernatural element, especially with the book publishing in early October. So I actually believe the author’s intention is that Ethel was trying to finally get justice after Celia murdered her.

But what do you think, was the real Ethel a ghost? If she is a ghost, is she done now that Celia is in jail? How does that work?

Letty’s Choices

I know that Letty, Julia’s grandmother, is in a fragile state, but her decisions are so confusing. So Celia kills the real Ethel and tells Letty that she died in childbirth.

It’s an odd choice for Letty to go along with Celia’s plan. Apparently, it’s because Ethel would have been a single mother, which would have scandalized Ethel’s and Letty’s parents. So Celia convinces Letty that a lie would help protect her parents from grief and the “scandal” of Ethel being a single mom.

But so bizarre and not authentic at all. I mean, really, why would Letty agree to this? “Sure, I’ll raise this baby as my own and pretend you are my sister who is actually dead.” This definitely feels like a plot choice that was too out there to make sense, so she just ran with a loose explanation and moved on.

The only thing I could see is that Letty was okay with it because she, of course, loved the baby but also was blinded by the trauma of losing Ethel. Still weird times all around.

Also, interesting that she never told Julia’s father that she was, in fact, his aunt and that his real mother died. It’s just a lot of covering up for someone who seemed like a nice person.

Obviously, now in her 80s, she has dementia, but I still don’t understand why she would have kept Celia’s secret back when she was younger for all these years. What do you think about that?

Caroline and Jonas

I didn’t think Caroline was going to die, but I certainly had no idea how she would get out of it. Personally, I thought the storyline with Jonas was an interesting plot twist. I couldn’t get a read on him, and I like that he saved Caroline.

But I did not expect Archibald to be the Night Reaper! I thought maybe it was the sheriff or something, so that was a shock. Did you see that coming?

I do like that Caroline and Jonas were able to live a happy life together. Just not sure why Caroline wanted to go back to Pemberton, but I guess that was her home. But hard to have happy memories there after the direction her life took.

I do think it’s sad that history doesn’t know her real fate, but how could they? It is funny that Julia was so spooked by the painting, thinking it was Archibald and Molly, but it was actually Caroline and Jonas.

Last Thoughts

So I guess no one is a witch? Or maybe Celia is for being a psychopath killer?

But all in all, an entertaining ride. Yes, there are plot holes and random story choices, but it didn’t ruin the story for me. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would going in.

Let me know your thoughts about the book and if you want to discuss anything in more detail below!