Finished reading on 2/2/09:

THE SACRIFICE by Kathleen Benner Duble, 2005.
Written for a young adult audience and based on stories about the author's family, the story concerns two young girls (10 and 12) who are accused of witchcraft during the time of the Salem trials in 1692. Abigail and Dorothy Faulkner of Andover are accused of tormenting a former maidservant at the height of the hysteria and put into Salem prison. An aunt is already there, along with many others. The girls' pregnant mother, desperate to free them, pressures them to name her as their instructor, knowing that she would be arrested, tried, and condemned but not executed until after the birth of the baby, but her daughters would go free. The author does a good job of portraying the general hysteria, the prison conditions and the terrible choice the girls face. An interesting, fast read about a time in colonial America when the general population believed strongly in witches and magic existing in their communities.