David, that's so funny, because several years ago I had set aside some other favorite childhood books in an enclosed bookcase, and last week I noticed that one of these was "The Secret of Saturday Cove" by Barbee Oliver Carleton, a hardcover from the Weekly Reader Children's Bookclub. I hadn't realized that I had another book by the author of "The Mystery of the Witches' Bridge." I finished "Witches' Bridge" a few days ago, and leafing through "Saturday Cove," I didn't notice anything very similar to "Witches' Bridge" (not to mention DS) but after what you said, I may want to re-read this one, too. I don't remember any more what it was that made me set it aside a few years ago as I have no memory of the book now.
One of the things I remembered from my childhood reading of "Witches' Bridge was that there was actually nothing supernatural behind the events. That may have disappointed me at the time, especially since this was during the era when DS was first influencing our lives. Re-reading it now, I have a new appreciation for it. If you read it, the scene at Lamie's island is remarkably "deep" ... the earlier chapters reminded me rather of "Jane Eyre." And from the first scene to the last, I pictured the hired man character as JOHN KARLEN. He would have been perfect for playing this character. (Incidentally, I found that someone is writing a screenplay of "Witches' Bridge," so let's hope for a good result.)
The quote "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" did recur toward the end of the book, but was definitely not the source of my "memory" of the DS scene that apparently never happened.
The website for tracking down old books is a good resource that I also came across recently. Hope that the book turns out to be the right one, Gothick!
