Witness is a free poetry book of historical fiction written by Karen Hesse in 2001, concentrating on racism in a rural Vermont town in 1924. Voices include those of Leanora Sutter, a 12-year-old African American girl; Esther Hirsh, a 6-year-old [3] girl from New York; Sara Chickering, a quiet spinster farmer; Iris Weaver, a young restaurant owner, bootlegger and illegal booze runner; Reynard Alexander, the town newspaper editor; Merlin van Tornhout, an arrogant teen 18-year-old; Johnny Reeves, the town preacher, Percelle Johnson, the town constable, Viola Pettibone, a store owner, along with her husband, Harvey Pettibone —some of whom joined the newly arrived Ku Klux Klan including: Johnny Reeves, Merlin Van Tornhout, and shopkeeper Harvey Pettibone.