Witchcraft

‘These stories of witchcraft, true and vividly told, demonstrate the potent reality of belief in evil and how in any era or place fear can be weaponised and marginal people, mostly women, labelled as wicked and dangerous. Together they comprise not just a history of witchcraft but a cautionary tale of the uncomfortably human habits of paranoia and persecution’ – Malcolm Gaskill, author of The Ruin of All Witches
‘It is wonderful to come across a book that breathes such fresh life and energy into a well-worked subject, covering a huge range of time and space with a unified, passionate and convincing message. Any expert is going to learn something new from it, any newcomer to be enthralled and motivated’ – Ronald Hutton, author of The Witch
‘Thought-provoking and timely… Searing’ – Jessie Childs * The Times *
‘A vital and vivid study on the history of witch trials. Fantastic’ – Anya Bergman, author of The Witches of Vardo
’Thirteen witch trials are brought vividly to life in Gibson’s wide-ranging book’ * Daily Mail *
’Inventive and compelling… A work of restitution and historical reparation, an attempt to give voice to those who have been silenced over the centuries’ – Laura Kounine * Times Literary Supplement *
‘The trials of the accused people in Witchcraft return to us, in detail, lives about which we might otherwise know nothing’ * New Yorker *
‘By putting the focus on a selection of history’s most fascinating - and disturbing - witch trials, the author simultaneously tells the wider history of the witch hunts, from the fifteenth century to the present day. It is a story at once archaic and shockingly modern. A brilliant book’ – Tracy Borman
‘Erudite, insightful and provocative. This investigation of witch trials – and of the long shadow cast by women’s vilification as witches over our modern lives – is essential, rage-inducing reading’ – Annie Garthwaite, author of Cecily and The King’s Mother

Marion Gibson is Emerita Professor of Renaissance and Magical Literatures at the University of Exeter. She’s been thinking about witches in history since she read her first account of a witch trial in a book lent to her on a dark, rainy afternoon thirty years ago. She was so excited by the story that she forgot to give the book back.

She is the author of nine books on witches in history and literature, most recently Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials and The Witches of St Osyth. She lives in Devon.

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