The Bewitching

‘A literary page-turner … compulsive and thought-provoking’ Paula Hawkins

A dazzling, shocking novel that speaks to our times, drawing on the 16th-century case of the witches of Warboys.

Alice Samuel might be old and sharp-tongued, but she’s no fool. Visiting her new neighbours in her Fenland village, she suspects Squire Throckmorton’s household is not as God-fearing as it seems and finds the children troubled. Yet when one of the daughters accuses her of witchcraft, Alice has no inkling of how quickly matters will escalate.

The Throckmortons’ maid Martha, uncomfortably aware of strange goings-on in the household herself, is reluctant to believe that Alice is a witch. But as evidence mounts and the entire village is swept up in the frenzied persecution of one of their own, she struggles to find a voice.

Drawing on the 16th-century case of the witches of Warboys, this is a novel of searing imagination that vividly conveys the way fear can turn into paranoia and victims be made to believe in their own wickedness, especially when those in power hold all the cards.