The King’s Witches – Kate Foster

Published By: Mantle
Pages: 336
Released On: 06/06/2024

Women whisper secrets to each other; it is how we survive.

1589. Princess Anne of Denmark is betrothed to King James VI of Scotland – a royal union designed to forever unite the two countries. But first, she must pass the trial period: one year of marriage in which she must prove herself worthy of being Scotland’s new Queen. If the King and the Scottish royal court in Edinburgh find her wanting, she faces permanent exile to a convent. Determined to fulfil her duties to King and country, Anne resolves to be the perfect royal bride. Until she meets Lord Henry.

By her side is Kirsten Sorenson, her loyal and pious lady’s maid. But whilst tending to Anne’s every need, she has her own secret motives for the royal marriage to be a success . . .

Meanwhile, in North Berwick, a young housemaid by the name of Jura is dreaming of a new life. She practises the healing charms taught to her by her mother, and when she realises she is no longer safe under her master’s roof, she escapes to Edinburgh. But it isn’t long before she finds herself caught up in the witchcraft mania that has gripped not just the capital but the new queen . . .

Will Anne, Kirsten and Jura be able to save each other and, in doing so, save themselves?

*****

Thanks to NetGalley and Mantle for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I, like so many, absolutely adored Kate’s previous book The Maiden, and was so happy to see it placed on the longlist for the Women’s Prize for fiction. I was so eager to see her follow-up and this sounded really good.

For some reason, I did initially think it was going to be about Macbeth and the witches. I don’t know why, as it doesn’t say anywhere that it is, but that was my immediate assumption. I saw Scotland and royalty and witches and came up with Shakespeare. That would have been an interesting book to read but this book is no less stunning for not meeting my initial assumption.

Kate’s grasp of historical writing is absolutely phenomenal. I love a historical novel, especially about strong women, and this is what she brings with great aplomb.

Whilst I’m very open as to who I read, and I love discovering new authors, there are certain authors I go to for specific things: Laura Purcell for gothic novels, Lisa Jewell for thrillers, Heidi Swain for romance, that sort of thing, and I think Kate has become my top author for historical novels, and that’s only two books in!

You can really put yourself into this story. You can feel yourself there, smell the salt on the sea, hear the rumours flying down the corridors, see the world around you. It is all encompassing and you almost become one of the characters.

I admit I wasn’t aware that Anne of Denmark was a real person, which makes this even more impressive, because not only does it need to be entertaining, it will need to be as historically accurate as possible, and from what I can tell (I did go into a Google black hole), she’s mastered that well.

It is an historical novel obviously, but there’s action and adventure, fantasy, magic, romance, thriller – it’s got something for everyone. It’s about royalty, witches, friendship, it’s about strangers, family, love, fear, desire, secrets, and about control.

It is such a rich book, so full of depth on every page, with so many layers. She’s got such a grasp on the human language to evoke feelings of love, fear, hate, peril, beauty, and jealousy. It is moving in so many different ways.

There are moments in this book that made me so angry. I know it was a different time, and in the 1500s men were King (literally and figuratively) and women did as they were told. But this goes beyond that, into the realms of torture and harm and it’s rage inducing. I know it’s only a book, but the idea of these kind of things happening, you just wish you could enter their world and put a stop to it.

This is definitely a worthy follow-up of The Maiden. She needn’t worry about whether the second novel will live up to the first. This is every bit as fabulous and has really whet my appetite for more.