Published By: HarperCollins
Pages: 384
Released On 09/10/2025
Will she be damned by flame… or cursed by magic?
Innsbruck 1485
Helena should be doing what every other wealthy young wife is doing: keeping her husband’s house, bearing his children. But when their footman is found dead, Helena is accused of killing him. Worse, she is accused of being a witch.
Imprisoned with six other women, Helena is plunged into a world of terror. When a cursed witch totem is smuggled into the prison, the prisoners attempt to use it to escape only to unleash a malevolent spirit which places all their lives in danger.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I had only read one of her books prior to this (but I do own another) but one was enough for me to know that I love her, and I think she’s one of the best historical authors around.
On a side note, a dedication to Gisèle Pelicot was just perfect.
Ooooh she doesn’t let you in gently, does she. It’s full on fire and death within the first page or two; a fabulous set up. And there’s no letting up. The pacing and tension is intense from beginning to end and yet somehow it doesn’t feel overwhelming. It’s a historical novel but reads like a thriller.
I believe it’s inspired by true events, and it really puzzles me, the whole witch trials stuff, and I don’t think I’ll ever tire of reading novels inspired by it.
There’s more than one POV, which can be concerning trying to keep up with it all, but Cooke has only chosen a handful of POVs and they’re different enough to be able to manage them, but linked enough so it all feels like one story.
She has a great ability at creating a sense off space and time. Whilst reading it, you feel as you’re in the 1400s, with all the….delights that can bring.
She is a master storyteller, an adept hand at blending history with legend and fantasy and feminism, but keeping it real and true and familiar, it’s just beautiful.
You know when you’re reading one of her books as she’s got such a sense of herself, of her author’s voice but she doesn’t let it get in the way of her characters.
Some books, when trying to add the feminism angle, make it too obvious, like they’ve shoved it in to tick a box, even if it doesn’t’ fit. But in this book it’s so natural and organic that you don’t really notice it. These are powerful women living in times where powerful women must be witches, because men were so scared of them having this power that there couldn’t be another explanation.
For all its negativity and bad reputation, I quite like the idea of being a witch, if you take away the whole burning at the stake thing, it looks quite fun.
I had been in a bit of a reading slump before this, unable to focus on much, but I read this in a matter of hours, it was so absorbing that I couldn’t part from it. I am definitely going to seek out her other books.
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