The Witches of Vardo: THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER: 'Powerful, deeply moving' - Sunday Times

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LoveReading exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. I loved the book and it finished it within hours as I couldn't put it down. It had a strong start and really strong ending! To me, the main tragedy of the witch trials is that those people were actually innocent, and all of the witchcraft tales were made up by men (and sometimes women?) in power, to either explain their misfortunes or just as a way to enact their mysogyny etc.

One was sentenced to a workhouse, two tortured to death, and 18 were burned alive. It was the largest single witch trial in Scandinavia, but the third significant one in Vardø. The memorial was designed by artistLouise Bourgeoisand architectPeter Zumthorand was opened in 2011.Photo: Hege Lysholm / Statens vegvesenVardø Witch Trials (Norway, 1662 - 1663) - Witchcraft". Wise Witches and Witchcraft. 2018-12-16 . Retrieved 2019-10-25. Between 1593 and 1692, 91 people—mostly women—were found guilty of witchcraft and killed in a remote part of Northern Norway. Anya Bergman became interested in the Witch Trials of Vardø and the vivid folk tales of the North while living in Norway. She became fascinated by the trials and the women murdered there on a visit to the Steilneset memorial, in which Louise Bourgeois and Peter Zumthor commemorated the persecution of women accused of witchcraft. Now resident in Edinburgh, Anya graduated with distinction from the Creative Writing programme at Edinburgh Napier University. Norway, 1662. A dangerous time to be a woman, when even dancing can lead to accusations of witchcraft. When recently widowed Zigri embarks on a doomed affair with the local merchant, she is inevitably sent to the fortress at Vardø to be tried and condemned as a witch.

In the remote village of Vardo, this epidemic would rename the city as “the Witch Capital of Norway.” In just 99 years, between 1593 and 1692, there were more than 140 witch trials in the village. Some were isolated, focused on a single individual, while others were panics–consisting of successive trials over a short period of time. These panics were where children were most likely to be accused, with the doctrine of demonology stating that anyonecould be a witch. The three greatest panics were during 1620 to 21, 1652 to 53, and 1662 to 63. Notice how each panic spans two years? That’s because they were most common during the winter months. Witches at 'Gates of Hell': Norway's darkest hour". www.thelocal.no. 2013-07-06 . Retrieved 2019-10-25. Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, Misogyny, Death of parent, Child death, Grief, Blood, Physical abuse, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit This powerful work of historical fiction draws on the records of the witch trials in 17th Century Norway, focusing on the lives of a number of women caught up in these events. Maren is an outcast, daughter of a feared witch and pirate. Only the Sámi community truly accepts her ways, a dangerous path to tread when all around her are people of such pious faith that should just one wrong word be uttered, her flame shall surely be extinguished from this world…..The Witches of Vardø by Anya Bergman is set in an isolated fishing village in Norway and the story is chilling, sometimes graphic and filled with cruelty and injustice for those women accused of witchcraft.