Showing results for "Witches" in Historical Fiction

Scottish Highlands, 1727. In the aftermath of a tragic fire that kills her father, Aila and her mother, Janet, move to the remote parish of Loth, north-west of Inverness. Blending in does not come easily to the women: Aila was badly burned in the fire and left with visible injuries, while her mother struggles to maintain her grip on reality. When a temporary minister is appointed in the area, rather than welcome the two women, he develops a strange curiosity for them that sets them even further apart from the community.

September 1613. In Belvoir Castle, the heir of one of England's great noble families falls suddenly and dangerously ill. Within a few short weeks he will suffer an excruciating death. Soon the whole family will be stricken with the same terrifying symptoms. The second son, the last male of the line, will not survive. It is said witches are to blame. And so the Earl of Rutland's sons will not be the last to die.

Demonstrating once again her gift for spellbinding storytelling, Anne Rice makes real for us a great dynasty of four centuries of witches - a family given to poetry and incest, murder and philosophy, a family that over the ages is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous, and seductive being called Lasher who haunts the Mayfair women. Moving in time from today's New Orleans and San Francisco to long-ago Amsterdam and the France of Louis XIV, from the coffee plantations of Port-au-Prince to Civil War New Orleans and back to today, Anne Rice has spun a mesmerizing tale.

Scores of innocent women died during the Suffolk witch trials. Fear and uncertainty swept the land. Years later and two unexplained deaths in the village of Fressingfield stir up rumours of witchcraft again. Private Detective Lawrence Harpham agrees to investigate. But Lawrence is still tormented by the loss of his family in a house fire. Can he overcome his own demons and discover who is behind the flurry of deaths? The sins of the fathers return to haunt in this intricately plotted Victorian murder mystery.

England, 1643. Parliament is battling the King; the war between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers rages. Puritanical fervour has gripped the nation, and the hot terror of damnation burns black in every shadow. In Manningtree, depleted of men since the wars began, the women are left to their own devices. At the margins of this diminished community are those who are barely tolerated by the affluent villagers - the old, the poor, the unmarried, the sharp-tongued.

Norway, 1662. A dangerous time to be a woman, when even dancing can lead to accusations of witchcraft. When Zigri, desperate and grieving after the loss of her husband and son, embarks on an affair with the local merchant, it's not long before she is sent to the fortress at Vardø, to be tried and condemned as a witch. Zigri's daughter Ingeborg sets off into the wilderness to try to bring her mother back home.

Fifteen-year-old Neva is taken to Wellwood House, a home for unwed mothers, to see out the final three months of her pregnancy. Her father turns tail without even a goodbye, leaving Neva to endure the isolated maternity home for one sweltering summer with the bugs, the boredom, the awful food, the shunned unwed girls just like her. There, she meets Rose, the righteous hippie; Holly, a fourteen-year-old who refuses to talk, and Zinnia, the cultured sceptic.

As she helps to nurse the dying Queen Elizabeth, Frances Gorges longs for the fields and ancient woods of her parents' Hampshire estate, where she has learned to use the flowers and herbs to become a much-loved healer. Frances is happy to stay in her beloved countryside when the new King arrives from Scotland, bringing change, fear and suspicion. His court may be shockingly decadent, but James' religion is Puritan, intolerant of all the old ways.

In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box. But when the three Eastwood sisters join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement.

Brittany, 1821. After Grand-mere Ursule gives her life to save her family, their magic seems to die with her. Even so, the Orchires fight to keep the old ways alive, practising half-remembered spells and arcane rites in hopes of a revival. And when their youngest daughter comes of age, magic flows anew. The lineage continues, though new generations struggle not only to master their power, but also to keep it hidden. But when World War II looms on the horizon, magic is needed more urgently than ever - not for simple potions or visions, but to change the entire course of history.

It’s May 1941, and the war is in full swing. Yet in the quiet village of Woodville in rural Kent a happy event is on the horizon, as Faye Bright interrupts her training with the British Secret Service to return home and marry her true love, Bertie Butterworth. But as preparations get underway, a ghostly premonition throws a spanner in the works. Who is the Corn Bride, and is her burning visage a warning, or a threat to the happiest day of Faye’s life?

"A witch!" It's an accusation Arianna O'Sullivan dreads as she struggles to conceal her abilities from the suspicious villagers in colonial Massachusetts. Saved from the pillory by a handsome, chivalrous stranger, Arianna senses an inexplicable connection. When she's given no choice but to marry the charismatic man, even after discovering he's the grandson of an infamous witch-hunter, she fears her powers won't be restrained for much longer.

Seven years ago a woman with too many secrets and a man with too many lies fell in love. Then she left him. Isabel's quiet life as an assistant to one of London's famous apothecaries hides a deadly secret. A secret that could see her put on trial for witchcraft if the authorities uncover the truth. But when the authority figure who turns up at her shop is Sir Nicholas Merritt, she's at risk of losing more than her life. She could lose her heart and soul, and the man she loves.

When a banished witch falls in love with the legendary trickster Loki, she risks the wrath of the gods in this moving, subversive debut novel that reimagines Norse mythology. Angrboda’s story begins where most witches' tales end: with a burning. A punishment from Odin for refusing to provide him with knowledge of the future, the fire leaves Angrboda injured and powerless, and she flees into the farthest reaches of a remote forest. There she is found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into a deep and abiding love.

When Adrianna arrives at the small, run-down cottage, near the sea in rural Norfolk, she can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Here she can forget her life in the city, and the problems she’s left behind there, at least for a while. But – like Adrianna herself – the cottage holds secrets. And when Adrianna finds a mysterious bundle of notes hidden under a floorboard, she can’t shake the idea that they’ve been waiting for her. Especially when – in the rambling, overgrown garden – she then finds a strangely-carved stone, drawing her into a centuries-old mystery…

Yaga lives deep in the Russian forest, tending to any that call upon her for her healing potions and vast wisdom. She has been alone for centuries, with only her beloved animals for company. But when Tsaritsa Anastasia, wife of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, shows up at Yaga’s cottage on the brink of death, Yaga is compelled to travel with her to Moscow to keep her safe. However, the Russia Yaga sees as she makes her journey to the heart of the country is one on the brink of chaos.

As the inferno of the Great Fire devours London in 1666, another firestorm rages in the tranquil village of Brampton, where Pepys’s sister, Paulina, stands accused of witchcraft. Pepys summons his inquisitors, Abigail Harcourt and Jacob Standish, plunging them into the heart of the witch-hunt. Can Abigail, Pepys’s astute housemaid, and Jacob, his awkward yet eager protégé, unravel a web of whispers, gossip and lies to clear Paulina’s name?

Present day. As a love affair comes to an end, and with it her dreams for her future, artist Selena needs a retreat. The picture-postcard Sloe Cottage in the Somerset village of Ashcombe promises to be the perfect place to forget her problems, and Selena settles into her new home as spring arrives. 1682: Grace Cotter longs for nothing more than a husband and family of her own. Separated by three hundred years, two women are drawn together by a home bathed in blood and magic.

It is 1916 and Rasputin has finally been killed by those who have long feared his influence over Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra. But for Princess Militza, famed as one of the 'Witches of St Petersburg', and her daughter Nadezhda, life is about to become extremely dangerous. Revolution is bubbling and with it will come the murder of the Romanov imperial family. Now the rest of the court is also on the run, fleeing from the mob. Against this violent and turbulent backdrop, Nadezhda, the witch's daughter, finds in exile and captivity an extraordinary and unlikely love.

Discover the truths, the history, the myths and the magic behind the best-selling All Souls trilogy. Fall under the spell once more with this all-encompassing insider's guide to A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night and The Book of Life. The All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness, featuring historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont, delves into mythology, alchemy, literature and architecture. And history is brought to life.