Showing results for "witchcraft" in Historical Fiction

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.

Jennet Preston was an ordinary woman with an extraordinary death. Pursued and vilified by her young lord and master, Thomas Lister, she was accused and tried - twice - for murder by witchcraft in 1612. This is the story of her second trial. A friend of the Device family of Malkin Tower, Jennet Preston’s story starts and ends in Yorkshire, yet is inextricably entwined with the most famous witch trial in British history - that of the Pendle Witches.

Isabel Frith, the village midwife, walks a dangerous line with her herbs and remedies. There are men in the village who speak of witchcraft, and Isabel has a past to hide. So she tells nobody her fears about Wulfric, the pious, reclusive apothecary. Mae, Wulfric's youngest daughter, dreads her father's rage if he discovers what she keeps from him. Like her feelings for Rafe, Isabel's ward, or that she studies from Wulfric's forbidden books at night. But others have secrets too. Secrets darker than any of them could have imagined.

When Joss, an adopted child, discovers that her real mother has left the beautiful family home, Belheddon Hall, to her, she is thrilled, until she discovers that the Hall is haunted by a presence which will not tolerate husbands or sons living in the house.

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.

A woman delves into science and superstition, fear and persecution, and the hope and courage of belief in an award-winning and internationally bestselling novel by Kateřina Tučková.

As Christmas looms, the villagers come under the spell of the Holly King, a demigod bent on destroying Woodville. Faye, Bertie and the witches are determined to stop him, but first they must confront terrible truths that threaten to tear them apart.

As a child, Coriel Halsing spent many glorious summers at Castle Auburn with her half-sister - and fell in love with a handsome prince who could never be hers. But now that she is a young woman, she begins to see the dark side of this magical place....

It’s winter 1947 when newlyweds Ellen and Tony Wylde move into an abandoned Cornish farmhouse overlooking the sea. For both, it’s a new beginning in the country, and together they’re bringing Carreg Cottage back to life. Yet Ellen can’t hide a creeping unease. There’s the ominous iconography painted on their bedroom ceiling, the sinister doll hidden away in the chimney. And Tony seems more familiar with the peculiar villagers than he’s letting on.

Lancashire, 1612: Fourteen-year-old Grace Sowerbutts is at a dangerous crossroads, caught between the righteous might of the local Pendle Protestants, the fury of their Catholic neighbours, and the insidious threat of witchcraft. Divided by Witchcraft is the second in a new series of historical fiction short stories examining the frenzy of witch hunting that swept the north of England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries - including the most famous, that of the Pendle Witches in 1612.

Deep beneath Greece, Hecate serves the devoted from her home in the Underworld, keeping far away from the dalliances of men, gods, and the world that broke her heart. When Hera curses one man in particular, Hecate finds herself swept up in the affairs of the pantheon, and begins to wonder if she's intervening for the right reasons—or the right man.

Dr. Waycross knows bleeding and blistering, the best scientific medicine of 1822. He arrives in the Georgia mountains to bring his modern methods to the superstitious masses. The local healers, the Winter sisters, claim to treat yellow fever, consumption, and the hell-roarin' trots just as well as he can. Some folks call the sisters herb women; some call them witches. Waycross calls them quacks. But when the threat of rabies - incurable and fatal - comes to town, Dr. Waycross and the Winter sisters must combine their science and superstition in a desperate search for a remedy.

Hester, the wife of an acting magistrate, is fighting a cause. Sickened by the hanging of a woman who had been brutalized by her husband, and still deeply affected by her own childhood experiences, Hester feels compelled to help women who face the death penalty.

This is the haunting tale of Hugh and Mary Parsons of Springfield, Massachusetts. Using actual testimony recorded in their depositions and trials, the book recreates the story of this ill fated couple.

After an explosive scandal lands her husband in prison, Tess Blyth flees Edinburgh to start afresh in Thistle Cottage. As she hides from the media’s unforgiving glare, Tess is intrigued by the shadowy stories of witchcraft surrounding the women who lived in the cottage centuries ago. But she quickly discovers modern-day witch hunts can be just as vicious: someone in town knows her secret—and they won’t let Tess forget it.