Reviews
I was so looking forward to this book, as someone from a country where the witch trials murdered thousands of people, mostly women. But I was incredibly disappointed especially on the focus on England and the US, who, despite popular narratives, rarely had witch trials. England and the US combined had about 20% of Scotland’s death toll and about 2% of Germany’s. North Berwick was the first major witch trial in Scotland, but only the first of hundreds. The last was in 1728 when Janet Horne was executed. Her crime? Being disabled and having a disabled child (her daughter escaped from custody). The chapter on the witches of Vardo actually made me laugh. The man in charge is Scottish and Gibson suggests he was probably familiar with the witch trials in North Berwick because he’s from Crail in Fife which is near North Berwick. No, no it’s not. Nowhere near it. Also the man concerned was about 15 in 1590.The last chapter I can only describe as racist. If we’re looking at women persecuted by the religious right they would not be white women.