Witchcraft Historical Fiction

Salem, King James VI, Malleus Maleficarum. The world of witch hunts and witch trials sounds antiquated, relics of an unenlightened and brutal age. However, 'witch hunt' is heard often in the present-day media, and the misogyny it is rooted in is all too familiar today. A woman was prosecuted under the 1735 Witchcraft Act as recently as 1944. This book uses thirteen significant trials to explore the history of witchcraft and witch hunts.

1589. Princess Anna of Denmark is betrothed to King James VI of Scotland. Before they can wed, Anna must pass the trial period: one year of marriage to prove herself worthy of being Scotland's new Queen. Determined to fulfil her duties to King and country, Anna resolves to be the perfect royal bride. Until she meets Lord Henry . . . By her side is Kirsten Sorenson, her loyal and pious lady-in-waiting. But, whilst tending to Anna's every need, Kirsten has her own secret motives for the royal marriage to succeed . . .

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.

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.

The battle has been won, but the war is far from over. With her greatest ally at death's door, it's up to Lily Singer to make things right. Troublemaking witch friend and talking cat in tow, she must pursue her father as he seeks to discover an ancient evil and steal its power for himself. But her father isn't the only one seeking that power. When a queen of the fae gets involved and Sebastian's past comes back to haunt him, the three friends have to think fast and act faster to defeat legends that are, unfortunately, no longer in the past.

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....

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.

Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1646. Thomas and Margaret Jones arrive from England to build a life in the New World. Though of differing temperaments, cautious Thomas and fiery Margaret, a healer, are bound by a love that has lasted decades. With a child on the way, their new beginning promises only blessings. But in this austere Puritan community, comely faces hide malicious intent. Wrong moves or words are met with suspicion, and Margaret’s bold and unguarded nature draws scorn. Soon, Margaret is mistrusted as more cunning woman than kind caregiver.

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.

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.

Twelve-year-old Art lives in a small village in Scotland. Her mother has always made potions that cure the sick, but now the townspeople say she is a witch. One cloudless night, Art's mother is arrested and taken to England. Art mounts her horse, taking a sword, a tightrope and a herbal recipe book, and begins a journey through wild forests, using nature's signs and symbols to guide her. But will she spot the signs from the omens? Will she reach her mother, before it's too late?

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 neighbors, 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.

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.