Release date: May 15 2025
Publisher: Monoray
Pages: 306
Find it: Goodreads Waterstones
Source: The publisher kindly sent me a copy of this book to review
Rating: 4.25/5 stars

Synopsis

As a woman, if you lived in Scotland in the 1500s, there was a very good chance that you, or someone you knew, would be tried as a witch. Witch hunts ripped through the country for over 150 years, with at least 4,000 accused, and with many women’s fates sealed by a grizzly execution of strangulation, followed by burning.

Inspired to correct this historic injustice, campaigners and writers Claire Mitchell, KC, and Zoe Venditozzi, have delved deeply into just why the trials exploded in Scotland to such a degree. In order to understand why it happened, they have broken down the entire horrifying process, step-by-step, from identification of individuals, to their accusation, ‘pricking’, torture, confessions, execution and beyond.

With characteristically sharp wit and a sense of outrage, they attempt to inhabit the minds of the persecutors, often men, revealing the inner workings of exactly why the Patriarchy went to such extraordinary lengths to silence women, and how this legally sanctioned victimisation proliferated in Scotland and around the world.

With testimony from a small army of experts, pen portraits of the women accused, trial transcripts, witness accounts and the documents that set the legal grounds for the hunts, How to Kill A Witch builds to form a rich patchwork of tragic stories, helping us comprehend the underlying reasons for this terrible injustice, and raises the serious question – could it ever happen again?

Review

Written by the women behind The Witches of Scotland campaign, How to Kill A Witch is a non-fiction book that explores the dark and horrifying truth behind the witch trials in Scotland. Through research and discussions with a range of experts, Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi explore what caused the witch trials to occur and question whether it could ever happen again.

I am not a big non-fiction reader (in fact, this is probably the first non-fiction book I’ve read in years), but I thought this was utterly fascinating and eye-opening for a number of reasons. I live in Scotland and was aware there were witch trials that took place here, but little else. I was much more aware of the Salem witch trials and the stories of the Witchfinder General, so this book gave me the opportunity to learn so much that I didn’t know about what took place in my country. The book is well written and very accessible. It feels well researched without being overly academic, and if you’re interested in history, this is definitely a must-read.

While this book is dark and often rage-inducing, there are moments of humour interspersed throughout the book (particularly in the footnotes). It’s an engaging read and one that has stuck with me long after reading. I’ve definitely learned a lot from this one, and I would love to read more from these authors in the future. I found it particularly fascinating that they explored both witchcraft in the past, but how it is still an issue in modern times in certain parts of the world. If you’re looking for a compelling historical book about witch trials, this is a book you don’t want to miss.