Cunning Women: A haunting tale of forbidden love
'Witches and the dread they inspired are captured here with chilling deftness.' Woman and Home
'[A] powerful story of forbidden love ... a tense and atmospheric ride' Daily Mail
'Timely in its depiction of hysteria and persecution, and beautifully evokes a historical period poised between dark ignorance and long-overdue enlightenment.' Observer
'A thrilling read. But, beyond the thrill, is the beauty of the language . . . A pleasure to read - with an undercurrent of genuine fear' Annie Garthwaite, author of Cecily
When it is no longer safe to be a witch, they call themselves cunning.
1620s Lancashire. Away from the village lies a small hamlet, abandoned since the Plague, where only one family dwells amongst its ruins. Young Sarah Haworth, her mother, brother and little sister Annie are a family of outcasts by day and the recipients of visitors by night. They are cunning folk: the villagers will always need them, quick with a healing balm or more, should the need arise. They can keep secrets too, because no one would believe them anyway.
When Sarah spies a young man taming a wild horse, she risks being caught to watch him calm the animal. And when Daniel sees Sarah he does not just see a strange, dirty thing, he sees her for who she really is: a strong creature about to come into her own. But can something as fragile as love blossom between these two in such a place as this?
When a new magistrate arrives to investigate the strange ends that keep befalling the villagers, he has his eye on one family alone. And a torch in his hand.
Cunning Women is the powerful reckoning of a young woman with her wildness, a heartbreaking tale of young love and a shattering story of the intolerance that reigned during the long shadow of the Pendle Witch Trials, when those who did not conform found persecution at every door.
'Wonderfully original . . . devastating . . . and fabulously atmospheric' Elodie Harper, author of The Wolf Den
'A haunting tale with a brutal twist' Emily Brand, author of The Fall of the House of Byron
'An impressive debut . . . beautifully relevant' Kate Mascarenhas
'Beautiful, tense (at points breathless!)' Kate Sawyer, author of The Stranding
'I'm delighted that there's already been a lot of buzz about this debut' Marian Keyes
Elizabeth Lee (Author), Taj Atwal (Narrator)
Audiobook
