There have been many fictional retellings of witch trials published in recent years, based on true stories of women who were accused of all sorts of offences. Witsh by Mari Ellis Dunning is more unsettling than most, because parts of the narrative are told from the perspective of ‘The Villagers’. This communal voice evokes an unnerving atmosphere of fear and suspicion:

Some say she knew the men were coming before they arrived. That she heard the clunk clunk of their horses’ hooves ahead of time. Some say she was prepared, that she flung open the door to let them in before they could knock…

And:

From the piss and the shit and the sweat that dripped from the stone walls, the devil himself took form. There in the darkness of the dungeon, he spoke to Sara Gwen. He told her how to claim his revenge. And outside, the stars disappeared from the sky, and all was black and still. We know this to be true. We will swear to it.

They appear as a form of sixteenth-century fake news, where the reputation of any woman can be mercilessly twisted by rumour and gossip, creating suspense, and also an unsettling feeling that, as readers, we’ll never quite know exactly what the true facts are.

The rest of the novel is told from the perspective of Doli, a young Welsh landowner’s wife. After experiencing multiple miscarriages, she eventually seeks help from the local midwife (or soothsayer) to conceive a child, setting in motion a chain of events that may have deadly consequences.

Despite her wealth and status, Doli is restricted from doing anything of her own choosing. As her pregnancy progresses, she is forbidden from leaving the house without permission, and even her scribbled verses (she is an aspiring poet) are viewed with suspicion. But, even with these restrictions, she gradually becomes more aware of her own privileged status, and soon begins to realise that her naïve actions may have inadvertently put others, who do not have the same level of protection, in danger.

This book highlights the immense power of the patriarchy in 1597, but also the power of rumour and suspicion, and the lack of agency that ordinary women had at that time.

Witsh by Mari Ellis Dunning is published by Honno.

Declaration: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.