Uncharitably, one could call this a well-wrought snuff tale.
It is in fact many things. A look at the brutality and violence that fear, poverty and ignorance engender. A look at the lengths the helpless will go to to feel some sense of agency. An outline of the types of torture, disfigurement and punishment that were applied by so-called God-fearing men (and probably still are in some places). A fantasy about witches, but one that avoids the expected tropes. A look at male versus female ‘power’. A love story (or two). One could argue it may be too short to contain everything the author is trying to do. It certainly has no lack of descriptions (and inferences) of brutal behaviour, including sexual violence and incest.
It is (in brief) the story of the hunting down of witches and papists in Stuart England, and the punishments meted out to them. Its presentation of the brutality of the times is unflinching. Often in a book the violence is cartoonish and you can disregard it. Here, it is the opposite. It is clumsy yet vicious, it is matter-of-fact yet beyond the pale, and you cannot even pretend it didn’t happen this way.
Note, if this were a movie, it would be R18+, and is certainly not suitable for kids or the squeamish, or people who are likely to be kept awake when their mind replays horrible visions from what they’ve read or seen.
The writing is on the whole very good. Not all the arresting images are brutal — some are admirable figures of speech, evocative conjurings, subtle delineations of character (after all, one can skilfully and subtly describe a crude, venal or ignorant character).
It is interesting to think how lowly regarded a book covering much the same territory but written in a pulpy, exploitative style would be.
It’s quite good, but that does not mean it’s for everyone.
DSPACE 