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A Whisper of Witches
A story of Oundle Witchcraft
388 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 30, 2025
Unfortunately, this wasn’t a good book for me.
As a local, I did enjoy the nods to Oundle’s history - and the author is clearly very knowledgeable - but there was far too much (in my opinion, dull!) detail and not enough plot development for most of the story. I only started to appreciate it a bit more when I reframed it in my head as a kind of historical study, like The Black Death: A Personal History by John Hatcher, rather than as a novel. Seen that way, the heavy explanations made more sense, though they still felt excessive. The author doesn’t really follow the rule of “show, don’t tell,” which made it hard to stay immersed. The final few chapters were better than the rest, and it’s clearly well researched, but overall I didnt really find it an enjoyable or engaging read sadly!
As a local, I did enjoy the nods to Oundle’s history - and the author is clearly very knowledgeable - but there was far too much (in my opinion, dull!) detail and not enough plot development for most of the story. I only started to appreciate it a bit more when I reframed it in my head as a kind of historical study, like The Black Death: A Personal History by John Hatcher, rather than as a novel. Seen that way, the heavy explanations made more sense, though they still felt excessive. The author doesn’t really follow the rule of “show, don’t tell,” which made it hard to stay immersed. The final few chapters were better than the rest, and it’s clearly well researched, but overall I didnt really find it an enjoyable or engaging read sadly!
February 8, 2026
Anna Fernyhough’s A Whisper of Witches is an evocative and well researched historical novel that channels the tensions of late-17th-century England into a compelling exploration of fear, gendered oppression, and the erasure of marginal knowledge.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews