Synopses & Reviews
A superb, lively new book about the Pendle Witches focusing on the magic, spells and curses they used, and the way they were treated by the law at the time.
Synopsis
This book offers a detailed account of the extraordinary events that took place in Lancashire in 1612, focusing on James and Alizon Device, the teenage brother and sister at the center of the case. It draws on a wealth of sources, including books of magic and trial records, to evoke a world of magicians and cunning folk, of charms, divination and familiar spirits. It is illustrated with photographs of magical objects in the Museum of Witchcraft in Cornwall, and of a modern family recreating seventeenth-century spells and rituals. Taking a thought-provoking new approach to the history of witchcraft, it conjures a vivid picture of what it was like to be someone who practiced magic during the witch-hunts.