Format: Ebook 

This was very much a 3-star book for me the first time I read it for a book club, and I have to say this opinion hasn’t really changed with reading it a second time for another book club, although I do think I enjoyed it slightly more on the second read. 

I don’t have much to say on why, as this really is just a gut feeling review. I enjoyed learning about witchcraft, and persecutions of witchcraft, in a different location – although there were obvious links to British trials – and the research that went into this was clear throughout the book. But as the book progressed, it became a much more of typical witch-hunt story, and so it lost a lot of the intrigue for me. 

I also think the pacing was off. The first part felt quite slow, although I think this was actually my favourite part, and it took a long time for our two main characters to meet. Then the end of the book felt rushed, despite several months apparently passing, and the ending was very abrupt and not particularly satisfying for me. 

I am glad I gave this another chance so thanks to work book club for that! Ultimately though, while this showed a lot of promise, it wasn’t quite the story I was after.