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juliaerial 's review for:
Die Tochter der Hexe
by Paula Brackston
The central story of this book is about a woman’s life being ruined by a rapist stalker murdering anyone who ever becomes close and dear to her.
The stalking plot takes place over several centuries as part of a phantasy of immortality, taking in historic events such as the witchcraft trials in England and crucial battles of WW1.
And herein lies the problem:
There is a consensus amongst historians that the people convicted of witchcraft during the middle-ages had no supernatural powers. They were regular citizens who were either scapegoated for disasters such as crop failure, deaths or diseases nobody could scientifically explain at the time, were simply in the way of someone who wanted their property, or were accused of witchcraft for even more nefarious personal reasons by fellow citizens.
It is accepted none of them ever performed any of the “witchcraft” they were accused of.
A lot of countries have formally declared their trials as unsafe and void and erected memorials to those killed.
Except in Paula Brackston’s novel. Here the witches in the middle-ages really do have supernatural powers which they acquire by dancing and copulating with daemons during full moon ceremonies around a fire. One even suckles daemonic creatures with her own body in front of 16th century witchcraft trial investigators!
None of this would be quite as bad if this novel was set firmly in the fantasy genre, with the magic happening in a world that’s recognisably a phantasy construct.
But the problem is, this book is set in historic England and Flanders, full of historic details.
In addition, in the sections set in England in 2007, the protagonist calls herself Wicca (a religion founded in the 20th century by Gerald Gardner), yet performs a mash-up of Harry Potter style magic and powers based on ideas that seem to come straight out of the Malleus Maleficarum.
Some of this comes up so unexpectedly, in what feels like a historic novel, that it borders on the ridiculous. I would have laughed it off as tosh, if it did not carry the risk of real-life consequences:
We live in a world where people are still accused and killed for witchcraft in many countries. Even in the USA, certain Christian groups still believe that witches exist and will inflict reprisals on fellow citizens who they accuse of witchcraft or suspect of following a neo-pagan path.
And let’s not forget the well-known case of 8-year-old Victoria Climbie who was tortured to death in London in 2000, accused of being possessed by the devil.
To write a story that claims both historic ‘witches’, as well as those following the Wiccan path today, do after all have evil supernatural powers and copulate with daemons, just as accused in the Malleus Maleficarum, is a downright dangerous slur.
It is hard to imagine that it would be possible to publish these type of allegations against any other marginalised, persecuted, tortured and murdered group of people in a novel and get away with it without causing an outcry.
The stalking plot takes place over several centuries as part of a phantasy of immortality, taking in historic events such as the witchcraft trials in England and crucial battles of WW1.
And herein lies the problem:
There is a consensus amongst historians that the people convicted of witchcraft during the middle-ages had no supernatural powers. They were regular citizens who were either scapegoated for disasters such as crop failure, deaths or diseases nobody could scientifically explain at the time, were simply in the way of someone who wanted their property, or were accused of witchcraft for even more nefarious personal reasons by fellow citizens.
It is accepted none of them ever performed any of the “witchcraft” they were accused of.
A lot of countries have formally declared their trials as unsafe and void and erected memorials to those killed.
Except in Paula Brackston’s novel. Here the witches in the middle-ages really do have supernatural powers which they acquire by dancing and copulating with daemons during full moon ceremonies around a fire. One even suckles daemonic creatures with her own body in front of 16th century witchcraft trial investigators!
None of this would be quite as bad if this novel was set firmly in the fantasy genre, with the magic happening in a world that’s recognisably a phantasy construct.
But the problem is, this book is set in historic England and Flanders, full of historic details.
In addition, in the sections set in England in 2007, the protagonist calls herself Wicca (a religion founded in the 20th century by Gerald Gardner), yet performs a mash-up of Harry Potter style magic and powers based on ideas that seem to come straight out of the Malleus Maleficarum.
Some of this comes up so unexpectedly, in what feels like a historic novel, that it borders on the ridiculous. I would have laughed it off as tosh, if it did not carry the risk of real-life consequences:
We live in a world where people are still accused and killed for witchcraft in many countries. Even in the USA, certain Christian groups still believe that witches exist and will inflict reprisals on fellow citizens who they accuse of witchcraft or suspect of following a neo-pagan path.
And let’s not forget the well-known case of 8-year-old Victoria Climbie who was tortured to death in London in 2000, accused of being possessed by the devil.
To write a story that claims both historic ‘witches’, as well as those following the Wiccan path today, do after all have evil supernatural powers and copulate with daemons, just as accused in the Malleus Maleficarum, is a downright dangerous slur.
It is hard to imagine that it would be possible to publish these type of allegations against any other marginalised, persecuted, tortured and murdered group of people in a novel and get away with it without causing an outcry.