Another #Bookmail review.  I was ecstatic to receive a copy of The Book of Witching from the publisher, Harper Collins.  How pretty is this cover! And although it's chunky it's got a great flop so it's easier to hold if you have chronic pain like me.

The action flips back and forth between a fictionalised account of the real 16th century Orkney witch trials where over seventy women were executed. Alyson (one of the real accused women) is accused of assisting a man to kill his brother.  So why, when he is acquitted, is she still put on trial and subsequently executed?

In the present day Isle of Gunn, a park ranger finds a blood-soaked, burned but still alive teenager. Clem is struggling to look after her teenage daughter Erin on her own.  When she gets the call that Erin has been found injured, she is stumped when Erin's boyfriend Arlo, is later found dead and another girl is still missing.  With the police circling Erin as a suspect rather than a victim, this determined mother sets out to discover what really happened to her daughter.

What links these two crimes?  They are greatly divided by time but there seems to be echoes of the earlier crimes being played out.

There is a great foundation of mythology, magic and then the details of the real Alyson are interwoven into the story, albeit with a fictionalised content.  The two timelines are quite distinct and it is easy to tell which period you're in. You're not flipping back and forth through time in every chapter which really helps to keep control of the timelines too. The tension is beautifully played out and the twists and turns are many.  The feminist overtone to the story is great without being too heavy-handed.  The characters are empathetic and flawed and I'd definitely read more from this author.