“Sorceresses of ancient Rome casting love spells with their menstrual blood. Joan of Arc speaking to angels. The cunning women of Ireland and their flying ointments. The witches of Kristen Sollée’s new book teach us how to live magically. An impeccably researched and keenly felt book; to read it is to enter into a romance with the witch. A traveler’s tryst. Sollée’s love of place, the moss and the cobble stones, the ocean spray, and the crumbling cemeteries puts her in a polyamorous love affair with the witch and the world in which she lives. This book makes clear that the witch is a creature of her environment. Magic is embodied. The lands through which Sollee travels contain the spirits of the people who collected herbs on their hillsides and spoke their enchantments into the wind. But as with so many love affairs born on holiday, behind all the beauty, the heart grips in grief. We know how the story ends. The witches in this book were hunted after all. But even though we know the story of many of these witches ends in sorrow, we carry on our love affair with them anyway, because to love is to be fully alive. And none are more fully alive than the witch. It’s clear that Sollée fell in love with the witches in this book. Sollée’s magic is that if you read it, you will too.”
—Amanda Yates Garcia, author of Initiated: Memoir of a Witch and host of the Between the Worlds podcast
“Kristen Sollée has written an expansive, transformative, and empowering book that every witch needs on their bookshelf. In Witch Hunt, Kristen ushers readers through winding cobblestones of magick and mystery, offering glimpses of the often overlooked legacy of the witch. Dripping with relevant historical insights and written with a beautiful and compassionate command of language, Kristen shares the history of the witch, her magick, and persecution with reverence, respect, and so much love. This book will transport you to distant lands where the witch once danced, and with Kristen as your guide, you can come to understand the witch and her world in a way that feels personal and inviting. By tracing the many paths of the witch, Kristen invites readers to create their own. This book is like nothing else, and is a must read for any witch.”
—Gabriela Herstik, author of Inner Witch
“Sollée powerfully brings history to life through robust research and visceral visits to the lands of the witch hunts. Her on-foot and scholarly searching makes this book a page turner, sensitively reckoning the contemporary celebration of witchiness with the reality of a horrific past. It is an uneasy and often painful journey, but also one of insight and even beauty. Witch Hunt is a necessary addition to the new canon of works making sense of the witch.”
—Taisia Kitaiskaia, author of Literary Witches
