How to Kill a Witch

**** THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ****

‘Fascinating and illuminating, this book tempers the justifiable rage with sharp and funny pinpricks to the pompous.’ VAL MCDERMID, author of Past Lying

‘As well as highly entertaining read, How To Kill A Witch is a tour de force of research, understanding and compassion.’ PROFESSOR SUE BLACK, author of All That Remains.

‘Serious and angry, but so completely accessible, How To Kill A Witch is a work of real historical investigation and a fierce warning for our times.’MALCOLM GASKILL, author of The Ruin Of All Witches

‘At a time when women’s rights are once again being threatened across the globe, this book could not be a more timely read if it tried.’ SHIRLEY MANSON, Garbage

‘Two of Scotland’s most vivid storytellers.’ THE TIMES

‘Fascinating, angering’ THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

As a woman, if you lived in Scotland in the 1500s, there was a very good chance that you, or someone you knew, would be tried as a witch. Witch hunts ripped through the country for over 150 years, with at least 4,000 accused, and with many women’s fates sealed by a grizzly execution of strangulation, followed by burning.

Inspired to correct this historic injustice, campaigners and writers Claire Mitchell, KC, and Zoe Venditozzi, have delved deeply into just why the trials exploded in Scotland to such a degree. In order to understand why it happened, they have broken down the entire horrifying process, step-by-step, from identification of individuals, to their accusation, ‘pricking’, torture, confessions, execution and beyond.