3.5 stars

Cunning Women is an historical story set in Lancashire, England during 1620. The story revolves around a family known for their witchcraft; they live outside the main village in a house left abandoned after the plague. Some of the villagers go to them for medicinal help, but mostly they are feared and few will openly help by giving food or offering work.

Daniel is the son of a farmer, a gentle soul who befriends Sarah, the teenage daughter of the aforementioned family. However, when a new magistrate moves to the area, the man’s determination to purge the village of Papists and witchcraft can only mean trouble for Sarah and her family.

I liked the premise of this story, but I found it rather slow and predictable after the opening chapters, which was a shame. It was still a solid story, it just didn’t draw me in as much as I had hoped.

I was attracted to this book because of the beautiful cover. I also love reading historical novels and fantasy, and had assumed this story would be something like Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman (it's not; it's more folk horror than fantasy) but I still enjoyed the story!

Sarah's family live as outcasts in the ruins of an old village, abandoned since the plague. Her mother is suspected of being a witch, her brother as being a child of the devil - ironic, because it is Sarah who bears the mark signifying she has inherited her mother's skill. But Sarah doesn't want to be a witch. She has fallen in love with a boy from the village and dreams of being a famer's wife. Yet how can there ever be a future for them, with the arrival of a new magistrate determined to root out 'evil'?

Cunning Women is a much darker story than I usually like to read and in some places it is quite grim. The early 1600s was not a fun place to live if you were a woman without a man to protect you, and misogyny was rife. Sarah and her family live in complete poverty and, despite all attempts to earn a living in a honest way, suffer unfair setbacks at every turn. The themes of prejudice and persecution are very topical today; apparently we haven't learnt a thing in five hundred years.

I was concerned that Cunning Women might be yet another Pendle Witches retelling/re-imagining but it isn't. The historical details are meticulous and the setting atmospheric. I loved the idea of an abandoned plague village, 'haunted' by its former inhabitants, and Sarah's struggle with her identity - who she is versus who she wants to be. The story is very fast-paced and I found it hard to put down. My only complaint is that I'd have liked it to have been longer! Although we find out what happens to the protagonists, there were many threads left loose and several characters that I'd have liked to have seen come to a sticky end! (I was probably hoping for a 'Carrie' moment!)

Recommended to anyone who loves historical stories about real-life 'witches' and the persecutions they faced in 17th century Britain.


Thank you to Elizabeth Lee and Windmill Books (Cornerstone/Random House) for my copy of this book, which I requested via NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

I found this book quite slow for the majority and just didn't really connect with it or the characters. I did contemplate not finishing it a couple of times but decided to push on, I am glad I did as it did pick up a little towards the end but it just didn't capture me as I wished.

I found some of the writing a bit disjointed and sometimes difficult to read smoothly. But there was a good build of tension in some parts and showed of the struggles for cunning women in those times which were filled with prejudice and superstition.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK for this copy to read and review.

Lancashire, 1620. Sarah, her mom and her two siblings (Annie and John) are living on a hill on the outskirts of a little plague village they come from, all because they are cunning women. Witches. They barely make a living, because nobody wants to offer them a chance. The village fears them. Tho, as you might presume, a lot of them judge and them, but secretly come to them for help.

From Herbs and healing, curses and retributions, we get insight into their world. I loved that the author took her time to explain how it works, how they embrace who they are, what certain things mean, and whether you have a choice in it or now. I was very intrigued by all of these descriptions, especially with the one when Sarah decided to embrace her otherness. That was absolutely masterfully written. For the longest time, Sarah resists the call to anger, the lust to harm all those who judge them and want to do them harm, for them being cunning women, or doing witchcraft. When she finally accept who she is, it sets off a domino effect of bad events.

The majority of the story revolves around Sarah, and Daniel, the kind, naive farm boy. Even with the accusing eyes of the village, Daniel falls for Sarah, because she is the first one who ever sees him for who he is, the first one that brings out the best in him. It was heart-warming to read about it, and at moments heartbreaking. Not mentioning those moments. No spoilers.

Okay, soooo....They fall in love. And even though their love is forbidden, they do everything they can do to create a future for themselves, to find a chance to escape and start a new life, away from this village. I was rooting for them, but also for the entire Sarah's family. It really hurt my soul how they lived and how they were treated.

We also focus on the relationship between the community and this family of witches. Of course, there's talk of religion in contrast to these practices, but also how religion was used to manipulate people into judging others, harming others. This fear leads people to sacrifice even the innocent ones, to save themselves. This community enraged me. Blood-boilingly stupid cowards.

NOW! If you, like me, had expectations that this is going to be grim and dark, it wasn't. Reading this was actually, pleasant, fun at times, even soothing. I feel like mostly because our main characters were so young and in love, and such sweet souls. The last third of the story has a change in atmosphere, which is when all the dominos I mentioned earlier start to fall and everything we hoped for and built-in our minds starts to crumble and turn to dust.

I truly enjoyed this one. It isn't a five-star read because I felt like it wasn't as intense as it should have been in certain situations. It's beautifully written, but I just needed that one extra layer that will make me gasp, cry, kick, shout, laugh, shudder.

Who would like it? Fans of The Essex Serpent, The Mercies, The Familiars, Wild Beauty but also anyone who loves historical fiction, romance, stories with witches, fans of insta-love, forbidden love stories.

Immersing into this world of a tiny village in Lancashire was a pleasure.
Cures and curses were the life of Sarah, her Mam, sister Annie and brother John as they scrabble in the dirt to survive. They are cursed to live in poverty in a plague village abandoned many years ago whilst the locals fear their presence yet in some superstitious ways still seek their potions and herbs to cure not kill.
The atmosphere is well described and the characters charming and charmed. But of course there are the 'baddies' and in this tale not the Haworth Hags as per the names given to Sarah and her family. There is the wicked parson who eyes young girls and Gabriel, seeking to weave his way into the inheritance and favour of Mr Taylor who's own son Daniel, quiet and thoughtful becomes entranced by young Sarah.
The Pendle Witch trials took place in Lancashire and the influence of the stories around that history are threaded through this novel. But it has its own stand alone effectiveness and I could imagine Sarah totally. Her strength, yet vulnerability. Dear Bett, the Taylor's cook/housekeeper who is great at crossing the divide for the growing romance for Daniel and Sarah and young Annie who might fear may also be targeted by wicked men or blamed for her links to witchcraft too as her method to survive.
Religion and tradition also weave through the book and reflect the insular worlds of such villages across England at that time.

Catch words seen when deciding to request “Cunning Women” by Elizabeth Lee; if you loved “The Essex Serpent”, 1620, Lancashire, plague, Pendle Witch Trials. Each of these words, to a reader like me, are honey. At 74% read, I am convinced I will not find these elements in this book. The honey pot is empty and full of ants.

I feel this needs to be broken down a little. “The Essex Serpent” is one of my favourite novels. If this comparison is used, I will check it out. On this occasion, I can say there are no similarities at all. The writing is naive and the story is weak.

the 17th century & it’s witch trials, and the plague are known, I think, to a majority of the population. Even if the knowledge isn’t all encompassing, most know of the Pendle Witches. In Cunning Women, Lee misses a number of obvious, powerful, & striking character & plot developments that would have elevated the work. Many references to spells & curses litter the work & yet, only one poppet is ever mentioned. No herb or flower is mentioned to be used as a healing tonic or for something darker. The “bad guy”, the new magistrate is a shadow of the threat he could be. The bipolar priest is almost comical & the “insta-love” of Sarah & Daniel is exactly the element, for me, that undoes this book.

Cunning Women is listed as being general adult, historical fiction & women’s fiction but it reads as bad young adult; the kind of YA that deters readers of older age groups from reading it, when in fact, a large proportion of it is amazing.

Overall, Cunning Women is too slow. It suffers from focusing on details the reader doesn’t need or by harking back to something multiple times. If the energy of the last 25% had been spread across the rest of the book, what a story we might have had.

Anyone looking for a novel set in the years following the Pendle Witch Trials, one which focuses more on women trying to survive when faced with extreme prejudice, will be interested in this book.

Sarah is a main character you can root for, and her counterpart Daniel is one you just want to hug because he is so kind hearted in a world that tries to beat that out of him. They both care deeply for Sarah's younger sister Annie, who is the innocent heart of the book.

As good as this was, the book never explicitly establishes its connection with the witch trials, why these women are right to be afraid. The book contains a lot about the fear of the community but less about the examples of the recent history. I felt the novel therefore didn't make plain the danger in the way that it could have done, and I think more could have been done to show the horrors that the matriarch of the family, the cunning woman, knew of and had to live with.

This wasn't as focused on historical fiction as I expected, but the young love story it contained and the lessons the two taught each other mean this book will be enjoyed by many looking for a light historical romance.

Wow what an ending!!! This was such a great book to read. Historical fiction but with witchcraft heavily featured!

I did find it a tad bit predictabile, however i was HOPING it would end in a different way. Still enjoyed it though.

Lots of sad moments and a few where i was gasping. Overall a great read.

Sarah and her family live outside a small village in Lancashire in 1620. Shunned by the villagers unless they need their potions, the family struggle to exist and finally resort to stealing. Sarah and her mother believe that they have the power to make their potions work, although that may be admitting to witchcraft.
i read this novel in lockdown which was probably not the best time for this rather dark book. i feel i should re read it when we are able to get out and about maybe give it a fair response.

Strangely I found this quite sugary and a bit juvenile. By and large it's a sweet romance between a young lad who till then was scared of his own shadow, and a beggar. Too sweet for me, no real atmosphere, not my cup of tea.

I enjoyed this story of Sarah, born into a family of 'cunning women' and who, when we first meet her, already has 'the mark'. Cast aside by the local villagers unless they need anything, Sarah is desperate to help her family and also dreams of a normal life. When she falls in love, she hopes that this might just come to pass, but a new puritanical justice and jealousy might just stand in her way.

The author really makes you feel Sarah's hopes, frustrations, worries and anger as the story twists and turns and gives an insight into how women accused of witchcraft were treated.

At first I found the story difficult to follow due to there being a number of characters being introduced and two narrators. It was interesting to be offered views of Daniel and Sarah (main narrators) from the other person's point of view so you developed a more rounded picture of them and understood the attraction to each other.

The story is about a family who believe they have been touched by the devil which has given both mother and eldest daughter have the ability to heal and curse alike. As a result of this, they live in an uneasy atmosphere ostracised by the local villagers who hold them in deep suspicion but also turn to them for healing when illness or other medical conditions prevail. Sarah’s devotion to her little sister, Annie, and Sarah's drive to protect Annie from evil spirits, is heart-warming. Daniel, an earthy farm owner’s son, falls in love with Sarah and plots to make her acceptable in his father’s eyes as a prospective wife. Sarah’s family’s fate takes a turn for the worst when a new magistrate is appointed and witchcraft is no longer tolerated.

The plot is complicated, with many complex characters who develop and change though the narrative.. Is Sarah able to place a curse on someone? Daniel’s love is challenged and he questioned whether he really knows the girl he has secretly asked to become his wife. The dual story-telling allows you to learn about facts from different viewpoints and appreciate how the misunderstandings and distrust occurs. Daniel and Sarah have to contend with local suspicion and prejudice which rocks their plans for a future together.

Sarah and Daniel come from very different lives and so their blossoming love was always going to be frowned upon. The story tells of how they meet, get to know one another and plan a life, all st against suspicion and witch fear.

I wanted to love the book and wanted to know more about the cunning women, however I found it very slow in pace. The author was building up the tension, but in places it felt too slow and drawn out. I was constantly willing something to happen.

To me, Daniel, seemed the fullest character and we seem him mature and change and deal with his internal struggles. None of the others felt as if they had this fullness. That aid, I enjoyed the book and an glad to have had the opportunity to read it. Anyone interested in the way witches were sought out and dealt, will find a story into which they can lose themselves and one which they can not help but want the best outcome, knowing it is unlikely.

I am always drawn to historical fiction with a witchcraft theme and that's exactly what Cunning Women is. It tells the story of Sarah Haworth - she has the mark of a witch, like her mother, and the whole family is cast out by their village. Sarah falls for Daniel, a farmer's boy and longs for a life where her destiny is not predetermined by her reputation and superstition.

I found the pace quite languid, but this lent itself to the story - a great blend of the supernatural and hearsay, although didn't quite capture me in the way I was hoping it would, it was a charming read.

In 1620 Sarah Haworth, her mother, older brother John and young sister Annie live in abject poverty on the outskirts of a small Lancashire fishing village. Sarah and her mother both carry the mark of the witch, a small red birthmark, and since Sarah's fisherman father died at sea have lived as 'cunning women' making their living preparing potions and salves. While Sarah's mother is also proficient at curses and spells, Sarah has tried to resist the dark forces within her and concentrate on potions that heal. When she falls in love with a gentle farmer's son, Daniel she longs only to be a normal village girl who can marry and have a family.

Although shunned by the village and often treated cruelly, the inhabitants turn to them for cures and curses allowing them to eke out a poor living. However, when a new magistrate arrives in the village with a quest to hunt out Papists and witches, Sarah knows life is about to get very dangerous for them. Will she be able to forge the future she wants with Daniel and protect her younger sister, or is she doomed before her adult life even starts?

This is a dark tale of prejudice and superstition. Although the suspicion of women who could heal with herbs and plants as witches is a well worn trope, it works well here in this tale of love, jealousy and revenge. The novel starts quite slowly but the tension ramps up as the new magistrate stirs up the villagers. The writing is spare and powerful with an unsettling undertone of danger.

In a small village in the 17th century, the Haworths live a quiet and poor life on the outskirts, only acknowledged when villagers required some sort of cure or salve for an illness or problem.

The Haworths are led by their widowed mother, there is one son and then two daughters. Both mum and Sarah, the eldest girl, are ‘marked’ by the devil and so are cunning women, with ‘gifts’ that set them apart. Sarah meets Daniel, a local farmer’s son, and soon the two fall in love and they try to figure out how they could have a life together.

This novel follows the story of Sarah and Daniel, as they try to overcome the prejudice against the Haworth family, which intensifies with the arrival of a new magistrate. Set at a time where witch trials were prevalent, there is an undercurrent of evil throughout, which comes from the animosity aimed towards the Haworths.

The book was okay, but found it a chore about halfway through, not picking up until the last quarter . I am sure the intention was to build suspense, but the tragic ending was obvious and so I found some of the buildup unnecessary.

I will admit, I expected a book more on the discrimination towards women and the hysteria against witches, rather than a predictable love story, which did disappoint me. I think this was just because it wasn’t for me, as others have clearly enjoyed it a lot more.

Cunning Women by Elizabeth Lee is set in Lancashire during the 1620’s, not long after the Pendle Witch Trials. Sarah Haworth is the daughter of a cunning woman, shunned and feared by the God-fearing village community, they live a meagre existence dwelling in the ruins of an old abandoned hamlet on the cursed hill. Sarah dreams of a different life for her family, one where they are not eyed with suspicion and living in such poverty, but she knows this will never be for her, until one day she meets the local farmer’s son, Daniel which sets of a chain of events and changes both of their futures forever.

I found this book to be slow going at the beginning as all the characters and setting was laid out but once I got past this, I was completely absorbed by it and raced through the final half. Lee really draws out the fear of witches and demons held by villagers in these times and although no one is truly without sin, the terror of being associated with any witchcraft, simply for not conforming and sent to the noose, leads people to point the finger of blame at any other first. The story really brought to life the prejudices against women in these dangerous times and how women were blamed for all kinds of different situations and experiences they were made to endure. Overall, this was an enjoyable and well written read and I look forward to reading more by Elizabeth Lee. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for a digital copy for review.

"Observe your womenfolk for wantonness above their usual failing, watch for the meeting of covens without a man to give spiritual strength. You must keep an attentive eye for secret knowledge of herbuse, the mark of the devil upon the skin, for these are the signs of Wickedness."

Coastal Lancashire in 1620, the poverty-stricken Haworth family are pariahs from the local community. Siblings John and Sarah, with five year old sister, Annie, live with their widowed mam, Ruth in a tumbledown cottage on 'plague hill', a ruined hamlet and Deserted Medieaval Village. Ruth is a 'cunning woman', a herbalist, Sarah, with her misunderstood birthmark, is in-training and John is known locally as 'demon-boy', unable to find work. Not long after the Pendle Witch Trials, and in the same county, trouble brews for the Haworths when new Magistrate Wright arrives, seeking papists and witches. They have an ally in Parson Walsh, but will this be enough to protect them?

Farmer's son Daniel Taylor, in his early twenties, lives in the wealthiest family in the village and bears the brunt of his widowed father's hopes for the future. He has affectionate and forthright housekeeper Bett for support and malicious farmhand Gabriel to avoid. Two worlds collide when Daniel and Sarah meet and feel a strong connection. Will their hidden love thrive or will Magistrate Wright's fervour to find witches put them in danger?

Chapters alternate between Sarah's and Daniel's perspectives and their lives become connected. Nature, folklore and seasonal, coastal Lancashire form the backdrop for the farming community laced with fear and suspicion. Everyone is wearing a mask, trying to confirm, because everyone has secrets. Slow to start, this debut novel has depth, focusing on womens' roles and treatment and the protagonists' tragic romance. Beautifully written, there is fragile hope and despair.

Sarah Haworth's family are dirt poor, living outside a small village in Lancashire. Her mother, her brother John and her sister Annie are shunned by their neighbours, as both Sarah's mother and herself are regarded as witches. Her mother has a familiar and makes potions and charms for the villagers who arrive at their door late at night, and both her and mother have a birthmark, which is the sign of a witch.
Sarah comes across a local boy called Daniel, and watches him tame a horse. Feelings develop between them, but with her reputation and the local magistrate conspiring against her family, will their relationship flourish?

What was interesting about this novel in my opinion was that Sarah acknowledges her and her mother's powers, as opposed to other novels where women are persecuted on hearsay. She feels powers within her, and takes ownership of them, She fears for her sister Annie, hoping that she doesn't develop the mark, but seems to accept her own fate, even though it scares her.
The story reaches a powerful conclusion, which stayed with me for a long while after I'd finished it.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in return for an honest review.

In an era where we would not really understand, this book brings all of the senses that we share with the authour of how living outside of the village but being part of the village.. the way Sarah and her family were ostracised because they were thought of as witches...
This is Lancashire the home of the Pendal witch trials, with the superstition of the villagers and how they avoid the family this is not a laugh out loud book, it is a book of life in the 1600 a home with no running water, flushing toilet, of being called a witch when in reality they were not... however the constant implications of witchcraft from the villagers instilled in the family that they must be ... a healer yes, but read the book and delve into the home and lives of Sarah's family.. Does love come into it .. well yes of a sorts, because they are all human and emotions are high when love is in the air...