Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for this ARC

I listened to this story on audio and also read it. The audio version adds an extra layer to the story and the narrator was well matched and paced it well adding to the tension and haunting atmosphere.

It took me a fair while to get into Cunning Women but once I did it was an okay story, quite a slow burn. Characters were okay, but I wasn't compelled by any.

Narrator was easy to listen so, although did have me drifting off at times!

3*

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK Audio for an eAlc in exchange for an honest review.

I DNFd this book 75% of the way through.

This is a very easy read romance set in a historical period with the element of witchcraft and women's knowledge which I think will be interesting to many readers. Unfortunately for me the writing was too simplistic, it did not give a sense of the time or place and there wasn't much to sink my teeth into. The characters also felt like very lightly sketched stock characters, without much to build them as individual characters, they didn't come to life but moved through the plot like puppets. The love story itself was very instantaneous and there was no time to believe the feelings the characters had for one another.

Love it!!! One of my favourite audiobooks of late, and Elizabeth Lee is going straight onto my list of fave authors too!

Awesome audiobook, couldn’t stop listening!
Highly recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to access an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

I miss a good witchy book, the likes of 'Witch Child' and 'Discovery of Witches'. And, when I saw this, I couldn't help but be enticed.

Though Cunning Women was entertaining and fast-paced, It didn't quite satisfy the itch!

And I can't tell why, it had everything you need from a witchy book:: coming into your power, a big romance, drama, danger from witch hunters. It's all there, and yet...

Maybe the characters fell a little flat, maybe I was frustrated by Daniel's raging emotions, and Sarah's matyr-like anger. Maybe I just need to read Discovery again.

As for the audiobook, it's a great listen. The accents are perfectly done, just enough to give a taste of the area but not so much that anyone would have difficulty understanding. All in all a good, entertaining listen!

This book wasn’t quite what I expected but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing! I thought there would be more witchcraft and magic, it does play a part, but instead the focus is on the love story between two people fighting against societal expectations and prejudice.

I loved how atmospheric the book felt, Lee really draws you into 1620’s Lancashire and a world reeling from the Pendle Witch Trials. There’s a real sense that no one is safe and escape is impossible, the whole community is filled with suspicion.

The story itself didn’t really capture my attention though. I think it was because I never really connected with the main characters and didn’t feel invested in their relationship. Their individual family dynamics did keep me reading though, I wish more time had been spent developing these further.

It was nice to hear the audiobook read with a regional accent but I didn’t feel fully engaged by this narrator. It was read quite slowly as well but I got around this by increasing the speed.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Elizabeth Lee’s debut novel is a stunningly atmospheric exploration of the lives of the Haworth family in 1620s Lancashire, where the events of the Pendle Witch Trials are still fresh in the memory of the local community. Sarah Haworth, her widowed mother, brother and younger sister, Annie, live just outside of the fishing village they were once part of, in a hamlet left abandoned since the plague. The death of Sarah’s fisherman father left them destitute and with mother, Ruth, considered to be “cunning” (a euphemism for witches) they eke out a meagre existence alongside a community that by turns shuns them for their wickedness and then seeks them out under cover of darkness for healing remedies and potions. A red mark reveals that Sarah, like her mother, is a witch and her only hope lies in younger sister, Annie, being spared and maintaining a peaceful existence alongside a community that barely tolerates them.

When Sarah is witness to an unassuming young man who later reveals himself to be farmer’s son, Daniel Taylor, soothing a horse, it is the beginning of a tentative friendship that slowly blossoms into romance. Daniel sees past Sarah’s dirty and unkempt appearance and the malicious talk of the villagers, and Sarah sees in him his true potential and the strength to stand up and be counted. Both know that as things stand marriage is out of the question, with Daniel’s father resentful of Ruth, and Sarah’s brother, ‘Devil-boy’ John, thieving and further raising suspicions when his angry victims fall prey to misfortunes and maladies. Whilst Daniel has integrity and compassion many of the villagers do not, most notably aggressive farmhand and bully, Gabriel, who holds a fierce grudge against Sarah and is determined to exact revenge. When a change of magistrate brings a rigorous zealot determined to root out evil to the village, his actions inflame the community and threaten to reveal the superficiality of their godly veneer, causing them to turn on the obvious common enemy.

Vividly drawn with rich, descriptive prose and narrated partly by Sarah in the first-person and from Daniel’s third-person perspective, the characterisation is extraordinarily good and I was invested in not only the romance, but the fate of the entire Haworth clan from the off. Essentially a tale of persecution with a potent message about societies intolerance to difference, it is an emotive story with an ending, unexpected and unpredictable as it was, that proved impeccable. Cunning Women is a haunting novel full of characters who will live long in my memory and a story of a precarious love affair threatened by outside forces that bristles with tension. A fantastic debut.

On the outskirts of a village, in the ramshackle houses abandoned due to plague, Sarah lives with her mother, sister and brother. Poverty-stricken, they scratch an existence from begging, petty theft and by selling the charms and cures that Sarah's mother makes. The people of the village hate and fear them, although willing enough to tolerate the cunning woman and her family when they have need of her talents. This is to be Sarah's future - that is, until she meets Daniel, son of the farmer, and she sees an alternative life for herself. But can it really be hers when she is marked as one of the cunning folk?

I really enjoyed this story. It evokes the suspicion and claustrophobia of a small town during a time when superstitions ran rife and merely being poor, unmarried and female was enough to see you branded a witch. The growing sense of threat is balanced against the developing romance between Sarah and Daniel, and I found myself really rooting for the Haworth family to survive and prosper against the odds.

I wasn't overly keen on the audio narration. It was good to have it read in a Lancashire (?) accent, particularly since several of the characters speak in a Lancashire dialect, and the reader did a good job with adopting voices for different characters, but I just personally didn't like the sound of a woman reading rough male voices, and I found it a bit slow and with odd emphases at times.

About halfway through I switched to reading the book instead of listening, and enjoyed it much more.

Set in the early modern period where people believed in witchcraft - aka - cunning folk. Sarah and her family have fallen to difficult times since the death of her father, surviving on her mother’s sales of potions and curses as well as thieving of livestock for food. Sarah’s only wish was to live a normal, respectable life whilst knowing her and her family are feared outcasts. She meets and falls for Daniel - a wealthy farmers son - and longs to live a life with him, he hears of the cunning folk rumours and fears she has bewitched him to love her also, however feels that he loves her too much to not be with her. This truly was a beautiful yet tragic love story full of superstition, hate and persecution. A must read for any witchcraft fans.

I listened to this story on audio and also read it
I loved this book for its power and ability to make me feel the fear of being hunted and not knowing whether the next page will be the unravelling of Sarah's life and the unveiling of her witch mark. The tension of the time leaps of the page, making it an emotional and immersive read. This novel shows both sides of the mania of the 17th century where witchcraft is feared and punished but the slightest error or perceived difference can be a woman's downfall. No one is safe.
This novel has a hauntingly beautiful love story at its heart and provokes vivid imagery and is one that will stay with me forever.

The audio version adds an extra layer to the story and the narrator was well matched and paced it well adding to the tension and haunting atmosphere.

I only managed to listen to the first chapter of this book as my app crashed and the file had been archived before I could retrieve it,
The author had a nice reading tone and I would have like to hear the rest of the story.

This book from the blurb sounded interesting, set in 1620, and is based around a family of witches.

While reading you do sense the different in poverty and treatment in the book. Also the doubts and struggles of understanding.

The book was reasonably well written but i found i there was a lot missing, i also got confused on who was 'talking' at times but also feel part of the story was missing.
For example you wouldn't have known the location was a fishing village unless you read the blurb, a lot of time is spent at a river. There is a few other issues i have there was little about the plague, only mention of one person dying at sea in a fishing village (that seems odd to me).

It was pleasant but for me it sadly didn't deliver given the blurb.

I received a copy from netgallery and publishers for an honest review.

I’m finding it really hard to sum up my thoughts of this one. For about 70% of the book not a lot happened. The romance was quite hard to root for and the set up of the story wasn’t quite what I’d expected.

But the last section the action picked up and some very interesting turns happened.

And then it went off in a direction that made me roll my eyes.

I think I need to sleep a bit on this one

he writing was lovely but for me there was something missing.

I was attracted to the story because the blurb stated that it took place in 1620 but I felt no sense of time in the writing. There were mentions of the plague and King James Daemonology but the village could have been any English pre-industrial rural settlement. I didn’t even get a strong sense of the coastal location as they seemed so spend most of their time by the river.
Also the ominous predictions threaded throughout the book of the threat posed by the new magistrate created a bit of an anti-climax when the actual harm was carried out by the villagers, initiated and urged on by the vengeful anger of a single individual. Reference was made to witch trials but they never materialised.

There were constant descriptions of the grinding poverty endured by Sarah and her family and the villagers’ cruel rejection of them as the ‘other’. But that didn’t seemed to develop and became a little repetitive.
At one point I wondered if the audio book was abridged because as the point of view skipped about between the main characters it seemed to have skipped part of the narrative.
In a community reliant on fishing the father can’t have been the only man to have perished at sea so why was only their family rejected? Had the mother become a ‘cunning woman’ only because she had no other way to provide for her family or had she always provided herbal remedies?

This was a pleasant story, well read in the audio version but it didn’t live up to its potential.

I listened to this audiobook after reading the book and I appreciated how the voice of the narrator makes the characters vivid.
As for the book is a sort of "Marmite" book and your rating depends on the expectations because I was expecting a story about witches, magic and witch hunt.
There are references and the life of the characters is strongly affected by magic but at the end of the day it's more a woman fiction set in specific historical frame.
I like the style of writing and the character development even if the pace is a bit too slow at times.
I want to read other books by this author this one is recommended to anyone who want to read a good women's fiction story set in the past.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I have absolutely loved listening to this audiobook. Although it is long (over nine hours) and it took me a little while to get in to the story and familiarise myself with all the characters, once I was in I was totally hooked. I loved the characters of Sarah and Daniel, and hated Gabriel (as the author intends us to I believe). The narrator's voice was entrancing and I became totally lost in the story towards the end. I am really enjoying historical fiction at the moment and Cunning Women is a great example of the genre. I would definitely recommend reading the physical book, or listening to the audiobook. Now I've finished the audiobook I might treat myself to a physical copy!

My thanks to Penguin Random House U.K. Audio for the unabridged audiobook edition via NetGalley of ‘Cunning Women’ by Elizabeth Lee in exchange for an honest review. The audiobook is narrated by Taj Atwal and has a running time of 10 hours, 15 minutes at 1x speed.

This work of historical fiction is set in 1620s Lancashire where in a small hamlet, abandoned since the Plague, only one family dwells. The Haworths are a family of cunning folk and while considered outcasts by day, the villagers secretly visit them at night for healing balms, charms, and more.

Sarah Haworth is the novel’s narrator and lives with her mother, older brother, John, and little sister, Annie. One day Sarah meets Daniel, a gentle farmer’s son. The two begin a secret relationship and Sarah starts to dream of a normal life with him. Then a new magistrate arrives with an agenda to root out both papists and witches and it isn’t long before his eye falls upon the Haworth family.

While witchcraft is very much a part of Sarah and her mother’s lives, I felt that the story centred more on the forbidden love between Sarah and Daniel. It is quite a slow moving novel and I didn’t find myself overly invested in their relationship. However, the pace did pick up in the final chapters.

Although taking place only eight years after the Pendle Witch Trials it seemed a bit strange that there was little awareness of these tragic events in the Haworth household; whereas I would imagine that there would have been a network of communication between cunning folk especially in the same area of the country.

In terms of its audiobook, Taj Atwal Is a well known British actor and I felt that she brought a great deal of warmth and depth to the reading. She also utilised her skills with Northern accents to bring another level of authenticity to the narrative.

‘Cunning Women’ was beautifully written, yet I found that I wanted more magic and witchcraft as it felt rather pushed into the background as the focus was on the star-crossed lovers. It was a moving love story but overall the kind of novel that I liked rather than loved.

I did find the cover art impressive and the chapter titles very imaginative.

What a magical listen. A truly absorbing and heart wrenching tale of love, which craft, and discovery. Thank you NetGalley.

People rely on Sarah’s family for healing balms, protection and the odd curse, but it’s the 17th century and whispers of witchcraft are never far away. Sarah is used to being an outcast, but a forbidden relationship with a farmer’s son gives her a glimpse of how different her life could be. A gripping story and talented narrator make this a must read for historical fiction fans.

Set in Lancashire during the 1620’s when the fear of witchcraft was at its height, Cunning Women focuses on a developing relationship between a daughter of a ‘cunning woman’ and a local farmers son.

Sarah’s mother practises ‘witchcraft’ in terms of using nature to provide cures and curses and Sarah is aware of a mark that identifies her as having these gifts too. Although most of the local community have sought her mothers help in the past for illness and ailment, they fear their abilities especially when a new magistrate arrives and is very damning to any suspected witchcraft. The whole family are treated as outcasts so when Sarah meets the local farmers son, Daniel, she is surprised to find a spark between them.

This book is beautifully written, I especially like the Lancashire tongue that the dialogue is written in which was enchanted by the brilliant narration on the audiobook. The storyline is enjoyable and the relationship between Sarah and Daniel was one I was willing to work out against the odds. It did miss a wow factor for me and the ending was a little disappointing but overall this is a lovely, easy, enjoyable read which I would recommend.