This is such a beautiful history. Witchcraft has always fascinated me and when I saw this graphic novel on Netgalley I knew I needed to read it. Every page is beautifully illustrated and has a mixture of fictional story and facts about witches that existed in times past.

Biddy Early was a healer and she was ostracized in her community for being a witch. However, many in her community benefited from her tinctures and medicines that were effective in improving their health. Nature is quite healing and Biddy knew what herbs and plants to put together to give healing benefits for different ailments.

It’s sad though that instead of embracing someone who only ever acted with the best of intentions and genuinely helped others, they persecuted her.

While Biddy’s relationship with a young pupil is fictionalized, it still was a beautiful story and helped with the teaching aspect of what witchcraft was and the tools, people, and types were. In this day and age Biddy would be considered an herbologist. Someone who knows and studies the healing effects of herbs and plants and knows what each plant is useful for what ailment.

Often times the biggest part of persecution is not understanding or being willing to try to understand new ideas. These days there’s more opportunities to research and understand the things that are new to us. People like Biddy are no longer persecuted.

It is so important as human beings to be open to others who are different from us. We cannot expect others to believe the same as we do and act the same as we act. When we embrace the differences that make everyone unique we enjoy a brighter more beautiful world.

When we persecute and judge others are world becomes a darker and scarier place. My hope is that acceptance and peace between people will be more and more the norm, but I know that is long off if it ever comes to pass.

Stories like this remind us to be curious and to appreciate one another as we are. It was beautiful beginning to end.

An easy read and a good entry point to the history of witchcraft in Europe.
The particular story we follow is engaging but not layered.
The cover art and the colour scheme are lovely but the main art could have done with more details.
Overall, I recommend this.
I wish it were more layered, darker and deeper.

Witchcraft: A Graphic History tells the story of witches and how magic works through a graphic novel, with a special focus on Biddy Early, one of the most influential witches in history. The storytelling is clear and easy to follow, drawing you into Early’s life and showing why she’s known for her magical wisdom and her influence on Ireland’s popular beliefs.

The book also explains the basics of magic and how it’s connected to nature. If you’re curious about how magic works or the different types, this graphic novel gives a simple and well-researched introduction. For people who already know a lot about the topic, it might seem a bit basic, but that doesn’t take away from how charming and enjoyable it is.

It’s a short, quick read, which makes it great for younger readers interested in witches or anyone looking for a light introduction to the subject. The art style is simple but nice, and it fits the overall feel of the story really well.

Witchcraft: A Graphic History, is a cozy, informative and beautifully illustrated graphic novel about witchcraft, the early beginnings of known witches and the dehumanization of wise women and healers by the ignorance of men and religion all wrapped up in a cozy, pretty and light package. We follow Biddy Early, one of the most well known witches and healers of Ireland, as she and our narrator takes us through a different timelines of magic, rituals and persecution of witches. The illustration is beautiful and informative, it leaves you thinking that some of the rituals we conduct everyday without thinking twice might be perceived as witchcraft in a different time. I had fun reading this, it was light and cozy, perfect for middlegrade as an introduction to the history of witchcraft through the years with some history and little teaching here and there or to have as a table book for visitors. I want to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read this e-book ARC.

Although this is was not an all encompassing history of witchcraft, it was a nice, light read that included some good basics. The author did a good job of weaving Biddy's story together with other facts about witchcraft, and the art was gorgeous; the color scheme gave the book a very cozy feel.

What a fun quick read!
This shows a very brief snapshot of Biddy Early, an Irish witch's life mentoring a young Lindsay Squire (the author).
I personally loved that Lindsay added herself into this - and I think there may have been some confusion reading other reviews that Biddy actually had this little apprentice, but it was a fun little added character that gave the author the ability to explain and describe some of the common tools and practices, as well as the injustices that were forces upon witches.
Do I wish this was longer? Yes. I would have loved to see the trail play out, but it did prompt me to do some research after the book to see what happened - I just wish it was included in the book itself cause the last thing I want to do after reading something is google it to get closure. Perhaps an epilogue similar to how the prologue was done would be enough.
Regardless, I adored the art style, and I would love to have a physical copy of this too because if it was this pretty on a screen - then it will be STUNNING on paper!
Whether you are a practicing witch, a beginner, or just curious about the history of witch trials, this book is a beautiful and whimsy glimpse into the past and present of the evolution of witchcraft and the stigma around it - overall ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Lindsay Squire for this ARC in return for my honest thoughts

The art of the book is absolutely gorgeous! The color palette chosen gives a cozy warm vibe with all the greens and reds that's very appropiate for the themes of the comic.

With that said, the tile of the book is "Witchcraft: A Graphic History" yet it doesn't actually tell the history of witchcraft, nor does it tell the full story of Biddy's life or the trial she went though. The little stories about her and her apprentice are nice, but I personally couldn't properly enjoy them because every two narrative pages there were two or three glossary pages talking about famous witches, famous trials, elements to use for spells, etc.

I feel like it would have been benefitial to first show the comic and later have a little glossary with all the information details, just in case someone wants to read only one or the other.

There's also formatting mistakes on pages 28, 31, 39, 64 and 70

A good beginner read, great art and historical information. It’s very Eurocentric though. The story is very charming and has a happy ending. Wish we could have seen a version where the people support her in the trial.

the illustrations??? are you kidding me? so stunning! this is a great little graphic novel for those who want to learn more about Irish herbalist Biddy Early (though some parts are fabricated, which is disclosed at the beginning) as well as magic in general!

This was such a lovely look into witchcraft! It's very beginner friendly and the art is beautiful. There were some issue with the text placement, but that was the only thing I noted through my delightful read!

Good book, had a nice time reading it! Illustrations were amazing 🔮

Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy

Alongside gorgeous illustrations, Witchcraft: A Graphic History gives a thoughtful and light education on not just the story of Biddy Early, but also witchcraft and witch hunts throughout history, it has me craving to learn more about the histories touch on, but not deeply explored.

Review posted to The Storygraph on 11/10/2024

"Witchcraft: A Graphic History" was a very interesting read! The historical aspects and characters were woven well together to keep the reader engaged. The art was beautiful as well. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book!

adventurous informative lighthearted fast-paced
3.75 rounded up to 4


The illustrations are beautiful 4.5/5
However guide to witch craft content & the story of buddy early 3/5

I think there are visual glossary pages are great - they give an introduction to key terms. The book covers list of the concepts in a beautiful way form merfolk to tools.
However the main story about Biddy Early is lack lustre and could definitely do with more expansion.

I can’t attest to the accuracy from a Wiccan perspective but merely as a reader who enjoys witchy things .


Ideal reader:
Someone more interested in visuals over content
A visual learner looking for intro into witchcraft

This was a reasonably good look at Witchcraft through the lens of a single witch, Biddy Early.

It looked at various aspects of the craft and interwove these into a fictional historic reenactment of a period in Biddy's life.

For me it was a bit too twee and sweet and didn't really go into any great depth of the history of witchcraft, just this one period in one life with some banal info panels about the history of the various trials and laws that were around in Western Europe.

Reasonable read but just a bit meh really.

The graphic novel starts with one of my least favorite quotes I see on every Salem tourists overpriced t-shirt: "We are granddaughters of the women you did not burn." Now...this is a better departure of the "witches you did not burn" version but still, my shackles are immediately up.

The story is a fictionalized version of the author meeting the herbalist Biddy Early and the story used references from Biddy's history. This not only is wildly speculative about her work with witchcraft, but the fictionalized Biddy talks about forms of witchcraft that are contemporary to us. "Hedge Witch" was not coined until 1990. "Wiccan" is a neo-pagan tradition. No only does this feel clunky, it's leaving out indigenous practices of witchcraft like many books before it. Also the art whitewashes Tituba!!!

While the information in it is mostly sound and the illustrations very lovely, it's taking on too much with a very strange plot.

Squire would have done better to put her efforts into a modern graphic teaching of different kinds of witchcraft rather than try to weave a story with a woman who most likely did not consider herself a witch but rather a healer or herbalist.

I cannot in good faith recommend this to someone wanting to learn about witchcraft.

This graphic novel offers a brief but encompassing history and understanding of witchcraft. I enjoyed the mixture of storytelling with history and types of magic. The lack of transition between the story and the history could be awkward at times.
Overall, this is a quick and enjoyable read for anyone interested in witchcraft, both in history and as a guide. This worked quite well in graphic novel form and the illustrations are beautiful!

3 out of 5 stars
Thank you to Netgalley and Leaping Hare Press for the free ebook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have always found witches fascinating. That also made Witchcraft: A Graphic History an interesting book to pick up, because who wouldn't want a condensed story of witchcraft in a historical setting?

When I went into this graphic novel, I was expecting to learn more about witchcraft as a craft, but also of historical figures in a more biographical way. You could definitely argue for me receiving both, but it unfortunately didn't quite live up to the expectations.
Biddy Early is such an interesting historical figure, whom I didn't know of before reading Witchcraft. There is all the potential for an amazing story, which is then ruined by the fictional relationship with her apprentice, who is a self-inset from the author. This makes a book, which wants to be biographical, seem way too fictional to really capture this reader. If the apprenticeship didn't make up most of the main story it might've been easier to believe in the story, but that unfortunately isn't the case here.

I did, however, like the small infodumps sprinkled throughout the story. Usually I'm not much for this kind of deep dive into an educational topic in the middle of a story, but due to the nature of a graphic novel, I think it's neatly presented and bite/size enough to work as a light introduction to people who gathered an interest for witchcraft.

This is a fast read, and while the montage of events makes sense for the size of the book, I did miss a bigger exploration of the trial and a final conclusion to this specific event in the book. This book could easily have been another 100-150 pages long to make the story more full-fledged.
All in all it's an okay read, and might be a good preparation to understanding some of the details in other witch fiction you want to pick up, but the story of Witchcraft in itself left me wanting more depth.

Fall is upon us and with it the promise of Halloween, which makes us dream of darkness, monsters and witches (amongst others). But before that fateful evening arrives, why not take some time to sit comfortably with a blanket and a hot tea, listen to the rain striking the windows and learn about real life witches ? That's what i did ! When i got on NetGalley and acquired a copy of Witchcraft : A Graphic History by Lindsay Squire and Lisa Salsi, that's all i wanted to do as i heard the rumbling of an oncoming storm. I don't read a lot of graphic novels or comics, which is a shame given i love them. This one piqued my interest immediately (call it a sign !).
I devoured it. The artwork is beautiful and truly serves the narrative. The soft colours, the bold lines, the textures.. There was nothing that didn't draw my eye (page 18 is one of my favourites in terms of illustrations). The story in itself was very well recounted and i enjoyed learning some true historical facts through such a nicely told fiction. Indeed the research that went into this graphic novel is to be praised. History of the witch trials, history of magical practices, bestiary of witchy familiars and fantastical creatures, we've got everything in there ! I liked these little bits of knowledge that were interspersed between slices of Biddy Early's life. It made the whole learning bit may more digestible.
I had never heard of Biddy Early but am glad i found this book to teach me about her life and her legacy. The foreword by the author, a sort of short biography before the comic, helped immensely to understand who this woman was and why she is so important no only for witches but for women in general.
The only bit that left me wanting more was the fact that the trial was not portrayed in the comic. The foreword goes over it but i would've loved to see it illustrated. However i can understand why it wasn't as the comic portion of that book focused more on the relationship between Biddy and her young apprentice and all the lessons she had to teach her.

All in all, i had a very nice time reading this book and would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn a little bit more about witchcraft and famous witches while looking at wonderful illustrations.

- this review will be up on my instagram in the upcoming days

This was a super quick read. I was reading it on my device with a smaller screen and it was hard to read the text because it is a graphic novel. So I would say that if you want to read it, getting the actual physical book would probably be the best bet for you.

I feel like it is a nice overview of what things are within the magical world, but I did wish that it told a little bit more about the story of the main character.

I thought the artwork was very beautiful and the explanations for things were nice.

There was one part of the book that I did in 100% agree on was that magic had no place with religion and with science. I don't think that that is true but it is what the author put out there.

It was a very quick read. So, it doesn't take up a lot of time to complete it. I would put this in the maybe read if you're interested category because it's so short.