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Reviews

“In this riveting sequel to Widdershins, Helen Steadman takes us once more into England’s seventeenth century, a time of political and religious strife, where the Church of England was still looking to squelch, not just Catholic practices, but also traces of the old religion in towns and rural communities. It was a time in which superstition and paranoia about witchcraft peaked, darkly serving a deeper trend by which the new patriarchy of the Modern State sought to destroy women’s power within communities by suppressing their knowledge of healing and herbs, their practice of medicine, and so undermine their authority within family and township.

Accusations of witchcraft and dealings with the devil became a useful way of spreading terror and forcing women into unrestricted domestic submission.

This is the deeper story underlying the narrative of Sunwise, where a crazed and unsatisfied witch hunter returns for a woman he was unable to hang in the past for witchcraft; a woman he has become evilly obsessed with; a woman who although loved and respected in her community, nobody is really able to protect.

The story is narrated in two voices belonging to Jane and John, the alleged witch and her witch hunter, both radically opposite in tone and intention, but that end up entwining in a daunting final denouement.

Steadman’s skilful and resplendent prose leads the reader easily into villages, manses and cottages, festivities and day-to-day lives, with amazing detail and descriptions of a past age that jump off the page of the novel. The historical research is rich; scenes and spaces, deliciously visual, and the language employed by the protagonists and throughout the narrative is authentic and consistent, transporting us back in time just by virtue of its ancient tonality.

A great read, not to be missed". - Susana Aikin, author of We Shall See the Sky Sparkling and The Weight of the Heart

Author Biography

Dr Helen Steadman is a historical novelist. Her best-selling first novel, Widdershins and its sequel, Sunwise were inspired by the Newcastle witch trials. Her third novel, The Running Wolf will be published by Impress Books on 10 November, 2020.

Despite the Newcastle witch trials being the largest mass execution of witches on a single day in England, they are not widely known about. Helen is particularly interested in revealing hidden histories and she is a thorough researcher who goes to great lengths in pursuit of historical accuracy. To get under the skin of the cunning women in Widdershins and Sunwise, Helen trained in herbalism and learned how to identify, grow and harvest plants and then made herbal medicines from bark, seeds, flowers and berries.

The Running Wolf is the story of a group of master swordmakers who left Solingen, Germany and moved to Shotley Bridge, England in 1687. As well as carrying out in-depth archive research and visiting forges in Solingen to bring her story to life, Helen also undertook blacksmith training, which culminated in making her own sword.

Helen is now working on her fourth novel.