Widdershins is inspired around the 1650 Newcastle witch trials, the main characters are Jane Chandler, who has been using herbs along with her mother since childhood to cure the sick. Jane is accused of witchcraft and her mother was condemned, and John Sharpe and a man whose mother died during birth and his father blamed him and the “witch” who attended the birth and disowned him. John was an awful person, maybe because of the childhood he experienced but he was on a mission to expose all witches and put them to their death.

Witch trials have always fascinated me, what made townsfolk think the women were witches in the first place, the different ways they tortured these women to prove they were witches and how they put them to their death. The trials were pointless because the townsfolk had already made their minds up, without any real evidence.
This was an amazing book and audiobook; Helen Steadman wrote it so very well and the narrator Christine Mackie gave a great performance and she kept me wanted to listen to her.
There was a cliffhanger ending and I am excited to listen to the second book very soon.
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I was provided a copy of this audiobook as well as the sequel in return for an honest review.

This book is a narrative reimagining of the witch trials in Newcastle. It started off pretty slow with two main characters going through different periods of their lives.

It's got a lot of interesting information about herbs in it, which I enjoyed quite a lot, being a garden and self proclaimed farm which.

I found this book to be absolutely fine. It wasn't great, it wasn't awful. It was a reasonable size. It's a got reasonable character building. ( )

I received this audio book through LibraryThings early reviewer program. I really enjoyed this book. The writing is exceptional and drew me right in from the beginning. The story kept my interest and I really enjoyed the narrator's acctent which lead to the feeling you were back in the 1600's. The story of the treatment and attitude about women is central to the story. We need remined of how far we have come but also, how far we still need to go. ( )

'Widdershins' is a compelling read about women healers perceived and persecuted as witches in 1600's Europe. It follows the story of Jane Chandler a herbalist healer and the misogynist Witchfinder, John Sharpe who is hell bent on ridding the world of women he perceives as witches. Sharpe is the personification of evil as he forges a path of violence against women in God's name. He tortures his wife, blames the midwife who raised him for all his misfortunes and takes the path of violence and trickery to gain fame and fortune. Jane and her mother, as well as many other women are the unwitting victims of his treachery and debauchery. This audio book was a compelling listen and I am just beginning the second novel 'Sunwise' the sequel to this story. I cannot recommend this book highly enough even though it has a lot of dark moments and some tough subject matter. Five stars in my book. The narrator was excellent. ( )

Widdershins was a heartbreaking, fascinating & twisted read! The author did a great job taking a time in history & bringing it back to life for us! It didn't take long for this book to grab hold of me! The story is told from 2 POV’s Jane & the witchfinder which I really liked. It was nice being able to hear from both sides almost like listening to good & evil in one! Jane is the main character and you won't be able to stop the heartbreak you will feel for her! This really was a sad but great story! I cant wait to start Sunwise!
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