Ashes and Stones: A Scottish Journey in Search of Witches and Witness

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People executed for witchcraft were denied funeral rites. I leave invented words of ceremony hoping this might help their souls to rest. The second is a personal journey by the author, the book also a memoir of sorts that adds a beautifully personal touch, making this more than just an historical fact book and more a logging of personal details, emotional feelings towards the history she is searching for and, I think, finding a part of herself in amongst the named but face less women she writes so wonderfully about.

Sceptre has triumphed in a four-way auction for Ashes and Stones: A Scottish Journey in Search of Witches and Witness by Allyson Shaw. Ashes and Stones is a moving and personal journey, along rugged coasts and through remote villages and modern cities, in search of the traces of those accused of witchcraft in seventeenth-century Scotland. I would like to thank #NetGalley and #hodderandstoughton for the opportunity of reading this advanced copy of #AshesandStones in exchange for my own honest review. There's reports of the trial confessions, alongside the torture that led to some of these confessions - it often reads like fiction but it is so scary to think that these things actually happened to these women! It looks in to the history of the time, the reformation of religion, the misogyny, paranoia and power that men had over women and it really addsA moving and personal journey, along rugged coasts and through remote villages and cities, in search of the traces of those accused of witchcraft in seventeenth-century Scotland. This is the untold story of the witches’ monuments of Scotland and the women’s lives they mark. Ashes and Stones is a trove of folklore linking the lives of contemporary women to the horrors of the past, a record of resilience and a call to choose and remember our ancestors. Allyson Shaw untangles the myth of witchcraft and gives voice to those erased by it. Her elegant and lucid prose weaves together threads of history and feminist reclamation to create a vibrant memorial. Allyson Shaw untangles the myth of witchcraft and gives voice to those erased by it. Her elegant and lucid prose weaves threads of history and feminist reclamation, alongside beautiful travel, nature and memoir writing, to create a vibrant memorial. This is the untold story of the witches’ monuments of Scotland and the women’s lives they mark. Ashes and Stones is a trove of folklore linking the lives of modern women to the horrors of the past, and it is record of resilience and a call to choose and remember our ancestors. Although historians of witchcraft often focus on why specific people might have been accused, the question is not of particular interest to Shaw. She seems to believe that even asking why individuals were targeted implies that they were at fault. “The people who died during the witch-hunts in Scotland,” she insists defensively, “were not witches.” Scholars are not trying to blame the victims. Instead, they are trying to understand why entire societies started not only to believe witchcraft was real but to think that people they knew well were consorting with the devil, to accuse them in formal trials, and to allow people in authority to act on those accusations by imprisoning, torturing, and executing their neighbors. Charlotte Humphery, senior commissioning editor at Sceptre, who is working with Toon’s authors while she is on parental leave, said: “ Ashes and Stones is a beautiful exploration of a dark history that is often forgotten or trivialised. Thousands of women were murdered by state forces during the witch hunts and Allyson Shaw revives some of these women – through historical records, physical presence and informed imagination – with tenderness and compassion.

Shaw's attention to detail and careful research make the historical setting of the book come to life, providing us readers with a deeper understanding of the cultural and social environment in which these prejudices occurred. Despite the subject matter, Shaw's writing style is engaging and accessible, striking a balance between providing enough historical context and keeping the narrative flowing.My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton Sceptre for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Ashes & Stones’ by Allyson Shaw. I complemented my reading with its unabridged audiobook edition, narrated by Lucy Paterson. One is a journey to find the Scottish Witches who were accused, convicted and killed in staggering numbers and who are now mostly forgotten or even worse, remembered for the wrong reasons, their history dismissively mis-told. In an attempt to untangle the myth of witchcraft, Ashes and Stones seeks traces of the women accused of it in 17th-century Scotland through the country’s “spellbound landscape” of modern memorials, roadside shrines and standing stones, spanning forests and hedge mazes, folklore and political fantasies, giving those affected a voice. Overall, this book provides a poignant look at a ‘fashionable’ subject matter which includes moments in Scottish history. Although it may have been written with a specific target audience in mind, anyone interested in history, social justice, or the experiences of women throughout history would find it to be a valuable read.

Charlotte Humphery, Senior Commissioning Editor at Sceptre, says: ‘ Ashes and Stones is a beautiful exploration of a dark history that is often forgotten or trivialised. Thousands of women were murdered by state forces during the witch hunts and Allyson Shaw revives some of these women – through historical records, physical presence and informed imagination – with tenderness and compassion. In this book, she has created her own memorial that is rich with magic of folk lore and the power of the Scottish landscape and resonant with the politics of today. We are delighted to be publishing this brilliant and important book.’ It's a beautifully written, impeccably researched tome. Not only has the author done her reading - often painstakingly untangling old Scots language, but she has also stood on every spot, comparing accounts from then to what is to be found now. The result is a unique addition to the canon, and one which will readers will be turning to in centuries to come. The depth of research is fascinating and I think anyone reading will only be encouraged to investigate more into this aspect of history that is not spoken about enough. This was a truly eye opening book of research into the many years of Scottish witch trials and the horrendous treatment dished out to so many, over so many years.A creative non-fiction book detailing Allyson’s investigation of the women hunted and killed during the Scottish witch trials that occurred during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Allyson provides a perfect description of what she has written: Ashes and Stones asks pertinent questions that are ever necessary in considering how we relate to the past and how we action remembrance. What does public memory look like, especially when it involves the state-sanctioned murder of hundreds of women? (If you walk down Edinburgh’s royal mile in the month of October you’ll find a profitable embodiment). Allyson Shaw invites us to envision the women as they existed outside of their accusations, as active participants - as well as victims - of Scottish and local society. The Scottish landscape has witnessed all of it, the burnings and the outcry and the passage of time, and Shaw’s lyrical descriptions of the local sceneries as she searches for answers for these women reminds us that the ghosts of the pasts linger and are not always as distant as we may think - or wish - them to be. Brooklyn Museum’s Copy Machine Manifesto: artists make zines, running from 17th November 2023 to 31 March, 2024 will include my zines from the 1990s made in collaboration with artist Laura Splan.