Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch

By Rivka Galchen,

Book cover of Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch

Book description

The startling, witty, highly anticipated second novel from the critically acclaimed author of Atmospheric Disturbances.

The story begins in 1618, in the German duchy of Württemberg. Plague is spreading. The Thirty Years' War has begun, and fear and suspicion are in the air throughout the Holy Roman Empire. In the…

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Why read it?

3 authors picked Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I picked this book up, thinking it might have to do with witch trials in Europe during the 17th Century, and in a peripheral way, it does because it’s very loosely based on the life of Katharina Kepler, the mother of famous astronomer Johannes Kepler. (And really, how can you resist the title.) But the novel delivered so much more.

It’s a witty, searing meditation on community, gossip and envy, the strictures of society, the corruption of power, and a woman’s determination to be her own person. Add to that some of the funniest, most absurd situations I’ve read in…

I’ve been to Salem, Massachusetts; I’ve read Stacy Schiff’s book about the witch trials. We sometimes forget in the USA that there were witch trials in Europe, as well, such as the real one Galchen’s novel is based on.

In 17th century Germany, the mother of Johannes Kepler, one of the fathers of modern astronomy, is accused of by a neighbor of witchcraft, sending the entire town into disarray. Although Galchen draws on historical documents, the narration feels contemporary, as neighbors use accusations of witchcraft as revenge for petty grievances.

I recommend this novel for anyone who checks Nextdoor for…

A surprisingly funny novel about a real-life witchcraft trial in seventeenth-century Germany that darkens as it goes on. The “witch” is Katharina Kepler, mother of the famous mathematician and scientist Johannes Kepler, who really was accused of bewitching her neighbours. The novel takes inspiration from the history book about her trial by Ulinka Rublack (also recommended) but it goes on its own journey with the evidence. Mostly narrated in Katharina’s voice, it’s moving and inventive, lifting the story out of the past and making it very immediate for the reader. As well as enjoying the writing, I learned a lot…

From Marion's list on witchcraft in history.

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