The Sorcerer's Tale

By Alec Ryrie,

Book cover of The Sorcerer's Tale: Faith and Fraud in Tudor England

Book description

An earl's son, plotting murder by witchcraft; conjuring spirits to find buried treasure; a stolen coat embroidered with pure silver; crooked gaming-houses and brothels; a terrifying new disease, and the self-trained surgeon who claims he can treat it.

This is the world of Gregory Wisdom, a physician, magician, and consummate…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked The Sorcerer's Tale as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

A neglected classic of popular history. This book taught me things about the history of magic that now seem so obvious and important that I wonder how I missed them before. Ryrie tells the story of the fraudulent magician Gregory Wisdom, whose deception of a Tudor nobleman led to allegations of attempted murder by witchcraft. More broadly, he reveals a world in which the widespread acceptance of occult phenomena made counterfeit magic alluringly credible, and charlatans co-existed with “genuine” practitioners of magic. I know of no other book that describes the twilight world of fake and real sorcery with such…

From Darren's list on dangerous spirits.

If you love The Sorcerer's Tale...

Ad

Book cover of Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS

Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS By Amy Carney,

When I was writing this book, several of my friends jokingly called it the Nazi baby book, with one insisting it would make a great title. Nazi Babies – admittedly, that is a catchy title, but that’s not exactly what my book is about. SS babies would be slightly more…

Want books like The Sorcerer's Tale?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Sorcerer's Tale.

Browse books like The Sorcerer's Tale

Book cover of The Haunting of Hill House
Book cover of The Shining
Book cover of The Exorcist

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,588

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in 16th century, magic-supernatural, and London?

16th Century 89 books
Magic-Supernatural 670 books
London 869 books