
SecretWorldOfaBook
| The Witches of Vardรธ
by Anya Bergman

Published : 5th January 2023
Publisher : Manilla Press
Format : Kindle, Audio, Hardback
Genre : Historical Fiction
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* All words highlighted in Grey are affiliate links to either purchase from a range of sellers or links to the authors sites. Where ever possible I will try and provide different versions of the book on all purchase sites.
Synopsis
They will have justice.
They will show their power.
They will not burn.
Norway, 1662. A dangerous time to be a woman, when even dancing can lead to accusations of witchcraft. After recently widowed Zigri's affair with the local merchant is discovered, she is sent to the fortress at Vardรธ to be tried as a witch.
Zigri's daughter Ingeborg sets off into the wilderness to try to bring her mother back home. Accompanying her on this quest is Maren - herself the daughter of a witch - whose wild nature and unconquerable spirit gives Ingeborg the courage to venture into the unknown, and to risk all she has to save her family.
Also captive in the fortress is Anna Rhodius, once the King of Denmark's mistress, who has been sent in disgrace to the island of Vardรธ. What will she do - and who will she betray - to return to her privileged life at court?
These Witches of Vardรธ are stronger than even the King. In an age weighted against them, they refuse to be victims. They will have their justice. All they need do is show their power.

My Review
๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐จ๐ช๐ณ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ,' ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ.
"๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ?' ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ.
๐๐ช๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ'๐ด ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ.
"๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ.'
Thank you so much @manilla_press for this absolutely captivating and spellbinding story of the Norwegian witch trials in the 1600s.
Im a huge fan of witchy reads and was instantly struck by the byline
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ.
The writer slowly introduces you to two specific characters, Ingeborg, a sixteen year old girl and Anna a woman imprisoned on the island of Vargo.
As the story unfolds simultaneously between the two narratives we build up a picture of what has happened/happening in their lives to bring them to the fortress on the island of Vardo.
Throughout Ingeborgโs, chapters we watch as her happy family is broken and her mother spirals leaving two girls, Ingeborg and her sister Kirsten to fend for themselves. During this spiral, of grief their mother begins an affair with a married noble and is labelled a witch. She is carted off to the island to be questioned and tried.
This I found heartbreaking to read. Knowing that women were truly blamed for bad weather, failed crops and other natural crises creates a fury in my stomach at the stupidity of these men.
Anna on the other hand tell us her story of how she became a prisoner through letters she writes to her king who she is devoutly loyal even though it is clear he put her there. What's so sad about Anna's story is the way in which the King treated Anna, yet her faith in him is still so unwavering.
She is a strong and impressive female character and it isnโt long before she has been tasked with getting a confession out of the blamed women in return of a pardon she expects to come from her king.
I loved Annaโs strength and her incremental back story. She was fast my favourite character until I neared the end and Maren, Ingeborg's cousin and Ingeborg just both shined through with their own strength and resilience and their faith that maybe, just maybe they could fly away and be safe away from these men and their abusing tyrannical ways and accusing words.
Weaved throughout the entire story is a constant echo of Norwegian folklore, from old tales retold to words that are whispered leaving you constantly wondering if these people did actually harbour some age-old magic or whether they were the desperate hopes of scared and desperate people.
The entire atmosphere of this story is one of foreboding and throughout it retains the disturbing feeling they dwells in the pit of your stomach.
This story evokes all the emotions for a woman. Anger, heartbreak, utter disbelief at how women were once treated. It was a book I literally swept through and was left thinking about long after I was finished.
Rating
โ โ โ โ โ
Purchase Here
I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts on this review, if you have read this book why not drop me a line telling me your thoughts?

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