#the witches of vardø

[shiveringfrogspawn]

What book are you currently reading? How are you liking it? What book are you going to read next?

I’m currently reading ten (10!!!) books at once! Most recently picked up is The Third Daughter by Adrienne Tooley. I’m about a quarter of the way through, and it’s pretty good - I’d give it a solid 7/10. I like the worldbuilding and the plot so far. Started reading it based off a three-word review I saw an internet stranger give it - ‘magical furious lesbians’ and it really lives up to it ❤️

The other nine books I’m reading are:

Crimson Rivers by bizarrestars (a Hunger Games Jegulus AU fic but it’s so long I’m counting it as a book)

The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis (not really liking it tbh, the writing style just isn't engaging)

Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (I’m only at the start but I have to say, an all-female utopia is a pretty good story as far as I’m concerned)

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (not as good as people build it up to be but still pretty decent)

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher (Parisian lesbians with bookshops and a lot of wine? Yes please)

The Witches of Vardø by Anya Bergman (it seems good? I'm only at the start, but I'm loving the worldbuilding)

The Clockill and the Thief by Gareth Ward (a YA novel I picked up a few years ago and loved. It's the second book in a steampunk duology set in Victorian England (AU) and I'm rereading it to heal my inner child)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (needs no introduction - swoon)

Sorry for the disgusting amount of time it took for me to respond to this ask - I started typing this response ages ago, chucked it into my drafts folder, and forgot all about it.

What are you reading right now @nerdy-girl3791? How do you feel about it? What are you going to read next?

[curlygirl79]

The Witches of Vardø - Anya Bergman

Come with me to Norway, as I join the blog tour for the historical fiction novel The Witches of Vardø by @anyacbergman #WitchesOfVardo #BlogTour #Finnmark #HistoricalFiction #WitchTrials @Tr4cyF3nt0n @manilla_press #FictionCafeBookClub #CompulsiveReaders

Come with me to the outer reaches of Norway today, as I join the blog tour for the historical fiction novel The Witches of Vardø by Anya Bergman. Many thanks to Anya for providing me with a copy of the book, and to Tracy at Compulsive Readers Blog Tours for inviting me to take part. BLURB: They will have justice. They will show their power. They will not burn. Norway, 1662. A dangerous time to be…

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

I just bought a bunch of books and already had a bunch of books I either bought or was gifted relatively recently and haven’t read yet, but I can’t decide what to read next so I’m leaving up to you guys (and also if you have any other recs let me know!) 🖤

Thoughts about whatever I’m reading will probably show up on here at some point because I had fun sharing my thoughts on The Familiar on here :)

[enchantedpodcast]

Hear the role Norway’s indigenous Sámi people played in the Vardø witch trials in “The Perpetual Flame” at enchantedpodcast.net or wherever you listen to podcasts.

[gazingatmydoom]

The savage north held me captive. I was imprisoned in falling snow and blinded by glaring white light, empty of all shadows. I stood upon the ship's deck, and nothing was before me.

[propagandistisk]

hetalia goretober 2023, day 24 : DEALING WITH WOUNDS

During one of the witch trials of 1662 in Vardø, Norway is burned at the stake. Denmark takes care of him, or rather, takes care of what was left of Norway's body - a body that could still feel, hear, smell and breathe, but could not see or move.

[lectern-fullcauldron]

I may now be a week behind on hermitcraft (was over a month last week NGL) but ive just seen pearl's episode where she makes ergot the pearldle word and I was so excited. Ergot is my special-ist fungus, my good time mold, my darling danger. Ergot causes ergotism if it is eaten often enough - and as it grows on grains such as wheat and rye. it can be extremely dangerous if it is not removed before the flour is milled. Ergotism causes hallucinations, it makes you lose dexterity and feeling in your fingers, it causes fever. If left long enough, ergotism causes gangrene so bad that limbs will fall off without the owner feeling it. They call it St. Anthony's fire. There are arguments that it is responsible for the Salem Witch Trials, for the Vardø Witch Trials. The Devil is in poorly sifted grain, and Ergot-y bread is his sacrament. So anyway, thank you Pearl for giving a shout-out to my favourite fungus

[mothras-in-my-belly]

Just finished reading Piranesi by Susanna Clarke and I loved it so so much!! Just absolutely beautiful in every sense of the word, definitely recommend checking it out!

However, that also means that I've (mostly) caught up with my reading (everything else on my TBR shelves calls for a different mood) and I need to figure out what to read next asap.

So, obviously, something similar to Piranesi would be ideal - mood, plot, setting, the overall vibe, I guess? Little to no romance would be preferable, though I do enjoy some queer rep.

Some other books I've read and really enjoyed are The Starless Sea, Circe, The Song of Achilles, The Secret History, Vita Nostra, If we were villains, Bunny, The Ocean at the end of the Lane, Klara and the Sun, The House in the Cerulean Sea, The Witches of Vardø. Probably a whole lot more, but these are just from the top of my head.

So yeah, I would be so so so grateful for any recommendations from any of yall!! 🙏🙏 Thanks!!

[grimsauce]

Today’s goodies, all for the princely sum of £3.

Bookshops & Bonedust was from Waterstones and half price to £9.50 (a hardback copy and the only copy left in the store which I had to ask the guy to retrieve from the window) which was covered by £10 credit from loyalty points, and The Witches of Vardø was only £3 in The Works.

I really need to tackle Metazoa before I read anything else, but I loved Legends & Lattes so much that I couldn’t resist.

[libraryleopard]

Adult historical fiction novel set in 17th-century Norway inspired by the real history of the Vardø witch hunts

After a sudden storm claims the lives of most of the men in the remote fishing village of Vardø, the surviving women take it into their own hands to survive

nfortunately, the storm is far from the final tragedy to strike Vardø, as a new preacher is sent to the village to put the fear of god in its inhabitants, stirring religious fervor to a boiling point

Explores religious persecution, anti-indigenous prejudice, and the brutality of the natural world

Sapphic main characters, F/F romance, Sámi side character

[mouldy-old-books]

Bit late but I was busy in December: Favourite Books of 2022!

Number 10

The Ruin of All Witches by Malcolm Gaskill (2021)

I love a history book with a very narrow scope, books about the witch mania and books about new religious movements, and this ticks all the boxes nicely! It's beautifully written, tense and atmospheric without being sensationalist - although some of his insights into his subjects' supposed thoughts and feelings are a bit implausible. Still, with so many stories being published these days trying to Girlbossify the victims of witch trials and force 21st century mindsets onto early modern people*, I'd like to see more books like this doing well. It's dark, it's fascinating, I learned a lot and I'm sure I'll return to it as a reference!

*The newest offender, the Witches of Vardø, is published this week. Its author suggests that women accused of witchcraft probably claimed to have magical powers to give themselves "a sense of empowerment". The fact that justice in this period largely relied on torturing confessions out of people seems a more likely reason to me, but what do I know.

[adito-lang]

Books of 2022

I did not get much reading (for pleasure) done this year, but I thoroughly enjoyed these seven books and am looking forward to doing a lot more reading in the coming year!

The Mercies (Kiran Millwood Hargrave) 

The story is set in Finnmark in 1617 and is inspired by the real events of the Vardø storm and the 1620 witch trials. Maren Bergensdatter witnesses the entire male population of her community die at the hands of a sudden storm. Three years later, Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles, with his young Norwegian wife, Ursa. Ursa admires Maren and the independent women she meets in Vardø, but to Absalom the place symbolizes a mighty evil which he sets out to rid it of. The book made me want to visit Vardø and see the Steilneset minnested (memorial commemorating the trial and execution of 91 people for witchcraft in 1621).  

Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was (Sjón)

I made a whole post about this book here. The story is set in Reykjavík in 1918, and the “boy who never was” is Máni Steinn Karlsson, a 16-year-old queer cinephile who finds escape in the imaginary flickering world of the movies. Meanwhile, the global influenza pandemic - Spanish flu - arrives in Iceland, and day by day more people fall victim to it. Reading this short novel is very much like watching an art-house film, and during some of the feverish dream-sequences I felt like I might be losing it!

The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller)

This beautifully written and atmospheric novel is an adaptation of Homer's Iliad as narrated by Patroclus, who, despite being a minor character in the ancient Greek epic, played a significant influence on the outcome of the Trojan War. The story begins with Patroclus as a young Greek prince. After accidentally killing a boy of noble birth, he is exiled by his father to Phthia, where he befriends King Peleus’ son, the famed warrior-in-training Achilles, with whom he eventually develops a deep friendship that turns into a romance. Inseparable, the two learn and train together while attempting to avoid the negative influence of Achilles’ mother. They eventually set off to war together and Achilles’ fate, foretold in a foreboding prophecy, plays out in a tragic series of events. 

His eyes opened. “Name one hero who was happy."

I considered. Heracles went mad and killed his family; Theseus lost his bride and father; Jason's children and new wife were murdered by his old; Bellerophon killed the Chimera but was crippled by the fall from Pegasus' back.

"You can't." He was sitting up now, leaning forward.

"I can't."

"I know. They never let you be famous and happy." He lifted an eyebrow. "I'll tell you a secret."

"Tell me." I loved it when he was like this.

"I'm going to be the first."

Allah heeft ons zo gemaakt (Khadija Arib)

This is a collection of accounts by four queer women who grew up in Morocco, Egypt and Irak. I made a vocab list based on the first story, which follows Yasmin, who grew up in Egypt before coming to the Netherlands. There is a touching exchange at the end of the story where Yasmin meets her former suitor Majid, who has gone on to marry and have children. She comes out to him and thanks him for what he taught her during their time together:

"Jij hebt me geleerd nee to zeggen en jij hebt me geleerd te zwemmen. De eerste tegen wie ik nee heb gezegd was jij en ik ben verder gaan zwemmen. Niet in de Nijl zoals we vroeger deden, maar in de zee." [...] Majid, die zo sterk was en alles aan kon, moest huilen. Hij antwoordde dat hij haar dit had geleerd, maar het zelf niet had gedaan. Hij deed alles wat van hem werd verwacht: studeren, presenteren, rijk worden, trouwen met de vrouw die zijn moeder voor hem koos en kinderen krijgen. Hij had meer respect voor haar dan voor zichzelf, zei hij. […] Yasmin had gekozen om zichzelf te zijn, en dat was wat hij nooit had gedurfd. 

At Night All Blood Is Black (David Diop)

Protagonist Alfa and his close friend Mademba are two of the many Senegalese soldiers fighting for the French army during the First World War. Mademba is seriously injured in battle, and begs Alfa to kill him to spare him a an agonizing death. However, Alfa is unable to commit this mercy killing, and the shame he feels for this "failure" consumes him. He devotes himself to the war, to violence and death, anxious to avenge the death of his friend.

Don't tell me that we don't need madness on the battlefield. God's truth, the mad fear nothing. The others, white or black, play at being mad, perform madness so that they can calmly throw themselves in front of the bullets of the enemy on the other side. [...] Temporary madness makes it possible to forget the truth about bullets. Temporary madness, in war, is bravery's sister.

Swimming in the Dark (Tomasz Jędrowski)

After watching Operation Hyacinth, I became interested in learning more about Poland's queer history, which is how I stumbled across this book. The story takes place partially in 1980s New York City, where protagonist Ludwik has emigrated to, and mainly in flashbacks in the form of a letter to Janusz, Ludwik's former lover in Poland. In this letter, he reflects on their relationship and on the events that led to him finally leaving the Polish People's Republic. He recounts how the two meet at an agricultural work camp a few years prior, form a romantic bond and, after returning to Warsaw and being exposed to increasingly turbulent public protests, are confronted with the reality that they are standing on opposing sides of the political divide shaping their country.

En sånn rødt amerikansk scooter (Molly Øxnevad) 

This book will always have a special place in my heart because it is the first book I ever read in Norwegian. I jotted down tons of new vocabulary and made a character map for the novel as a fun little exercise. It's a solid coming-of-age novel that follows 17-year-old Erik in Stavanger as he navigates his mental health and several relationships within and outside of his family. Estranged from both his father and brother and often clashing with his mother, his closest confidant is his eccentric grandmother. The novel also explores how his interactions with his boyfriend Stian and girlfriend Jannike - the three are in a polyamorous relationship - affect his mental health and teach him to open up.

[neverthetwinsshallmeet]

#QueerYourYear prompt 23: South Asian author 

Alas! It is with a heavy heart that I come to instagram to report my first real disappointment of this reading challenge. The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave had been on my to-read list for quite a while on the recommendation of one of my professors, but I found that it didn’t quite hit the mark. Set in rural Noway at the start of the 17th century, Hargrave’s novel is inspired by the real history of the Vardø witch hunts. After a sudden storm claims the lives of most of the men in the remote fishing village of Vardø, the surviving women take it into their own hands to survive. Maren is one such woman, losing both her father and her husband-to-be, left floundering in her grief. Unfortunately, the storm is far from the final tragedy to strike Vardø, as a new preacher (accompanied by his young wife, Ursa) is sent to the village to put the fear of god in its inhabitants, stirring religious fervor to a boiling point.

Hargrave’s novel is a tale of the brutality of both nature and humankind. The bleak setting of Vardø is evocative and the exploration of persecution is tense and realistic. Unfortunately, despite The Mercies’s vivid atmosphere and unflinching exploration of historical witch hunts, I still found it far from a perfect narrative. The pacing is slow and tense until it erupts in the final thirty pages, the number of events unfolding in quick success making the pace of the novel feel oddly unbalanced. The novel also has a tendency to gloss over long tracts of time, which resulted in the budding romance between Maren and Ursa feeling somewhat underdeveloped to me as I felt like early scenes of their friendship were merely summarized. I also found myself at times far more interested in some of the side characters, such as pants-wearing Kirsten who steps up as leader of Vardø in absence of the men or Maren’s Sámi sister-in-law, Diina, who struggles to raise a fatherless child in a community that shuns her for her indigenous heritage and practices. Ultimately, while I admired this novel's immersive atmosphere and found the exploration of a lesser-known historical atrocity to be compelling, it wasn't a new favorite.

[enchantedpodcast]

In Norway’s far northern territory of Finnmark, nearly 5% of the population had been tried for witchcraft by the end of the 17th century. “The Perpetual Flame” tells the story of Norway’s Vardø witch trials and their legacy.

[gaybookcoven]

Kaylene and Claire discuss The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

*Our next book will be The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

Kiran Millwood Hargrave on the real women of the Vardø witch trials

Our Ever-Evolving Playlist

Our Other Podcast

[curlygirl79]

Anya Bergman

I am welcoming @anyacbergman to my blog today to talk about her wonderful book, The Witches of Vardø. #MeetTheAuthor #BookBlogger #AnyaBergman #TheWitchesOfVardø @bonnierbooks_uk #FictionCafeBookClub #Q&A #WitchTrials #HistoricalFiction #Norway

Next week, I will be joining the blog tour for The Witches of Vardø, the beautiful historical fiction novel by Anya Bergman, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it. In the meantime, Anya was kind enough to take the time to answer some questions for me, and I can share those answers with you now. What was it about the 1662 trials that caught your attention rather than the earlier trials at…