When Clara Dahl returns to seemingly quiet and idyllic little Norwegian town, Rossby, she is shocked to find a witch hunter is invited to weed out the female population. Supported by town council, untrue and silly allegations are made against women and Clara has to take drastic measures to prevent her best friend from being tried as a witch. On this quest a couple of surprising allies turn up.

Catching a Witch by Heidi Eljarbo is about, idyllic little town, Rossby, in western Norway which gets a visit from famous English witch hunter Angus Hill. Rumors and allegations are made by children and people with all kinds of agendas to cast blame on town’s women. With an unbelievable mixture of misguided beliefs and share callousness Angus Hill rounds up innocent women, including Clara’s best friend Bess, and throws them in jail. In danger of being declared a witch herself Clara tries to speak in their favor, but as a woman she is not heard. She has to resort to drastic measures and the help of a couple of surprising allies to free the “suspects”.

Main character Clara Dahl is the well educated and privileged minister’s daughter who has an exotic background very different from others in the village. She has a mindset reminiscent of today. I find her kind and assertive even though she seems to view herself as slightly introverted and is my favorite character in this story.

Innkeeper/Councilman Hansen seems to have plenty of negative traits. I find him disrespectful and focused on keeping up his power and reputation. He carries around a stick he uses to beat children who get in his way. When deciding my least favorite character there is plenty to choose from, but Hansen is certainly right at the top of the list.

I felt the writing of Catching a Witch was vivid, descriptive and engaging.
I enjoyed the descriptions of village health care and the closeness of women in the little village community. The use of medicinal herbs seemed close to cooking and the natural knowledge of women brought from mother to daughter through generations I find fascinating. These descriptions were my favorite parts of the story.

The witch trials described seemed to have elements of gruesome entertainment which reminds me of descriptions of beheadings in town squares in the Middle Ages. I felt a hurtful lump in my stomach reading these parts of the story. Most savage methods were used against innocent, even pregnant, women. This was my least favorite part of this story, although I appreciated the dramatic element.

As I have not read any historical fiction set in Norway 1600s, I think the research of village life in western Norway was educational and great. The witch hunter’s methods and activities I found mind numbingly atrocious. -Good writing.

Similar authors to explore might be Geraldine Brooks, Katherine Howe, Kathleen Kent or Elizabeth George Speare.

Thank you to author Heidi Eljarbo for providing this copy which gave me the opportunity to share my honest review. All opinions in this review are completely my own.

My rating: 3 stars / 5
Main reasons: Good character development and research, Vivid writing