Hex

During the sixteenth century witch trials, over a hundred women were accused of summoning up a storm to destroy the ship carrying the future Scottish Queen across the sea from Denmark. Starting on the day of her execution, Gillis Duncan recounts the circumstances of her arrest, torture, confession and trial, in a powerful and gripping journey into a space where myth, religion and reality combine with deadly consequences. Offering a visceral depiction of a culture of fear and superstition, Fagan explores the lingering connections between womanhood and the occult, and the obsessive mania of a king who saw the threat of demons and witches all around him. Devils, ghouls, cauldrons, ectoplasm, physic powers and black magic combine in a haunting tale by one of Scotland's most exciting and innovative writers.