The Witches of Vardo: THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER: 'Powerful, deeply moving' - Sunday Times

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The registers of sins cover the sins of poisoning food, casting spells on domesticated animals, causing disease and death amongst people and casting spells on people. Meetings with Satan and gatherings involving drinking, dancing and card games on Domen mountain outside Vardø were also frequent occurrences. One wonders what the mood was like in the small coastal villages of Finnmark during the 17th century, and what fear the people must have felt for the devil. Accusations were often made by neighbours. Most of those convicted were women, but some were men. Steilneset monument is found on Vardø Norway, 1662. A dangerous time to be a woman, when even dancing can lead to accusations of witchcraft. When Zigri, desperate and grieving after the loss of her husband and son, embarks on an affair with the local merchant, it’s not long before she is sent to the fortress at Vardo, to be tried and condemned as a witch.

The Witches of Vardø is a novel based on the real life witch hunts which took place on the island of Vardø, Norway, between 1662 and 1663. It is beautifully written, atmospheric, with some gorgeous descriptive passages. The setting highlights how cold and desolate the landscape is and adds to the eerie atmosphere and feel of the book. Sölve Nilsdotter, Margrette Jonsdotter, and two more women were burned to death in Vardø on 20 March 1663. Anna is the King’s prisoner. She longs to return to the mighty Court in Copenhagen, yet the only way to achieve this is to cast her accusing finger on her fellow women. There are no witches in our village, Ingeborg, but the Devil does exist. Look into the eyes of our accusers and you will see him there.’ The memorial was designed by French-American artist Louise Bourgeois and Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. It was the last major work of Bourgeois, who died at the age of 98 in New York just a few months before the memorial opened to the public. Inside the Steilneset witch memorial at Vardø. Photo: Jarle Wæhler / Statens vegvesenBut I also think that there’s an aspect of it whereby it gives the readers a sense of community. Everyone feels a bit marginalised; we all feel like we don’t quite fit in. These books create a community for those people who maybe don’t want to follow the traditional pathways.

Anna and Iangeborg – two characters who are so different but tell such rich interweaving stories. My heart lept into my mouth when Anna was told she would basically have to join the witch hunts. Ingeborg was a complex woman and her meeting with Malen who is a VERY intriguing character just really made this novel a rich and complex tapestry for me which held me tight between its various strands. It’s slow going especially in the beginning but so worth it to push forth and dive into this dark, cold, violent, vibrant and fiery story where women suffer, die, but also persist and find happiness, searching inside for their inner lynx, their fierceness and royal-ness. About 140 witch trials were held in Finnmark in the 17th century between 1601 and 1692 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] in what is sometimes considered as the worst persecution in times of peace in Norway according to Rune Hagen. 91 persons were condemned to death sentences in these trials. The Steilneset Memorial is dedicated to these women persecuted as witches. [9] [10] [11] Beginning of the trial [ edit ]The nearby mountain Domen, where many of the accused witches were said to have met, is now home to a shelter to rest and enjoy the ocean view. The trials in popular culture

Many of the women told the court that they had been celebrating, dancing and drinking with the Devil. This was said to have taken place at Domen, a small mountain between the fishing villagesKibergandVardø. There is hardly anything happening for a great part of the story. A whole lot of energy goes in setting the scenes but there is hardly any action. It was too slow even on audio.Kirsti was sentenced to be burned alive at the stake on 28 April 1621, a couple of months before ten other women had been burnt for sorcery. She became the last victim of the great witch trial of 1621. The Norwegian landscape is a huge part of it. I wrote one draft in Norway. Then I moved to Scotland. I rewrote it during the pandemic. I was on my own and I was able to really go into the zone. It was quite a tough book to write due to what was going on with the characters. I would wake up with night terrors: that I, myself, was in the witch’s hole. We follow the story of Zigri's arrest, imprisonment in the fortress at Vardø, and trial for witchcraft through the eyes of her eldest daughter, Ingeborg. Ingeborg is determined to rescue her mother and sets out to do so, placing herself and her younger sister in danger. She is accompanied by Maren, the daughter of a woman executed for witchcraft, who urges Ingeborg to trust in the power of women to resist the actions of men and seems able to harness the forces of nature in ways which introduce a supernatural element to the story. Six women fight for survival after being blamed for the loss of the governor’s child. Wild accusations fly about their meddling with ‘weather magic’ and turning into birds and cats to steal supplies and sink ships. The irony of their so-called ability to transform into different beings yet are still captured in a fortress throughout an unforgiving Norwegian Winter is not lost. It just emphasises the real power that those in authority had to terrify and manipulate common people striving to get by, setting women and families against each other to issue blame for their hardships.

Ingeborg Krog [16] was brought in for questioning. She denied the accusations and was subjected to the ordeal of water. When she failed the test, and continued to plead her innocence, she was subjected to torture. She confessed nothing under torture, except for one story which did not satisfy the court: she claimed that she had once eaten a fish she had been offered by a woman who had been executed for sorcery in 1653, and may have consumed some magic at that occasion. Perhaps it was this remoteness that caused Finnmark to suffer a much higher rate of witch accusations than anywhere else in Norway. The character work doesn’t satisfy me, it felt like every character was written to play a specific role and to take the niche. The villains were too plainly evil(and I hate just evil characters because I honestly don't believe in such simplicity). And the relationships between many characters just don't feel believable. Altogether, it's believed that 140 witch trials were held across Finnmark in the 17th century. Of those, 90 people were condemned to death. Vardø is exposed to the Barents Sea. Photo: Asbjørn Nilsen / Statens vegvesenWitches at 'Gates of Hell': Norway's darkest hour". www.thelocal.no. 2013-07-06 . Retrieved 2019-10-25. Recently widowed Zigri Sigvaldsdatter is sent to the fortress at Vard�� to be tried as a witch when her affair with a local merchant is discovered. Her daughter Ingeborg sets off into the wilderness to seek a way to bring her mother home. She is accompanied by Maren, herself the daughter of a condemned witch. Maren has a wild, unconquerable spirit and gives Ingeborg the courage to venture into the unknown and to risk all she has to save her family. Vardo in 1621 was a foreboding place. Though the Medieval period, when supernatural powers were accepted as fact and the practice of magic was believed to influence everything, was long gone, belief in witchcraft survived. The church banned it. Science attempted to disprove it. Yet still the belief persisted, and it led to what might be called an epidemic of witchcraft trials–and executions–from 1570 to 1680. Scholars estimate that during this 110-year period, as many as 60,000 people were put to death on suspicion of witchcraft, with Sweden and Spain known for their high numbers of child witches.