Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

The download date was unfortunately missed, I would be happy to re-review if it became available again. I have awarded stars for the book cover and description as they both appeal to me. I would be more than happy to re-read and review if a download becomes available. If you would like me to re-review please feel free to contact me at thesecretbookreview@gmail.com or via social media The_secret_bookreview (Instagram) or Secret_bookblog (Twitter). Thank you.

Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me, it read more like a research paper , it’s so full of just names and dates and was very repetitive if you are looking for an interesting book covering women's history, this is not the book for you.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I very much appreciate being gifted this copy of The Last Witches of England
by John Callow, and the opportunity to read & review it. Thanks to the publisher.

Interesting, easy-to-read history of witches! Definitely a great one to read around Halloween time!.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is a non-fiction and history classification. Very interesting if you want to read about the history of witches. The author is wonderful.

I very much enjoyed this book. It was clearly well-researched and accessible to read.

Many thanks to John Callow, NetGalley and Bloomsbury for this copy.

If you have an interest in this subject then this is fascinating! It's gives insight into the 3 women who faced trial for witchcraft for the sole reason they were old and poor but also looks at the treatment and life of robben in general.

If you're not truly interested in this topic then I wouldn't recommend as it's detailed and written for those with a genuine interest.
The book is clearly the result of meticulous research and I found it so interesting. Its one of those books I will read again in the future.

A dramatic and powerful fictionalised retelling of events surrounding the last witch trial in the 17th century. A fascinating and revealing glimpse into a dark chapter of British history.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Witchcraft has long been a fascinating subject to me. I devour any fiction and non fiction books about the subject I can get my hands on. This one was very insightful and easy to read. Thoroughly enjoyed

I was excited to receive this arc from @ne as it was about a story from England’s witch trials I had never read about, the Bideford witches.

The story itself is not very different from every other incidence of people, usually women, accused of witchcraft. The accused were old, destitute and unliked by members of their community. They were the final group of women to be executed for witchcraft in England and as a result Bideford became a place associated with witchcraft even many years after the women’s deaths.

This was an interesting book that introduced me to a segment of history that I knew nothing about. The author makes the connection that the witch trials of Britain were a reaction to the political and relooks changes that had gone on in previous decades. I found this argument to be really fascinating. He also touches on the misogyny against women, especially older and unmarried women.

While I found a lot of merit in this book, it was a dry read and I was always aware that I was reading a history book instead of getting lost in the narrative. Still, if you have an interest in this subject like I do, I think you will find it to be an interesting and informative read that adds to the understanding of the witchcraft trials.

While this book did have some interesting facts I enjoyed learning about the last witch trials that occurred in England I think it's density really dragged it down for me.
It was clearly impeccably researched but I think that too much adjacent information ended up in the finished work, which just made it more convoluted than it needed to be.
Some of these bites of information such as excessive names and dates that really had no bearing on the main topic could have perhaps instead been included as footnotes or as suggested sources for further reading.

Coupled with the fact that there was really no personality to the writing style made this a very dry read.
It was about 30% into the book before you got to the meat of the trials and information about the three women accused and then only perhaps 20%-25% of the book discussed the trials before then reverting back to the politics and other simultaneous happenings of the time.
Which is still important for context, don't get me wrong. But it just felt excessive and a lot of the points made about topics that arose could have been explained by the author's concluding paragraph to make things more concise. It just began to feel quite repetitive in the points made and took the longest route to explaining those points at that.

When reading similar books on the history of the witch trials, for example "Witches: Salem 1692" by Stacy Schiff I didn't mind the detailed context setting up the description of the trials because she injected her writing with wit and clever humour. Which made it a more digestible and pleasurable reading experience.
Unfortunately, this wasn't for me, I'd recommend to someone who perhaps is interested in learning more about the politics of the time and area.

Witches and witchcraft and the history of such things has been slowing seeping back into the pop culture of today and this book is a worthwhile addition to the discussion. This is a book about the women that were accused of being witches, why they were accused and how they responded to the accusations. There is also a lot of discussion around the idea of a witch craze and why so-called normal people can be drawn into such a fervor as too accuse and physically attack such people that the populace at large deemed witches.
This book focuses on the Bideford witches who were the last women in England to be hanged for being witches. Each woman of the three responded to the accusations against her uniquely and with varying degrees of success in their end goal.
However, as the book shows - years after these women's unfortunate deaths, they were used as an example to take back and repeal the witchcraft laws that were previously in place in England.
This book takes a very intriguing part of history and really narrows it down into a period of time and set of people that were crucial to both the continuation and the ending of that time in history.

A fascinating and informative read. This book is very well written and I definitely enjoyed reading it.

Some people will find this book extremely informative and helpful, while others will find it rather dry and dull. The book itself can't seem to decide if it wants to be an academic offering or a slightly easier-to-read social history. I think that because of this it will likely end up with a wide range of ratings and reviews.

The story of the Bideford witches - three women accused of witchcraft for no good reason other than that they were poor, old, and ill-mannered - is interesting enough subject matter. In the hands of a skilled fiction writer it would make a great story. A social historian with a flair for the dramatic could make it an equally engrossing bit of non-fiction.

Unfortunately, in this particular book the story itself is buried under names and dates and an unfortunate tendency of the author to be repetetive. People wanting to know about the actual witch trials can skip chapters two and three entirely as they tell the story of the town itself and not the three women we all want to know about.

If you need information and research for a paper or project concerning the Bideford witches or witch trials in general, this is certainly a good book to have. If, however, you want a good true story to lose yourself in and contemplate as a bit of women's history, this is not the book for you.

Fascinating book on how superstition can show the worst in people, Vivid details, as if he was there when it all happened. Amazing writing, great author, will definitely read more of him.

Overall, this is an okay book. Nothing more. The writing felt like the author had a word count to get to. The sentences were paragraphs and most had more than two commas. That made the whole pacing get dragged down to the boring territory. Also, if I was motivated to do so, I would love to find out how many times the word ‘furthermore’ is used. I can tell you it's a lot. In the beginning we are dropped into what feels like the middle of the story. We have a prologue about the ‘witch’ coming into a house to commit mischief. That was perfectly fine but then we are thrown into the history of the town with no context. There are names that we will never hear again and get information shoved down our throats until we’re confused. Then we get back to the actual story about the women charged of witchcraft. The quick and easy fix to this is having a brief rundown of what happened and THEN get into the details. The writing jumps around again at the end and takes us to modern day with no warning and talks about new age Pagans and wiccans. Now I will get into the good. I’m glad that these women are being brought to the forefront as people instead of monsters. It’s nice to hear about how they lived and were raised. Unfortunately that was one of the only things I liked. The info-dumping and being dumped into a story with no context is a deal breaker for me. I would recommend “The Witches” by Stacy Schiff. It has a cohesive story and a lot of digestible information.

Fascinating and detailed look into the people, places and events that took place around the time that the last 'witches' in England were hung.
This is a great in depth study that will never make you look at villages in the same way again.

This book cast a new light for me on the plight of women accused of witchcraft in the seventeenth century. It delves into the circumstances surrounding them and how not only local events but national ones could add fuel to the beginnings of a witch craze, I felt that the stories of the women were dealt with in a respectful way and it gave me so much more of a wider understanding of how and why someone could be targeted as a witch and have their neighbours turn on them. I fully recommend this book, I was gripped from the beginning. Well researched, thorough and balanced - and took time to set the scene and create some vivid imagery that helped place the women in their context. Definitely one of my favourite history books.

The extensive research that has gone into producing this book is excellent and the author details the religious, socio-economic and political background which existed in the community at this time.

I was astounded to learn that the last of the Witchcraft Acts was not repealed until 1951 when it was replaced by the Fraudulent Mediums Act, which in turn was repealed in 2008. One of the things that I admire greatly in Mr. Callow's work is that as well as his examination of the society these women lived in during the 17th century, he goes on to consider how they are viewed through a 21st-century lens, taking in the remaining three centuries sandwiched in between.

It is an extensively detailed account presented in a thoroughly accessible and easy to read manner. I was engrossed from the beginning, and it made for fascinating reading.

What becomes abundantly clear throughout the book is that the three women were guilty of nothing more than vulnerability. Couple that with a society steeped in superstition and with an element of misogyny. The author has written an easy to understand and detailed volume of the story of these three innocent women lives.

I once visited Bideford and at the time I was completely unaware of the lives and fate of the three women featured in this book; Temperance Lloyd, Susanna Edwards and Mary Trembles. It has made me want to return to the town, and I would visit with quite different eyes now.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in history.