With thanks to Netgalley, the author for giving me the opportunity to review this audiobook.

I had heard a few things about The witches of Vardo and was looking forward to listening to the audiobook.

Sadly the audiobook didn't hold my attention, the narrator got on my nerves and I found it hard to follow the storyline, it felt like I had to already know the characters before the book started. I made it about an hour into the audiobook before I had to switch it off.

I've discovered a new love for witchy books over the last year or so and I'd heard positive things about this. I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would HOWEVER it was a good book.

I think for me it was the fact that in some places it just felt really long and nothing was happening. I'm glad I listened to the audio or I think it would have taken me much longer (the narrator was great).

The interwoven stories worked well although there wasn't a great deal of character development. I felt like I knew the motives of each from almost the moment they were introduced.

Although I know a fair amount of information about the witch trials, I've never really read anything surrounding them in Norway so those new discoveries were interesting, as was the final chapter, "On Fact and Fiction."

A recommended read if you like a story based around the witch trials.

The Witches of Vardo was an interesting book. I think it would be better suited for fans of historical fiction. I wouldn't usually read that genre but I was looking to read more witchy books this past fall and was given the opportunity to listen to The Witches of Vardo as an audiobook. It is clear that it was very thoroughly researched and the authors passion for history shows in their writing. I had trouble differentiating between a few of the characters because audibly their names sound very similar, if I had read the book in written format I think I would have had a better understanding of some aspects of the book. If you enjoy the history of witches and witch trials then this is the perfect book for you.

I say it all the time I don't do historical fiction.....

And then I find myself reading Historical fiction and loving it especially when that fiction is rooted with historical fact.
This one was not only taken from real which trial that happened in 1662 on the remote island of Vardø, in Norway the way Anya Bergman’s exquisitely crafted writing will take your breath away, the depth of research is apparent on each page, the atmosphere created is so intricate I felt like I was there, living that reality.
The themes of this book are greuling at times with things such as death, severe cruelty, depraved brutality, inexorable misogyny, repugnant treatment of women, within this even while these woman suffered all of this the bravery, strength, courage , love that these women had and developed for each other shone through to me, the power that they had and although it took some time they were not without losing some loved ones on the way, were able to scream loud enough to be heard, with some help from some unexpected friends , a little bit of magic and the utter defiance of some young 'witches'

The characters Anya Bergman has written are so very resilient and show such strength in the face of the horrors they were made to suffer. The way the male characters were portrayed filled me with such anger and I felt such a fierce urge to protect everyone of the beautiful Women in this book.

This book is hauntingly beautiful, and so hard to read at times, it was immersive, captivating and had a gothic feel to it. This is one book I will not forget in a hurry/ever.
I am looking forward to reading more from Anya Bergman.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Publishers and of course Anya Bergman for allowing to to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first audiobook I've ever listened to so it was a strange experience for me. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the experience. I also really enjoyed the listen. A really interesting and disturbing piece of history. I was not aware of this before now, but now I am I will read more on the topic. It was a little slow but otherwise a really interesting listen/read.

The Witches of Vardo takes place in Norway in the 17th century, following two women: Ingeborg and Anna, During this time there is a lot of suspicion surrounding the supernatural and witches. Although this book was a bit slow too start I did really enjoy this, especially the fact that this was based on real life witch trials. I would say maybe there should be some trigger warning as some difficult topics are covered, but if you love history, the supernatural and witches I highly recommend this.

I didn't know anything about the real 'witches' of Vardo before listening to this audiobook, but I will be looking for more information on the subject. I liked the writing and the narration, and even though there were times you were left thinking why is she behaving like that, the character in question is acting in a way that would be expected of women in that time period, after all if you didn't behave the way that society expected you found yourself accused of being a witch.

1662 Norway and Anna Rhodius, once loved by the King of Denmark is banished to the island of Vardo. Life there is dark and cruel. She is forced to try and get confessions from women accused of being witches who are tortured and held in the witches hold. They will not confess easily. Ingeborg will fight for her mother when she is accused of being a witch.

Really enjoyed this well written and well narrated novel (I listened to the audiobook). Set in the dark of winter on a desolate place from which there is no escape. Love and hate are strong emotions and this novel contains both. Enjoy.

This book takes place in Norway in the 17th century, following two separate groups of characters. One is headed by Ingeborg, a young woman whose father and brother have died and whose mother has basically checked out of caring for her and her sister, the other group headed by Anna, a physician who has been exiled by the king. There is a lot of suspicion of witchcraft and supernatural occurences being used to explain misfortune - such as a flock of birds being referred to as a group of witches and so on. I enjoyed this book - it's quite slow to start with but it picks up pace and it is based on historic witch trials that took place in this location with the names of some of the accused being borrowed for characters. There are quite a few trigger warnings I would give for this book (child loss, miscarriage, domestic abuse, sexual assault, animal cruelty) which often occur quite suddenly in the story and I didn't feel added anything and could posibly have been at least toned down or altered. The audiobook is very good - I'm not an expert on Scandinavian pronunciations but these sounded plausible at least and characters voices were distinct.

I really wanted to love this but, not sure if because of my mood or if it was the writing or narration, I struggled a bit to get on with it.
I’d be keen to read more by this author or to give this another try in the future but it wasn’t quite for me this time around!

The narrator did a great job on this title, especially given the Norwegian names and the pronunciation required; in fact, I feel quite lucky to have had it read to me rather than trying to work out the names in my own head!

The story was interesting, and I particularly liked Anna Rhodius' story and the intrigue which surrounded her positions. It is quite a slow burning book, with three narratives interwoven, which made it difficult to follow at times as I was only listening to the story.

I'm not sure why Ingeborg is so hell-bent on saving her mother, Zigri, who truly didn't deserve her daughter's love or loyalty in my opinion. I know she suffered great loss and clearly fell into a depression but she was a hard character to have sympathy for in such a harsh environment.

If you like stories which are set against witch trials (The Crucible, The Mercies etc), then you will enjoy this title, though I am not sure I learnt anything new or compelling.

Thank you NetGalley and Bonnier UK Audio for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my word, this was amazing. It was gripping from start to finish. The stories of the women were full of emotion, vulnerability and strength - the characters were so well written. The narrator really added to this already great novel.

I really wanted to enjoy this audiobook, but at times felt the writing disjointed and hard to follow, the characters lacking and the finer plot details empty and often forgettable. This was a tough subject matter to cover, and i feel the author fell a little short, though I was really looking forward to the premise of the story.

I'm afraid I'm only giving a 3 rating because of the author's heartfelt afterword on the inspiration for the book.
Unfortunately, while the narrative structure and pace was reasonably well constructed, the rest of the story was sadly lacking and a very lightweight treatment of a sad period in history. The problem mostly lies in the execution, the prose: the author does seem to understand the underlying social and economic reasons for an "outbreak" of witch-hunting/burning, but the writing is in no way convincing; it is all surface depiction and fails to get to the bone, to transport the reader to that time and place.
None of the female characters were in any way either sympathetic or convincingly drawn; and the ending for our two main heroines was just plain ridiculous, and in no way related to reality. If the author had wanted to pay true homage to these poor tortured souls, then any mention of magic - which was certainly not available to the marginalised women who were originally brutalised and murdered - should have been kept out of it. And whilst in this case most of the so-called witches were women, it must be noted that this 16th-century phenomenon was definitely an equal opportunities employer, more so in Europe than in England, so the superficial treatment of pretty much all the men in the book (bar the Saami) was rather irritating, and historically inaccurate.
I listened to this on audio, so perhaps it influenced my take on it for the worse, but I rather think I wouldn't have finished it at all if I had been reading it.
My thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Set in the 16th Century the novel tells the unheard voices of the persecuted women of Vardo. I had not heard about the witchcraft trials in Northern Norway before so I found this really interesting and shocking. Based on historical evidence and real women it really highlights what a damgerous time this was for women to live. I found the audio book really absorbing and I was grateful to hear the pronunciatians of the womens names that I wasn't familar with. I found it a really moving audio book and the novel was well told. I was able to sympathise with all the female characters even when I could see the consequences of their actions. I was left wanting to learn more about this period in history.

I just reviewed The Witches of Vardo by Anya Bergman. #WitchesOfVardo #NetGalley

I enjoyed this story although I have never heard of this author before.

It was quite a slow-burner though so not for somebody who likes a lot of action or thrills.

Bergman's passion for this period of history and telling the stories of these women is palpable and definitely comes across in her writing which must have been rather painstakingly researched. I appreciated the inclusion of the 'fact or fiction' chapter at the end of the novel which shed more light on the historical events that informed the book.

I admire the premise of this book but there were several things that marred its execution for me. I found the pacing was a little strange, at times quite laborious and at other points hastening on rapidly. The first half passed especially slowly for me as I was waiting for the different story lines to intersect although this was quite a long read for me over all as well - this is partly due to the fact that I rarely read through audiobooks so not entirely the fault of the book itself. I found the final quarter of the novel the most exciting and though I understand the need to set up a good foundation for each character, I feel this could have been done a bit swifter. To continue this point, I found that the character focus sometimes seemed to 'forget' about a character for a while. There were points in the second half of the novel where I was wondering where Maren was and why there seemed to be a lack of interaction between her and Ingeborg.

(Mild Spoiler warning)

I wasn't entirely satisfied with the equivocation on witchcraft. I empathised with the novel's argument that it was patriarchal systems and entrenched misogyny and distrust of women that fuelled the vitriolic witch hunt but the novel decided to include the reality of magic towards the end which I felt wasn't fully fleshed out and seemed to contradict its overlying point that women were being persecuted - not witches.

(Spoilers end here)

I found the second-person narration of Anna mostly compelling but it occasionally struck an odd chord in its attempts to explain the past whilst remaining a letter to the King. This note of unreality resurfaced in certain dialogue which rung a little melodramatic and through certain characters which were rather cartoonishly villainous although this can be excused slightly since their actions were truIy reprehensible. What I admired the most were the characters of Ingeborg, Maren, and Anna who in their own ways were complex and faced by difficult choices and situations. The evocative descriptions of the landscape, the ways of life, and especially the Sami people and their culture were also extremely fascinating. I appreciated that folk tales were included periodically. I also liked that the novel did not flinch from the realities many women faced and made a point to emphasise the joint role of other women and men in power in denouncing these women.

Overall, I found this an entertaining and informative read on a period of history and place that I knew very little about. The narrator did a brilliant job and managed to read with great vivacity and colour. While my reading experience was slightly marred by the pacing and certain aspects of the storytelling, it was still enjoyable and a very interesting historical fiction. NetGalley doesn't allow half stars so I have rounded down but this was 3.5 for me!

Despite initially being hesitant to engage with another Scandinavian 'Witch lit' title, this book sounded so intriguing that I had to give it a listen. It drew me in very quickly to want to know how the stories of the main narrators became intertwined, and the excellent descriptive passages of the landscapes and villages painted a vivid, but bleak picture. I did struggle initially with the narrator and the similarity of both voices, despite them being from very different backgrounds. Once I was more invested in the story, this became less of an issue.

Unsurprisingly, once again, we see how women have been persecuted throughout the ages because of the whims, fears and insecurities of men. It is not an easy tale from anyone's perspective, but it is one that the reader or listener is compelled to continue with. I felt that it was a little long and overly verbose in places, especially when Anna is writing to the King, however, the conclusion, when it comes is most satisfying and not a little surprising as well. In my opinion, a worthy and welcome addition to the genre.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Witches of Vardo

This book takes place in 1660’s Norway where we meet the two protagonists Anna and Ingeborg. Anna was detained as prisoner and sent to the island of Vardo when it was discovered she was the mistress to the King of Denmark.

Ingeborg’s mother Zigri starts an affair with a married man after she loses her husband & son to a violent storm whilst out fishing. She is arrested on suspicions of being a witch and her two daughters along with Maren, who is the daughter of a witch, set out on a quest to rescue her.

This book wasn’t a favourite of mine. I do love historical fiction but I felt this a very long audio (14 hrs) where not a whole lot happens. I didn’t sense any sort of connection with these characters as they all felt a bit erratic to me. Fantasy and folklore are not something I usually enjoy but I loved all the little folklore tales that were told between some of the section. I think if this is your genre you will thoroughly enjoy this book.

It is a tale of a terrible time where women were treated so badly and accused of witchcraft if they showed any abnormal behaviour. When they refused to admit they were witches the cruel and terrifying violence they received from men in power was horrendous.

Thank you to #netgalley for an audio copy of this book.

Although a bit bit of slow burner, it is well worth sticking with this book. Beautifully written and truly a masterpiece.