A beautifully written gem of a novel.a
A story of a strong woman that the patriarchs feared and labeled her a witch to control her.I was fascinated and immediately drawn into the story.#netgalley #cannongate,

Due to health issues cannot write a proper review now even if I enjoyed this book. as it's well plotted, fascinating world building, and intriguing. . I liked the good storytelling
A more extensive review will follow
Recommended.Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Bright I Burn, the second novel by Molly Aitken, delves into the fascinating and dark history of Alice Kyteler, the first recorded person in Ireland to be formally charged with witchcraft. After thoroughly enjoying Aitken's debut, The Island Child, I had high expectations for this book—and I’m pleased to say it didn’t disappoint. Aitken masterfully combines rich historical detail with a gripping narrative, making this a compelling read that lives up to the promise of her first novel.

I was contemplating giving this book a lower rating, but the beautiful writing at least didn't do that justice. Still, Bright I burn was quite the disappointment as I was hoping for a completely different storytelling of Alice Kyteler and instead what I got was her being a terrible person who deserved what she was accused of. While I do enjoy female characters that are multifaceted, there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to why she was acting this way, other than pure greed. It was a quite fast read and I have read worse, which is why I feel like other readers might still enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Canongate for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

TW: pregnancy, child death and abuse, implied sexual harassment and assault, murder, violence, miscarriage

“Bright I Burn” is based on the real story of Alice Kyteler, the first woman to be charged with witchcraft in Medieval Ireland though she managed to escape to England. It starts with the murder of her mother, leading through Alice’s childhood and her promise to herself that she won’t be another woman crushed by men. Alice soon discovers she is an excellent moneylender, taking over from her father and achieving more than many think she should. She is everything a woman of the era shouldn’t be- openly sexual, massively independent and willing to do anything to succeed. However, Alice is forced to marry to remain legitimate, first to a man named William Outlaw but it is a misery. As her success grows and rumours swirl about her, Alice’s husband dies conveniently. Not long afterwards, she remarries three more times, gaining wealth and notoriety upon their deaths. Unfortunately, her stepchildren accused her of witchcraft, bringing the weight of the Church down on Alice and her son, Will. This book follows Alice through her whole life, including her historic charge of heresy, her complicated relationship with various men, and the execution by the stake of her maid Petronella as well as her disappearance into legend.

This is a strange book but massively engaging, it’s written mostly from the perspective of Alice while also switching to the gossip and rumours circulating about her. I enjoyed watching her gradual rise from a terrified daughter, wary of her own father’s intentions, to an ambitious, ruthless woman in charge of her own fortunes, even at the expense of her husbands. She’s not necessarily likeable but that’s what makes this such an interesting book, knowing she was a real person and that she married four times to protect herself made it more powerful. I massively enjoyed the time skips and the way it was written is so lyrical and different, Alice’s voice is so clear and distinct. It’s a dark story, some parts were incredibly difficult to read- especially with her daughter Rose- but at the same time, I’m so glad that I read it.

A truly beautiful & exquisitely written novel. I’ve never heard Alice Kyteler’s story so couldn’t wait to begin and, let me tell you, it was a delight to read as it’s told from someone whose passion and research shines throughout.

A fascinating tale of a woman who refuses to submit to men’s will & rule, choosing, instead, to take control of her own life and as a result, is the first recorded women in Ireland’s history to be condemned as a Witch.

This is Powerful & evocative with beauty & humour that will have you wrestling with your emotions.

Thank you, NetGalley & Canongate, for the arc of this amazing book.

I really wanted to love this one, but unfortunately I didn’t! The writing was hard for me to sink my teeth into, as was the different timeline and characters. Just when I was getting really into a certain plot point, it twisted away to someone or something else, the entire thing left me wanting more.

Alice Kyteler sees her mother subdued and eventually dying, the role of a woman in 13th Century Ireland. Alice is determined to make more of herself and when she inherits an inn and a money lending business from her father she starts on a series of advantageous marriages. When her first three husbands die thereis gossip that gradually grows until this powerful, independent woman is accused of unnatural practices.
This book is based on a true story about the first recorded witch in Ireland and manages to stay true to the sources whilst still being a great read. Alice's voice is clear and the prose sings. Interspersed with the short chapters are songs and poems which add to the narrative and yet never seem pretentious. It's a short read but one which manages to be both powerful and personable.

Bright I Burn by Molly Aitken


When a young Alice Kyteler sees her mother wither under the constraints of family responsibilities, she vows that she won't suffer the same fate. Soon Alice discovers she has a flair for making money, and builds a flourishing business. But as her wealth and stature grow, so too do the rumours about her private life. By the time she has moved on to her fourth husband, a blaze of local gossip and resentment culminates in an accusation that could prove fatal.
I found this book fascinating , a great read.

I was very keen to read this as soon as I saw it, after having studied the trial of Alice Kytler at University. I found this a really interesting novel at the start and it filled in some gaps about her life initially, however sometimes the prose was just a little confusing as it was very disjointed and quite dreamlike at times which made it hard to follow. The trial itself was not really mentioned and the prosecution only happened toward the end of the book.. Alice was definitely one of the earliest recorded female serial killers and it was ambitious and interesting to make her the rather unlikeable protagonist.

Molly Aitken was born in Scotland and raised in Ireland, her ongoing fascination with Celtic myth and history informs this vivid reimagining of the life of Alice Kyteler, the first woman in Ireland to be condemned for witchcraft. Set in Ireland during the 13th century, it’s mainly presented from Alice’s perspective, interspersed by a chorus of townspeople’s voices. Alice lives in the monastic town of Kilkenny where her father’s position as innkeeper and moneylender has set her family apart, both envied and despised. When her father dies Alice’s forced to marry in order to take over his business, but the marriage ends in disaster, like the others that follow.

Aitken’s beautifully-observed narrative’s lyrical but never sentimental. Aitken uses Alice’s experiences to explore the plight of powerful, ambitious women in an era of misogyny, where a woman could be lawfully killed if suspected of adultery. It’s a medieval society caught between the old ways – in which witches and cunning folk were an acceptable feature - and rising forces within the Catholic church, resulting in clashes between the secular and the religious. Aitken brings in hints of Salem with her references to local bakeries’ mould-ridden bread known to provoke mania and delusions. But, unlike conventional stories of witchcraft and persecution, Alice isn’t portrayed as a blameless victim of patriarchy. Instead, she’s a far more complex figure, often far from likeable: her scheming and morally dubious actions stemming from her desperation to find some way of navigating the spaces between personal, bodily desires and what’s expected of a woman and a wife, it’s a refreshing perspective. Although there were moments when my attention wandered, I found this a surprisingly compulsive, haunting piece.

This book is fundamentally about life as a woman in patriarchal society that upholds different expectations and judgements about behaviours between men and women, and though times have changed the echoes of these still carry through in modern times.
Alice is fierce and bold, traumatised and persecuted, ambitious and cunning, I loved getting to know her.

I don’t know how I got the gist of this wrong but I thought it was a contemporary story of an Irish woman bumping off husbands and taking their money. Which sounded fun! However it is based on the true story of the first woman to be condemned as a witch in Ireland. In the thirteenth century. Despite my mix up I really enjoyed this!

Alice Kyteler inherits her father’s business when he dies. She has a real flair for it! She’s powerful (as powerful as she can be) but she does go through husbands at quite a clip. To be fair, it was the 13th century, people died of a paper cut. So who’s to say she’s at fault! Then a bishop comes to town and, fuelled by tales from Alice’s stepchildren, he goes after her.

I thought Alice was a great character. She’s complex and fierce and utterly self involved. She wants what she wants! There are a substantial amount of sex scenes in this book. Which is very Lucille Bluth ‘good for her!’ but… I know it smells crazy in there.

If you are super interested in the witchcraft of it all and are expecting about that then you may be disappointed. This is about Alice. The condemnation was not the be all and end all of her. And I think that’s why I enjoyed it so thoroughly.

I want to thank Aitken for giving a voice to the real Alice who lived in Medieval Ireland. I have never heard about the first recorded person in Ireland to have been condemned as a witch, so it was fascinating to read her story.

There’s a lot of fiction out there about ‘witches’ but this was a very authentic, historical retelling about a woman whose attitudes and actions gained her the title. It shows how easy it was for a woman to be dubbed a ‘witch’ just through her actions and at a time when independent thinking for her sex was frowned upon. Alice blazes her own path to wealth, power and independence. She’s not a traditionally “likeable” character but neither is she unlikeable, instead she holds her own power and makes you want to continue on with her on her journey.

Though it felt a bit shorter than some other novels, it was the right length for Alice’s story. It is not a light novel as it is bleak and stark, but it does have moments of hope and life.

Aitken’s writing style is compelling and lyrical, almost poetic. I particularly liked the way she wrote the start of chapters. It felt experimental, but was a way to weave new ideas into the story in a really creative way.

This was a beautiful exploration that took the theme of witches and persecution and tied it into a woman’s dignity and fight for her place against a patriarchal society.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I found it hard to connect with a woman who was a money lender, it was an unusual take anyway, especially at the time in which it’s set. I didn’t find her especially likeable and wanted to know more about what made her tick. She seemed quite harsh and uncaring in some respects, I was unsure if she had deeper feelings I just wasn’t picking up on. She came across as a powerful women playing the men in her life and sometimes paying the price. Not quite feminism, though I believe some of it was informed by it. Though the writing was good, it was quite clipped and stylised and you were left filling in the gaps. It didn’t sit quite right for me, but some might flow with it. There were some historical inaccuracies, such as the cost of fish being way over what it would have been, and I would have thought the author would have done her homework in this regard. You were leaping through the protagonists life, sometimes with large unexpected gaps. It’s not really about witches. There was some which was more passed over quite quickly and the main character wasn’t impacted by it in any profound way. I would have liked to have seen this woven more deeply and directly into the plot. I found the ending disappointing.