Shining a light on the Scots women impacted by witch trials

But for some women living in Scotland in the late Sixteenth Century, the supernatural posed a real threat to their lives. Witch trials were rife around the country, with thousands tried and executed based on hearsay and flimsy ‘evidence’ such as having a mole or birthmark. That’s the focus of a novel released this month by Glasgow-based author C.J. Cooke. The Book of Witching centres around the real-life witch trials that were held in Orkney from 1553 to 1736, with one of the novel’s protagonists, Alison Balfour, awaiting sentencing after being accused of witchcraft. 

Cooke wrote the novel after researching the real-life Alison, who was tortured into confessing to witchcraft in Stenness, Orkney, in 1594. “I published a book called The Lighthouse Witches in 2021,” Cooke explains, “and when I was researching the Scottish witch trials, I came across a story of this trial in Orkney that really moved me and stayed with me. Alison was about to be burned at the stake and she turned around and said: ‘I actually don’t confess. You tortured my husband to death in front of me. You tortured my son and my daughter. That’s the only reason I confessed.’ 

“It’s really interesting that her retraction was written down because we don’t have swathes of records on these trials. They were not particularly interested in recording what the women had to say.” Cooke’s work has been described in some circles as ‘Feminist Gothic’, a label she embraces.
“You can’t overlook the misogynistic context of the witch trials,” she explains. The vast majority of those accused of witchcraft in Scotland were women, with male judges and ministers ruling on their fate. 

"There was a text called the Malleus Maleficarum, which was published in 1486. It was a bestseller. It was hugely influential. The book was written by a Dominican monk and it’s just a hugely misogynistic text. The entire book is just about how women are born liars, women are evil, women are witches, their bodies are deformed. That undoubtedly influenced the Scottish witch trials.”

(Image: CJ Cooke)

To research the novel Cooke travelled to Orkney and visited the archives to immerse herself in the world her characters inhabit. Writing has always provided her with an escape, she explains, as she grew up in Belfast during the Troubles and wrote a lot in order to deal with some of the turmoil she was experiencing at the time. “I’ve been writing since I was a child, since I was about seven. My grandparents had an old typewriter in their spare bedroom and I used to sit there and type out stories. It’s a wonderful way to process things. If you don’t feel a sense of belonging at home, then writing can provide a way for you to create your own home.” 

She published three collections of poetry in her teens but then fell away from writing until her early 30s, when she fell pregnant with her son and found herself with spare time to read more fiction. Cooke decided to try her hand at writing her own novel, “which was rubbish”, she laughs, but on her second try she was picked up by a publisher. That book ended up being translated into 23 languages, and her career as an author began in earnest. She’s now publishing her tenth book, with two of her novels being adapted into films. Above all, however, she hopes to shine a light on some of the women history may have forgotten. 

The Book of Witching is published by HarperCollins on October 10. C.J. Cooke will launch the novel at a special event at Waterstones Argyle Street in Glasgow on October 22, with tickets available to purchase from Eventbrite.