Description

Its summer I stand where perhaps Ellen stood in this ground thick with new thistle and long grass She would have ken this coast in all weathers in the summer when it was as gentle as a lake and in the winter with the high winds and stinging salt spray

A beautifully written journey through Scottish history and across the Scottish landscape in search of the women accused and killed during the witch hunts

Ashes and Stones is a moving and personal journey along rugged coasts and through remote villages and modern cities in search of the traces of those accused of witchcraft in seventeenthcentury Scotland We visit modern memorials roadside shrines and standing stones and roam among forests and hedge mazes folk lore and political fantasies From fairy hills to forgotten caves we explore a spellbound landscape

Allyson Shaw untangles the myth of witchcraft and gives voice to those erased by it Her elegant and lucid prose weaves threads of history and feminist reclamation alongside beautiful travel nature and memoir writing to create a vibrant memorial This is the untold story of the witches monuments of Scotland and the womens lives they mark Ashes and Stones is a trove of folklore linking the lives of modern women to the horrors of the past and it is record of resilience and a call to choose and remember our ancestors

P2023 Hodder amp Stoughton Limited