Cunning Folk: Life in the Era of Practical Magic

Cunning Folk transports us to a time when magic was used to solve lifes day-to-day problems as well as some of deadly importance.

A brilliant book, written with wit and vigour MALCOLM GASKILL, author of The Ruin of All Witches

Absolutely fascinating IAN MORTIMER, author of The Time-Travellers Guide to Medieval England

Its 1600 and youve lost your precious silver spoons, or maybe theyve been stolen. Perhaps your child has a fever. Or youre facing trial. Maybe youre looking for love or escaping a husband. What do you do? In medieval and early modern Europe, your first port of call might well have been cunning folk: practitioners of magic who were a common, even essential part of daily life, at a time when the supernatural was surprisingly mundane.

Charming, thought-provoking and based on original research, Cunning Folk is an immersive reconstruction of a bygone world by an expert historian, as well as a commentary on the beauty and bafflement of being human.

I adore Cunning Folk. A truly fascinating and human book Ruth Goodman, author of How To Be a Tudor

Packed with vivid historical anecdotes, this is an intriguing insight into the magical lives of past people and the history of our own superstitions today Marion Gibson, author of Witchcraft

Fascinating . . . opens a window into another world Tracy Borman, author of Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I

Full of such magical tips and colourful vignettes . . . crackles with incident Kate Maltby, Financial Times

Spirited and richly detailed New York Times