I was very excited to read about Giulia Tofana as I have heard about her story in the past, so I was really intrigued by this book. I liked reading about her story, or more precisely, about how it could have been, and I really empathized with her and her mission, especially after what she went through during her childhood. I did however find some parts of the book to be slow, and at times I was not a big fan of the writing style, but this is a personal preference. I also wish there had been a TW about the SA bits on a minor, since I was not expecting them.
Nonetheless, I am very grateful to Random House UK for giving me the chance to read this book!

I really enjoyed this book and had never heard of Giulia before. What that poor woman went through was insane and you can definitely see how it shaped her hatred towards men who harm women.

Obviously, this is set in a time when the word "witch" was used to easily against women for literally no reason, so for Giulia to have been doing the things she was knowing the risk she faced was nothing sort of brave.

I generally enjoy books that are dark and include disturbing content, but I do feel that there are elements in this book that many would not be comfortable reading, such as the child abuse and rape, and that there should be a trigger warnings list at the front so readers know what they are getting themselves into.

Books that contain triggering matters should have a list of trigger warning at the blurb. Considering this is an arc platform the readers should be provided with a list so we don't requests books that we may find triggering.

As someone who didn't know anything about the fate of Gulia Tofona I had no expectations. Violence and death sure because which female tale doesn't include that but what I wasn't expecting was child rape and no I'm not going to read something that includes this or at least it could have been written with very little detail.

BIG TW: CHILD RAPE, VIOLENCE TOWARDS CHILD

When you start a book such as this know, knowing what happened to the 'real' Giula Tofana, you understand you'll be reading harsh things as she was hanged, and you expect not joyous stuff. However, it's a thing to expect death of the main character, it's another thing to get into a book where the first 1/3 of it is based on the MC being 12~14 years old ; where it's showing (on page!!) the rapes she suffered at that age, the violence.

So it's pretty hard to say you're enjoying a book when you read such things.
It's not a book you can say you're enjoying.
However, I could say it fascinated me once we got Giulia as an adult.

It was (very) slow, but the way Giulia was thinking was interesting, fascinating. The multiple reasons that made her do everything she did. The different women asking for her help, may it be the acqua or regular care.

I feel like it was a good interpretation of Giulia Tofana's "legend". But the shock to have read such dark and violent things at the beginning of the book truly balance my final notation, because nowhere it's said we start with her at 12 years old, nowhere we're told we're going to read such things - I would have liked a TW at the beginning of the book, or the blurb.
En soit j'ai trouvé que c'était une bonne interprétation de cette "légende" de Giulia Tofana. Mais le choc d'avoir lu ces horreurs au début a énormément joué sur ma note, car rien ne dit qu'on commence avec elle à 12 ans, rien nous dit qu'on va lire ces horreurs - j'aurais aimé un TW en début de livre, ou dans le résumé.

We support women’s wrongs.
All of us wearing our own noose, now slack, now heavy around our necks.
The Foul Sorceress Giovanna. The Treacherous Witch Graziosa. The Most Wicked Temptress Maria. The Devil's Whore Girolama. Then me, the Poisoner of Palermo. The woman who started it all.

Giulia learnt the art of healing and poisoning from her mother, passed down from her mother. They make something that frees women from bad marriages, or from men who hurt them in a world where no woman is free but bound to men like chattel.
However, this could lead to allegations of ‘witch’ leading to a sure way to execution.

I wonder if we are always waiting: a woman's lot to be forever existing in the gaps, the pauses between the acts of men.

This is an empowering, gripping, feminist story full of righteous anger, injustice, and control.
Kempf knows how to lead readers to all the right emotions, using strong evocative prose that grips your heart.

Interestingly, this also has a time jump of 23 years, as well as a location change. This works to show how different circumstances still see women degraded and labeled out of fear to keep the dominant in power.

As men strut and preen, we make do with what we can, mere supporting players in the theatre of life. But what they don't know is what grows in the darkness backstage; the fraternity of women, the collusion of female-hood, the kindred understanding that blooms away from the harsh gaze of men.

Unbeknownst to me, this book is based on the legend of Giulia Tofana, a woman said to have poisoned a thousand men in seventeenth-century Palermo, Naples and Rome.

There’s a lot of Catholic-bashing and even another perspective which contains flagellation and utter devotion to his order and God.

If you enjoyed The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo, I would recommend this!

Thank you to Penguin Random House for providing the physical arc in exchange for a review!

I'll start with a little complaint: this was one of those NetGalley ARCs (from Random House) that kept crashing my Kindle. This happens occasionally. You'll take a pause in reading, shut the Kindle down, but then when you go back to it, it will restart itself. Sometime more than once. And lose your place in the book.

To the book then, which is from an author I didn't know, who has mainly been involved in ghost writing memoirs. This title attracted me because it's a slice of historical fiction, set in 17th century Sicily and Rome, and it tells the fictionalised story of a legendary poisoner. Giulia Tofana was said to be behind the poisonings of hundreds of men — as was her mother before her.

The front cover follows the current trend of tangled vegetation, with a similar vibe to books like The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly or The Puzzle Wood by Rosie Andrews or The Dark Between the Trees by Fiona Barnett. But this is no tangled mystery or gothic romance. It's a tale fairly straightforwardly told all the way to its foregone conclusion (which is telegraphed in the opening). There are two point of view characters: Giulia herself, and Pope Alessandro VII, who has his inquisitors on the hunt.

The author sets out to tell Giulia's story sympathetically, suggesting along the way that in a patriarchal world that denies people rights (like the right to divorce), many women turned to poison because being a widow was preferable to being abused and beaten. Meanwhile, Alessandro represents the patriarchy and its twisted view of women as objects of desire and vessels of sin.

The narrative is told mainly in the present tense, which I am not a fan of. I suppose this was a decision made because it's also a first person narrative, and Giulia would not be in a position to be what Genette termed a subsequent narrator. Who knows? Telling doesn't have to take time. Giulia being in the present tense puts the Pope in the present tense, too, apart from when he's writing letters — which makes some of his sections Genette's fourth type, the interpolated narration.

Anyway, as you can probably tell, I found it distracting.

Apart from that, this is well written and researched, and straightforward to read. It should appeal to fans of historical fiction and to anyone interested in the women's history. And serial killers?

A Poisoner’s Tale is the powerful story of Giulia, a seventeenth century woman who’s innocence is stolen from her and so many other women during a time of the Catholic Inquisition and women who have their choices, and lives similarly stolen by the men in their lives. It is based on the legend of Giulia Tofana, a woman who gave hundreds of women across Italy the ‘cure’ to end miserable marriages that they could not escape via any other means.

There’s strong female relationships, love for friends who become family, and danger of discovery dogging their every step. It is historical fiction that doesn’t shy away from baring the grim realities of murder, and the abuse of patriarchy during a time I would not have wanted to be a woman. As such there were moments that I disliked, others where my heart broke, and more still where I was conflicted.

It was well written and I shall certainly be watching out for any more fiction by Cathryn Kemp (who is also a ghost writer and has written many previous books). I did have one complaint, in that of the 5 most present women in the story 4 of their names began with G and in the scenes where they all were this was somewhat awkward to try to remember who was which.

Trigger Warnings; child abuse, rape, violence, and of course depictions of death in various ways.

I was given a digital copy of this book by NetGalley, and these are my own opinions.

I loved this book! I was so excited when “A Poisoner’s Tale” was announced, because Giulia Teofania is one the most fascinating historical figures of Italian culture. She was a prolific serial killer who lived between the first and the second half of the 17th century, and whom sold her famous “acqua tofana” in cities like Palermo, Naples and Rome. Her acqua was a lethal poison that Giulia gave to other women, to help them escape unwanted marriages, violent husbands, rivals and enemies. I think that “A Poisoner’s Tale” gave to her story justice.

As an Italian myself, I enjoyed finding in the book terms and sayings that belongs to the Italian culture. I also really appreciated the author’s note, in which Cathryn Kemp quotes her sources. In general, while reading I could feel that the author had a solid foundation with her studies.

The prose is quite frank and realistic. To those who could find violence as a triggering element (such as torture, sexual and mental abuse, child abuse), I suggest to search for a more detailed list of the trigger warnings.

I liked that, even though this is Giulia’s story, there was a focus on Pope Alessandro VII’s point of view. It was interesting to see how differently the inquisitor and “witch” viewed the world. And I can’t not mention the way sisterhood was portrayed. Seeing women of different backgrounds and with different stories work together was beautiful and empowering. I loved Giulia relationship with her mother and with her daughter, but also the one with her accomplices.

“A Poisoner’s Tale” is a book for those who loved “The Manningtree Witches”, by A.K. Blakemore. Both stories tell the life of extraordinary women condemned by the society for being independent, free, clever and ambitious.

I won’t give to the book 5 stars only because there were some narrative choices that I found quite anticlimactic in some point (for example, there were parts during the story that felt too rushed).

I was sent an ARC from Netgalley and Rabdom House UK in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this book wasn't my cup of tea. I liked the premise and the cover but when I started the book I just couldn't find a way into the story or a way with the characters. Usually I'm all in for anything witchy and a feminist story but this one didn't do it for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

My very first ARC!

A poignant and tragic story highlighting the suppression, prejudice and violence that women have experienced throughout history, and how we often only have each other to lean on. A moving debut novel.

I thought this would be an interesting story set in Italy in the Middle Ages and following the journey of a persecuted witch. Although the main character is strong-willed, her narrative voice was bitter and complaining and the start of the book at least (DNF at 25%) featured a lot of horrific child abuse. I just couldn’t bring myself to continue the torture of reading - there was no hope to be found for the poor young witch and I could not see it getting any better or becoming interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review and letting me give it a try.

I could not get enough of this book. It was so devastatingly honest and distressing. The experience of women throughout history is littered with tragedy, and this period is no different.

The tragic life of all the women involved in the story really stuck with me. The way a single decision sealed their fates will haunt me. The attitude and acceptance of death left me with chills. The final chapters were poignant and beautiful.

The saving grace as always was the love between family and friends.

A beautiful read.

This was a very interesting read, I really enjoyed seeing woman shown with this hidden power in a time that ignored them.