If there’s a story about witchcraft, sign me up. This was chilling, well written, the atmosphere was incredible; I felt like I was in the story with the characters.

Christian Shaw, at 11 years-old, condemned 7 people to the gallows to be hanged and burned as witches. Her decent into madness was caused by her first period and lack of information made her paranoid and hysterical. This lead to her family believing she was bewitched which lead to the townspeople being tried and charged for witchcraft.  However,  adult Christian now knows that what she did is wrong and when her bleeding comes back after years of having stopped, her madness and visions return. While she is also perfecting her bleaching thread technique to help her family fix their  fortune, Christian will have to figure out if she is still indeed cursed or her madness has come back to claim and punish her for her sins.

Red Runs The Witch's Thread is based on the true story of the last witch trials in Scotland and the thread that brought the Shaw family fortune but that also came with a heavy price! 💫💫💫💫💫

Set in 1697, Scottland, Christian Shaw works to perfect the art of bleaching thread in hopes to revive her family’s fortune while also purifying her past sins.

Rating: 4/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

When I saw this book was about witch trials, I was immediately excited! I loved the mix of historical fiction and horror.

Christian was an interesting main character. I enjoyed seeing her past and how she was dealing with it.

My only issue was sometimes I was lost between when it was the present and the past. The switch seemed a bit too quick.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

This novella was decent but I didn’t find it interesting enough to ever read again.

This is a historical fiction with a dark spin on Christian Shaw, who created Bargarran Thread (a quality thread company) as well as being responsible for accusing over 20 women of witchcraft, at age 11!

7 of the people were hung and burned, talk about an evil girl!

Based on a true story, Red Runs the Witch’s thread is a cool gothic horror.

We follow Christian both as a child and as an adult in two different timelines. She was responsible for accusing 7 townspeople of being witches which resulted in them being hanged.

The story centres around her complete descent into madness.

Quick read, excellent writing and keeps you engaged.

Thanks to Silver Thistle Press and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to Silver Thistle Press and NetGalley for the e-arc!

The premise of this book is rooted in the real-life witch trials which took place in Paisley in 1697, the last mass burning of witches in Europe and the main character, Christian Shawn, was actually a real weavesmith, who became hugely successful. Witch trials and burnings are fascinating to me and while I loved this story in the beginning, about two-thirds of the way through, I lost interest in the story for a myriad of reasons, chiefly, the period horror being underwhelming when it was revealed.

What saved the story for me in the end was the writing style, Victoria Williamson writes really well, but as far as plotting goes, this story fell a little flat and overall wasn't as compelling as I thought it would end up being.

Red Runs the Witch's Thread is an interesting take on a witch trial story - in these pages, we hear from the accuser. Based on true events that took place in Scotland, we are introduced to Christian Shaw, who's accusations at eleven years old sent seven to be burnt at the stake. Christian is now a businesswoman and the breadwinner of her family, seeking to perfect the bleaching process for her thread. Haunted by stirred up memories, Christian is thrown into her past and the madness is creeping back in. Will she make a deal with the devil in exchange for her success?

At times I felt this story really worked, but the repetitiveness of repeating things three times was not for me. I understood what the author was doing and I liked it at first, but it's over-use took away its effect. I wasn't invested in the story as time went on, but I do think many will appreciate this story. If you like horror-light stories about witch trials, I'd recommend this!

I didn't love this one but it definitely fit the bill of gothic and creepy. Inspired by Scotland’s final witch burning in 1697 and alternating timelines between 1697 and 1722 , it was definitely a new plotline for me to read from the mind of the accuser - not the accused witches. Especially interesting that the accuser is an 11-year-old girl who is basically having a mental breakdown after starting her 1st period (if anyone could benefit from sex ed, it's this girl). I liked the novella-style length and how it invoked the fear and hysteria of that time period, but really did not like the repetition of triplet phrases ("run, run, run," "red, red, red") and the ending needed to be more fleshed out, IMO. I also would've liked another POV, as Christian is insanely hard to root for, and it would've been nice to switch it up a little.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I absolutely adore a good witch story and this was as chilling and haunting as you’d imagine a book on the last witching burning in Scotland to be.

An 11 year old girl makes accusations of witchcraft leading to the death of 35 people, the story is told from various points of her life.

I really enjoyed the writing style, the book flowed well and from what I know of the Paisley witch trials seemed well researched and historically accurate. Would definitely recommend to anyone with an interest in these dark chapters of history.

Red Runs the Witch's Thread by Victoria Williamson

Paisley, Scotland, 1697. Thirty-five people accused of witchcraft. Eight condemned to death. Seven strangled and burned at the stake. All accused by eleven-year-old Christian Shaw.

Bargarran House, 1722. Christian Shaw returns home, spending every waking hour perfecting the thread bleaching process that will revive her family’s fortune. If only she can make it white enough, perhaps her past sins will be purified too.
Whilst I enjoyed it I did find myself occasionally thinking of skipping a few pages here and there but I'm glad I carried on .
Great plot and I,enjoyed the character Christian .

Late 1600s/early 1700s, Scotland.

This was such an interesting read as much of it took place AFTER the witches were tried and killed, and we are only in the head of the accuser. We follow our main character, Christian Shaw, who accused the "witches" when she was a young girl, and is the reason innocent people were killed over 20 years ago.

We get flashbacks to when Christian was a child and see the reasons she began to accuse the people around her. She is a very unreliable narrator as she really tries to hide and suppress things from herself.

I feel like you could go either way on whether or not you like Christian as a character, or at least feel some pity for her as she was just a child when a lot of these things happened.

The descriptions are lush and witchy and I really enjoyed my time reading this book while appreciating the fact it is based on true events.

Thank you Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for a copy of this book for review.

Red Runs the Witch’s Thread is a historical thriller mixed with some horror. The book features an unreliable narrator, which I believe is done really well in this novel.

A small negative is there isn’t a lot of character development, with the exception of the protagonist, the rest of the supporting characters feel a bit one dimensional.

I really enjoyed the ending, I often find myself feeling disasstafied with the way a story is wrapped up but that wasn’t the case with this book!

I loved the fact the story is inspired by the Paisley witch trials, the last mass witch burnings in Europe. The story has sparked my interest in European witch trials and has sent me on a hunt (pun partially intended) to find other books covering this topic.

I absolutely loved this read. It does have a bit of a slow start but once you get through that it is such a fast paced read. Halfway through I thought I had the ending figured out and was pleasantly surprised that I was partially correct and there was a bit of a surprise at the end. I loved the way that this was written and the subtle darkness it had. I loved how the end told you the partial truth that resides in this read.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for giving me an ecopy in exchange for my honest opinion.

A lesser known aspect of witch trials--the 1697 Scottish trials. This story follows a devastating, haunting, and vivid mental deterioration. All due to the failings and crimes of the distant past. Most of this story was compelling but characterization--our POV as well as other cast members--was significantly lacking. And the writing was irritatingly repetitive.

As posted on Goodreads:

Red Runs the Witch’s Thread is a gothic psychological thriller that packs a big punch in a short read.

What I really loved about this book is how the narrative is entirely different from other books about witch hunts/executions. Christian Shaw, the character at the center of our story and alleged victim of witchcraft, is not only an unreliable narrator to us, she’s an unreliable narrator to herself as well.

A woman with a myriad of issues (not least of all PTSD), we see her past in flashes of what she remembers and what she has blocked out to protect herself. Was she the victim of witches, or was she just afraid of the unknown?

Ms. Shaw is by no means a likeable character, but over time you can’t help but feel a measure of pity for a woman whose maturity was stunted the way that it was, as well as for those who suffered the ripple effect around her.

The shocking twists, unique perspective, and masterful ending (chefs kiss) make this a short but great read for those who can’t get enough stories about witches.

(Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.)

"Red Runs the Witch's Thread" just didn't work for me. I didn't like the writing style and, while I liked the premise, the story and its resolution just wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Silver Thistle Press for the ARC.

Interesting and a little confounding. There were so many elements of this story that were great and quite a few that felt off-track.

The historical setting was great and very interesting, considering the reality of something like this actually happening.

The characters felt one-dimensional like they weren’t complete. If the novel had been longer, potentially I could have felt more or connected more with the characters.

There was a lot of mystery regarding some artifacts of the story, but the whole time I was reading, I felt like they were going to end up being too obvious and they did. Again, I felt like if the story were longer, maybe it could have been kept more shrouded or more confusion about what was going on and who did what could have added to it. The supernatural elements of the story felt good and I would have loved to see them fleshed out further.

The terror/dread of the main character and the purity trauma she felt was the author’s greatest accomplishment in the story. You truly felt it and felt like you could understand it, even in the present world we live in.

Overall a good story with some great elements that I believe had the potential to be excellent.

I received an e-ARC and am giving my honest review

This was a very interesting novella. The twists and the idea of "madness vs witchcraft" was super well done and such a good topic! I loved how it's loosely based off of a true story as well.

christian shaw was eleven when she pointed her finger and named witches. seven people died, hanged and burned in the name of her accusations. now, years later, she is a woman trying to rebuild her family’s reputation, drowning herself in the delicate art of thread-bleaching, but the past does not stay buried. guilt and history haunt every strand.

red runs the witch’s thread is a gothic, psychological tale steeped in history, based on the real 1697 paisley witch trials. victoria williamson weaves past and present together with sharp, immersive prose, building a world thick with superstition, fear, and the weight of consequence. christian is not an easy protagonist—her choices, her self-interest, the monstrous echoes of her past—but that’s what makes the book so compelling.

while the book is atmospheric and gripping, some moments feel more distant than they should, holding the reader at arm’s length. still, the storytelling lingers, and the themes of guilt, redemption, and the inescapability of the past make this a haunting, worthwhile read

I got to 58% and DNFed. The story had good promise, but it felt like it was running in circles over the red, red, red and the ravens but it never really seemed to be going anywhere. I can confer myself that she strangled the babies because she’s so terrified of her period and what sex will bring, but this felt so drawn out. By 58% nothing had really happened in present day and I felt myself start to rush the reading to see if anything at all exciting would come up.