Cunning Folk
Life in the Era of Practical Magic
by Tabitha Stanmore
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Pub Date 2 May 2024 | Archive Date 1 Jun 2024
Random House UK, Vintage | Bodley Head
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Description
Cunning Folk transports us to a time when magic was used to solve life’s 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-Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England
It’s 1600 and you’ve lost your precious silver spoons, or maybe they’ve been stolen. Perhaps your child has a fever. Or you’re facing trial. Maybe you’re 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
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781847927316 |
| PRICE | £20.00 (GBP) |
| PAGES | 288 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Cheryl P, Reviewer
Fascinating, well researched and detailed book on both historical and modern stories about people relying on Cunning Folk.
The author has clearly done the leg work for this book and it shows, setting the scenes for many of the tales very well and you become immersed in it all very quickly.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read and review this book.
Mary H, Reviewer
A veritable treasure trove of historical research, mostly related to magic. I didn't expect this level of detail and I am pleasantly surprised by it. The author even tells of an event that occurred in modern times, when a fortune teller who charged 3 pouns for short readings and 7 pounds for long ones had a queue stretching right around the block in London, around 140 people long. The author was one of the people who queued. Also I learned that the demand for psychics went up during the early days of the covid pandemic and the financial crisis of 2008.
However most of the book was historical and I learned that aristocrats as well as commoners were involved in magical practices, some of the names I already knew but I did not know of others suspected of magic.
An excellent guide to magical practices and other things associated with magic, such as alchemy, which laid the foundations for modern chemistry.
I would give this book more than 5 stars if I could for the sheer level of detail and research that went into it.
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