Witches

Gabrielle Glaister’s performance is the reason to experience *Witches* as an audiobook. She adopts a measured, authoritative tone for the historical analysis, but when the narrative pivots to personal tragedies—like the 1692 execution of Bridget Bishop or the Basque witch trials—her delivery sharpens into something almost cinematic. The way she enunciates archaic terms like ‘maleficium’ or ‘cunning folk’ lends the text an immersive authenticity, as if you’re hearing someone parse the original Latin or Old English in real time. That said, the pacing occasionally stumbles. A few sections drag under the weight of too many dates or redundant legal precedents, particularly in the early chapters where the groundwork is laid. The production itself is solid—crisp audio quality and subtle sound cues to delineate chapters—but I wished the editing had trimmed some of the more digressive footnotes. Still, these quibbles fade against the book’s strengths. Cawthorne’s refusal to shy away from the grotesque realities of waterboarding, burning, and public spectacle makes this far more than a dry academic exercise. Glaister’s narration ensures those moments hit like a gut punch. If you’re looking for a witch trial history that respects the gravity of its subjects, this is the audiobook to lose yourself in.