Ein sehr gelungener Roman. Vor dem Kontraste zwischen wunderbarer Natur, ärmlichen Dörfern und kalter, abweisender Festung entspinnt sich die Geschichte der Frauen von Vardø. Am besten gefallen hat mir die Solidarität und der Zusammenhalt zwischen den Protagonistinnen, komplex und fehlerbehaftet, aber immer menschlich und mitfühlend. Ich habe so mit ihnen gelitten. Selbst die kleinen fantastischen Momente haben mir gefallen, obwohl ich eigentlich nicht so in dem Genre unterwegs bin.

Auf der einen Seite hatte das Buch seine Längen und war etwas ermüdend. Auf der anderen Seite war es aber auch interessant und hat mich immer wieder aufs neue wütend gemacht, wie in der Zeit mit Frauen umgegangen wurde. Wenn man sich für die Zeit und Hexenverfolgung interessiert, ein lohnenswertes Buch, bei dem man etwas durchhalten muss.

3 stars, because it was a good book but not 4 stars because i will not tell all my friends about it and not 5 stars because am probably not going to read it again. This book is based on true events, namely the witch hunts that took place on Vardø in 1662/1663. The characters were either real people or their names were inspired by real people. I don‘t know enough about the history of this part of the world to be able to tell which people actually existed, but i guess it doesn’t really matter all that much. What matters is the anger and rage this book made me feel on behalf of the thousands of women who have been hunted and condemned and executed as witches, just because they dared to know about things like herbs and childbirth and because men couldn’t keep it in their pants and then accused the women they assaulted of being in league with the devil, sent to tempt them. The amount of sheer STUPIDITY in the tales the witch hunters spin and „crimes“ some accuse the witches of is staggering. I know all these men are dead by now but i still want them to suffer. What i liked best about this book where the folk tales that were interwoven with the story. TW if you want to read The Witches of Vardø: There is mention of SA. Not described in detail but it is very obvious what is happening and the character is dissociating while it happens.

however, i will add an extra star, because of the ending, the short folktales and (a bit personal) because i have been to steilneset monument in vardø and was deeply moved by it's architecture and most of all the stories of the women wrongly sentenced to death in the norwegian witch trials.