Name: Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch
Rating: 3.52 (25 reviews)
ISBN: 9780007548767

Rivka Galchen

The plague is spreading. The hundred year war is beginning. Katharina Kepler is believed to be a witch. The startling, witty, highly anticipated second novel from the critically acclaimed author of Atmospheric Disturbances.

Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch

sina (she/her) 

“When I was a girl, only the Catholics spent time on so much murdering and drama."

"He's too straightforward and German to live where people have been burned for not believing in eternal dam- nation," Ludva said. "People are too stupid," Suze said, which of course was unbecoming, if correct. 

The startling, witty, highly anticipated second novel from the critically acclaimed author of Atmospheric Disturbances The story begins in 1618, in the German duchy of Württemberg. Plague is spreading. The Thirty Years' War has begun, and fear and suspicion are in the air throughout the Holy Roman Empire. In the small town of Leonberg, Katharina Kepler is accused of being a witch. Katharina is an illiterate widow, known by her neighbors for her herbal remedies and the success of her children, including her eldest, Johannes, who is the Imperial Mathematician and renowned author of the laws of planetary motion. It's enough to make anyone jealous, and Katharina has done herself no favors by being out and about and in everyone's business. So when the deranged and insipid Ursula Reinbold (or as Katharina calls her, the Werewolf) accuses Katherina of offering her a bitter, witchy drink that has made her ill, Katharina is in trouble. Her scientist son must turn his attention from the music of the spheres to the job of defending his mother. Facing the threat of financial ruin, torture, and even execution, Katharina tells her side of the story to her friend and next-door neighbor Simon, a reclusive widower imperiled by his own secrets. Drawing on real historical documents but infused with the intensity of imagination, sly humor, and intellectual fire for which Rivka Galchen is known, Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch will both provoke and entertain. The story of how a community becomes implicated in collective aggression and hysterical fear is a tale for our time. Galchen's bold new novel touchingly illuminates a society and a family undone by superstition, the state, and the mortal convulsions of history.

A Novel

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch

Where are the chapters ?200+ for a single chapter makes me wanna pull my hair I had to dnf

Nala

Set in Baden-Württemberg (Württemberg part), this is a harrowing story of a woman falling prey to small-minded, envious village people (not the band). Got to admit that this only confirms my suspicions: Swabians are intense. 

Overall, it is an interesting read, though at times the switches of perspectives are a bit confusing. Also, you just want to shake all of the people, so they realize how utterly insane they are. 

Set in Baden-Württemberg (Württemberg part), this is a harrowing story of a woman falling prey to small-minded, envious village people (not the band). Got to admit that this only confirms my suspicions: Swabians are intense. 

Overall, it is an interesting read, though at times the switches of perspectives are a bit confusing. Also, you just want to shake all of the people, so they realize how utterly insane they are. 

Alexa M

this was enjoyable and pretty funny but i didn’t really get anything out of! totally a cover/title but tbfh

Cindy Lieberman

Who benefits when someone is denounced as a witch? This strange and strangely compelling novel is about a woman who is labeled a witch and the insane (but totally believable) reason a case was built against her. A treatise on greed and human nature. Told at times in transcripts from interviews, it was especially chilling against the backdrop of the Jan 6th hearings (insanity and criminal intent are apparent in both!). It has stayed with me vividly (the best type of book) so I just increased my review to 5 stars.
I also recommend this review by Ron Charles: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...

Fraser Simons

This was great. The narration is fantastic, really augmenting the testimonial sections. 

This is a true, and ostensibly straight forward story of a woman accused of poisoning the child of a neighbour via a herbal remedy. But word of mouth makes even this accusation far more complex. As the hysteria of the people gathers, so to do their stories. Suddenly she also taught curses to people and controls the weather. The small push into the culture of the town rapidly devolves into a very sinister—yet somehow, oddly funny, in the satirical sense—kind of way. 

It alternates between the accused perspective, negotiating life after the accusation, and the numerous testimonials, which act as a fluid set piece for the historical aspects, of which many are, I am told, quite accurate. 

I’m pretty burned out on Witch trial stories but this just seemed to be the exact right amount of reframing and characterization. Perhaps the fact that the townspeople become subjects under a microscope makes it seem new, or fresh. Either way, couldn’t put it down and highly recommend the audiobook, especially.

Stephanie Cox

I didn't have a lot of expectations going into this book and I'm glad of that. I think its greatest strength is creating a cast of characters who are both believably flawed and deeply silly. Her townspeople are prideful and foolish and full of petty complaints, just like all our least favorite neighbors and coworkers today. It's definitely not a fast or plot-driven novel. Don't come here for sensational witch trial torture. Just a grumpy old lady trying to get on with her life in spite of local shenanigans.

alice nunes

2.5*
não foi ruim, só achei meio meh. Eu daria 3 estrelas, a não ser por aquele cara que falou que tudo que ele comia e bebia ficava melhor com vinagre, yuck

Dakota Gigout

Well, I finished it…

This is based off of true events and meant to be fictionalized, however, it felt overly long and unnecessary. I could not tell whether this was meant as factual historical fiction or a tantalizing tale. I believe the author thought it tantalizing. I wanted to find it tantalizing. 

I could not guess what would happen and, for that, I enjoyed it. But, looking back, I’m not sure whether I could not guess because I simply did not want to?

The historical accuracy of how innocent people were treated during witch trials and the idiocy with which trials were run was wonderfully written.


All that to say, I finished it. You may enjoy it. You may not.

Rachel

Based on how fiercely Johannes Kepler defended his mom when she was accused of being a witch. Told through testaments, letters, and from a neighbor and the mother's interactions with each other, Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch shows how easy it was to be accused of witchcraft.

Ally Perkins

mic shulman

Marie 🕊

Navya R

Paige Wanner

Katey Campbell

Brook

Olivia

Ryan Mateyk

Lindy

Kiara Formento

Muriel Trystero

The startling, witty, highly anticipated second novel from the critically acclaimed author of Atmospheric Disturbances. The story begins in 1618, in the German duchy of Württemberg. Plague is spreading. The Thirty Years' War has begun, and fear and suspicion are in the air throughout the Holy Roman Empire. In the small town of Leonberg, Katharina Kepler is accused of being a witch. Katharina is an illiterate widow, known by her neighbors for her herbal remedies and the success of her children, including her eldest, Johannes, who is the Imperial Mathematician and renowned author of the laws of planetary motion. It's enough to make anyone jealous, and Katharina has done herself no favors by being out and about and in everyone's business. So when the deranged and insipid Ursula Reinbold (or as Katharina calls her, the Werewolf) accuses Katharina of offering her a bitter, witchy drink that has made her ill, Katharina is in trouble. Her scientist son must turn his attention from the music of the spheres to the job of defending his mother. Facing the threat of financial ruin, torture, and even execution, Katharina tells her side of the story to her friend and next-door neighbor Simon, a reclusive widower imperiled by his own secrets. Drawing on real historical documents but infused with the intensity of imagination, sly humor, and intellectual fire for which Rivka Galchen is known, Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch will both provoke and entertain. The story of how a community becomes implicated in collective aggression and hysterical fear is a tale for our time. Galchen's bold new novel touchingly illuminates a society and a family undone by superstition, the state, and the mortal convulsions of history.

Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch

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