Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch
Buy Now for $32.62
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Natasha Soudek
-
Written by:
-
Rivka Galchen
About this listen
The startling, witty, highly anticipated second novel from the critically acclaimed author of Atmospheric Disturbances
It is 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, an illiterate widow, is accused of being a witch.
Katharina is known for her herbal remedies and the success of her children. Her eldest, Johannes, is the Imperial Mathematician and the renowned author of the laws of planetary motion. It’s enough to make anyone envious, and Katharina has done herself no favours by going out and about and being in everyone’s business.
So when the deranged and insipid Ursula Reinbold (or as Katharina calls her, the Werewolf) accuses Katharina of making her ill by offering her a bitter, witchy drink, 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 neighbour Simon, a reclusive widower imperiled by his own secrets.
Drawing on real historical documents but infused with the intensity of imagination, sly humour and intellectual fire for which Rivka Galchen is known, Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch will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 family and a society undone by superstition, the state and the mortal convulsions of history.
©2021 Rivka Galchen (P)2021 HarperCollins PublishersWhat listeners say about Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- ESP
- 2021-07-25
Really? Popular?
The publisher's description of this book reminds me, now I have finished the book, of the "click-bait" ads found all over the Internet.Clicking on one brings you to a site where you click through 40 or 50 images, only to find only a fleeting, or often, no mention of the reason you clicked. Where was Johannes Kepler, his life or his involvement with his mother's trial?
As for the book itself, if f it hadn't been a choice for a book club, there's no way I would have gone past the first few chapters. The writing style was flat and irritating, also too verbose. Was she attempting to represent the English of that era or make the language sound German? Either way, it it resulted in stilted and unnatural speech.
Jumping around from one narrator to another, coupled with there being so many similar characters, made for a very confusing read. Neither the characters nor the plot were well-developed, indeed, the latter was practically non-existent, and the end was hardly climactic.
I also had the feeling that the author felt impelled to include everything she had discovered in her research, whether it served a purpose or not, leading to long passages full of extraneous information and slowing everything down. Had I been reading, not listening, I would have skimmed over large sections, not a good sign.
There are many really good, well-written books on,(as stated so dramatically by the publisher's blurb) the theme of "a society and a family undone by superstition, the state, and the mortal convulsions of history". This book is definitely not one of them.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- JennyLO
- 2022-05-11
Poor
I only read this as it was a book club read. It was all over the place and numerous characters thrown in you couldn’t keep track of. It seems to have no beginning, middle or end plot. Disappointing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- Lelah Bruce
- 2021-09-09
not what was expected
I found it very hard to keep my attention on the progress of the story
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- BEL
- 2023-11-22
Everyone knows your mother is a witch
I didn’t enjoy the audio performance for some reason it just didn’t strike me as sincere It felt a bit put on.  The story itself was somewhat interesting not gripping.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!