A Scottish journey in search of witches and witness
“Lyrical Magic” —The New York Times
Shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s Christopher Bland Prize 2024
Waterstone’s Scottish Book of the Month for September, 2023
It’s summer. I stand where perhaps Ellen stood, in this ground thick with new thistle and long grass. She would have ken this coast in all weathers: in the summer when it was as gentle as a lake and in the winter, with the high winds and stinging salt spray.’
…a moving reminder for us all to connect with what’s gone before
-The Stylist
Ashes and Stones is a personal journey, along rugged coasts and through remote villages and modern cities, in search of the traces of those accused of witchcraft in seventeenth-century Scotland. We visit modern memorials, roadside shrines and standing stones, and roam among forests and hedge mazes, folklore and political fantasies. From fairy hills to forgotten caves, we explore a spellbound landscape.
“…an incantational group biography…Shaw passes over centuries-old footsteps like fingers on Braille; the lilt of her voice on the page is lyrical magic.”
-The New York Times
…atmospheric, scholarly – and gripping – Ashes & Stones… gives life to many of the women burned as witches in Scotland. Shocking and important – it made me realise this hasn’t been done before, nor have I questioned why until now.
–Laline Paull, author of Pod and The Bees
Allyson Shaw untangles the myth of witchcraft and gives voice to those erased by it. Her elegant and lucid prose weaves threads of history and feminist reclamation, alongside beautiful travel, nature and memoir writing, to create a vibrant memorial. This is the untold story of the witches’ monuments of Scotland and the women’s lives they mark. Ashes and Stones is a trove of folklore linking the lives of modern women to the horrors of the past, and it is record of resilience and a call to choose and remember our ancestors.
Allyson Shaw has built a monument in words to the thousands persecuted as witches in Scotland. A fascinating and necessary book.
— Peter Ross, author of A Tomb with a View
“Ashes & Stones is its own reminder of a dark period in Scotlands’s past, but also carries a warning for the present day…This is not the book you think it is, and it is all the better for it.”
–Alistair Braidwood, Snack Magazine
This is a remarkable book alive with the beauty and terror of Scotland centuries earlier – as if the author reached out a hand and took the reader with her on that journey…The delicate balance between Allyson Shaw’s inner life and personal reasons for making the journey set against the stories of those whose lives were lost is beautifully rendered, while the writing throughout is sublime.
–Carol Ann Lee, Author of A Cruel Love: the Ruth Ellis Story
Shaw’s writing is utterly compelling and her perspective is vital. I was spellbound from start to finish, Ashes & Stones is a work of devotion. This is what it means to write with care and with candour. Ashes and Stones is both genuine memorial and galvanising activism in book form.
–Sally Huband, author of Sea Bean
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UK audiobook, ebook & hardback
The North American edition, titled Ashes and Stones: a journey through Scotland in search of women hunted as witches is published by Pegasus Books, distributed by Simon & Schuster.
Praise from readers
Really recommend this fantastic book by @northseawitch…it’s breathtaking. On the memorialisation of those executed for witchcraft in Scotland and the politics surrounding their exploitation for the purpose of dark tourism. We need more work like this!
–Ben Nicholson, Warden of the Tower of London on X,
…an adventure, a true eye-opener, a vividly haunting true story which will remain with me for a very long time.
Katja, Haddington
This is a book that speaks back to power, both currently and indeed across the centuries.
Eims, Goodreads
The horrifying carnage of what happened to these Scottish women who failed to conform will likely shock many – as it should. But what is also likely to stay with them is the profound empathy and respect with which Ms Shaw has brought them back to life on these pages.
,,,the author herself had an extremely compelling reason not only to write the book, but to include within it, a memoir of why she has chosen to do this. This lends added poignancy to each piece of information she uncovers…
–Melanie Garrett
Allyson Shaw, Author of Ashes and Stones 