'Learned, empathetic and immensely enjoyable' Tom Holland'Every page is illuminating' Philippa Gregory'Gaskill lifts the veil between past and present better than anyone I know' Lucy WorsleyThe supernatural has always been part of human experience. Divine and diabolical forces were as dangerous and mundane as rotten harvests and sweeping sicknesses. Miracles abounded. During the First World War, soldiers put faith in ...

A gripping, vividly told journey into a family's wartime past, from the bestselling author of The Ruin of All Witches‘Endearingly personal, honest and reflective … invites you to rethink where memory ends and history begins’ Dominic Sandbrook, The Times, Books of the Year'As I finished his book, I began to see my own family’s past through his glass mountain' Ian Ellison, Literary ReviewMalcolm Gaskill knew two things about...

One of the last criminal trials using the 1735 Witchcraft Act was, improbably, in London in 1944. The accused was Helen Duncan, a middle-aged Scotswoman. This is her extraordinary story.Helen Duncan - known since childhood as 'Hellish Nell', for her uncontainable nature - was one of the most popular mediums of the twentieth century, holding seances around the country where she was believed to manifest the spirits of the dead.What happens when we die? It was the question of ...

'The most chilling witch-hunt in English history . . . fascinating' Independent on Sunday**'A terrible tale marvellously told . . . This is how history should be shown' Ronald BlytheBy the spring of 1645, civil war had exacted a terrible toll upon England. Disease was rife, apocalyptic omens appeared in the skies, and idolators detected in every shire. In a remote corner of Essex, two obscure gentlemen began interrogating women su...

*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE**A TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES AND BBC HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR*'A bona fide historical classic' Sunday Times'Simply one of the best history books I have ever read' BBC HistoryIn the frontier town of Springfield in 1651, peculiar things begin to happen. Precious food sp...

In the 1600s, over 350,000 intrepid English men, women, and children migrated to America, leaving behind their homeland for an uncertain future. Whether they settled in Jamestown, Salem, or Barbados, these migrants -- entrepreneurs, soldiers, and pilgrims alike -- faced one incontrovertible truth: England was a very, very long way away.In Between Two Worlds, celebrated historian Malcolm Gaskill tells the sweeping story of the English experience in America ...

Between Two Worlds is a story teeming with people on the move, making decisions, indulging or resisting their desires and dreams. In the seventeenth century a quarter of a million men, women, and children left England's shores for America. Some were explorers and merchants, others soldiers and missionaries; many were fugitives from poverty and persecution. All, in their own way, were adventurers, risking their lives and fortunes to make something of themselves overseas. They irrevocably ch...

Witchcraft is a subject that fascinates us all, and everyone knows what a witch is - or do they? From childhood most of us develop a sense of the mysterious, malign person, usually an old woman. Historically, too, we recognize witch-hunting as a feature of pre-modern societies. But why do witches still feature so heavily in our cultures and consciousness? From Halloween to superstitions, and literary references such as Faust and even Harry Potter, witches still feature heavily inour societ...

By spring 1645, two years of civil war had exacted a dreadful toll upon England. People lived in terror as disease and poverty spread, and the nation grew ever more politically divided. In a remote corner of Essex, two obscure gentlemen, Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne, exploited the anxiety and lawlessness of the time and initiated a brutal campaign to drive out the presumed evil in their midst. Touring Suffolk and East Anglia on horseback, they detected demons and idolators everywhere. ...

Brought to you by Penguin.The author of The Ruin of All Witches returns with a gripping, vividly told journey of rediscovery, uncovering his uncle’s past as a soldier, prisoner, fugitive and partisan in World War Two ItalyMalcolm Gaskill knew two things about his great-uncle Ralph’s wartime adventures: he’d been a prisoner in Italy, and he’d cut his way out of a train with a knife and fork. Apart from that, he’d faded into family fo...

Brought to you by Penguin.One of the last criminal trials using the 1735 Witchcraft Act was, improbably, in London in 1944. The accused was Helen Duncan, a middle-aged Scotswoman. This is her extraordinary story.Helen Duncan - known since childhood as 'Hellish Nell', for her uncontainable nature - was one of the most popular mediums of the twentieth century, holding seances around the country where she was believed to manifest the spirits of the dead.

Brought to you by Penguin.*A TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES AND BBC HISTORY HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021*In the frontier town of Springfield in 1651, peculiar things begin to happen. Precious food spoils, livestock ails and property vanishes. People suffer fits and are plagued by strange visions and dreams. Children sicken and die. As tensions rise, rumours spread of witches and heretics, and the community becomes tangled in a web o...