Cunning Folk

Opens a fascinating new window onto medieval and early modern life - a world where it's possible to meet the devil on the road, control the future through stars, and employ a fairy to help find gold.

Cunning Folk transports us to a time when magic was used to solve life's day-to-day problems - as well as some of deadly importance.

'A brilliant book, written with wit and vigour' – MALCOLM GASKILL, author of The Ruin of All Witches

'Absolutely fascinating' – IAN MORTIMER, author of The Time-Traveller's Guide to Medieval England

It's 1600 and you've lost your precious silver spoons, or maybe they've been stolen. Perhaps your child has a fever. Or you're facing trial. Maybe you're looking for love or escaping a husband. What do you do? In medieval and early modern Europe, your first port of call might well have been cunning folk – practitioners of magic who were a common, even essential part of daily life, at a time when the supernatural was surprisingly mundane.

Charming, thought-provoking and based on original research, Cunning Folk is an immersive reconstruction of a bygone world by an expert historian, as well as a commentary on the beauty and bafflement of being human.

'I adore Cunning Folk. A truly fascinating and human book' – Ruth Goodman, author of How To Be a Tudor

'Packed with vivid historical anecdotes, this is an intriguing insight into the magical lives of past people and the history of our own superstitions today' – Marion Gibson, author of Witchcraft

'Fascinating . . . opens a window into another world' – Tracy Borman, author of Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I

'Full of such magical tips and colourful vignettes . . . crackles with incident' – Kate Maltby, Financial Times

'Spirited and richly detailed' – New York Times