Summary

A Secret History of Witches opens with a prologue set in 1821 near Carnac-Ville, a French Christian town in which church officials are on the hunt for witches to burn. One red-headed Catholic priest named Bernard is set on hunting witches. The novel opens with Grand-mere Ursule, the head witch of the Orchiere clan, scrying on a red stone near a firepit where the Romani group has congregated in their caravans. The clan consists of three men and five women, with a handful of children and Ursule. Most of the women are Ursule’s granddaughters, sisters who lost their mother while she gave birth to Nanette, the youngest. Ursule tells the assembled group that they must find a house with a thatched roof, broken shudders and a fence that needs mending on a cliff below the sea. Then a...