Sceptre snaps up Shaw’s Scottish history of witchcraft in four-way auction

Sceptre has triumphed in a four-way auction for Ashes and Stones: A Scottish Journey in Search of Witches and Witness by Allyson Shaw.

Commissioning editor Francine Toon won UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Kevin Pocklington at the North Literary Agency for publication in January 2023. 

In an attempt to untangle the myth of witchcraft, Ashes and Stones seeks traces of the women accused of it in 17th-century Scotland through the country’s “spellbound landscape” of modern memorials, roadside shrines and standing stones, spanning forests and hedge mazes, folklore and political fantasies, giving those affected a voice. 

Shaw said: “I longed for an authentic glimpse of the women executed for witchcraft hundreds of years ago, and I went out into the landscape to meet them. Their voices and lives became braided with my own in moving and unexpected ways. I’m excited that Sceptre will bring this humanising perspective on the accused to a wider audience.”

Charlotte Humphery, senior commissioning editor at Sceptre, who is working with Toon’s authors while she is on parental leave, said: “Ashes and Stones is a beautiful exploration of a dark history that is often forgotten or trivialised. Thousands of women were murdered by state forces during the witch hunts and Allyson Shaw revives some of these women – through historical records, physical presence and informed imagination – with tenderness and compassion.

“In this book, she has created her own memorial that is rich with the magic of folklore and the power of the Scottish landscape and resonates with the politics of today. We are delighted to be publishing this brilliant and important book.”