Hex

A rage-fuelled thunderbolt… but this punchy, painful novel is no sermon: Fagan cultivates the occult energy swirling around her themes, even as she explodes the myths that enables male violence' ~Daily Mail

Exceptional… I’m still reeling from it, it is devastating…"the purest light attracts the most impenetrable darkness” – that line just resonates and resonates…  a stunning book, thank you for this' ~BBC Radio Scotland

This series has already produced two works of note and distinction. It raises the question – if a country cannot re-tell its history, will it be stuck forever in aspic and condemned to be nothing more than a shortbread tin illustration? Hex and Rizzio are showing the way towards a reckoning, and about time too' ~Stuart Kelly, Scotland on Sunday

Hex, for a book about such trauma and agony, is a crisp, clear book… elegant and angry in equal measure' ~The Scotsman

Hex is a powerful, fictional retelling of the North Berwick witch trials from Jenni Fagan’ ~Lynsey May, The List

Fagan’s writing is wild and exciting… [she] stirs up a powerful brew with her magical fable' ~Dani Garavelli, Herald

One of the most stunning literary experiences I've had in years' ~Irvine Welsh

[an] exhilarating, humbling homage to Geillis Duncan' ~Sam Baker

[a] soulful, tender, powerfully moving retelling of the last days of Geillis Duncan' ~Nick Barley, Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival and trustee of the Booker Prize Foundation

Unsurprisingly brilliant, a feminist warcry from one century to another as we spend the night with a young woman about to be slowly hanged as a witch. Beautiful, moving writing' ~Sarah Pinborough, Sunday Times #1 and New York Times Bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes

A powerful and compelling short novel' ~Undiscovered Scotland

Hex is stunning, so powerful… Beautiful work!' ~Salena Godden, author of Mrs Death Misses Death

I devoured Hex and absolutely adored it. I mean, what a genuinely astonishing novel; gorgeous, heart-breaking' ~Waterstones, West End Edinburgh

the magical and the realism are always in perfect balance… Hex is both a timely and timeless publication' ~Alistair Braidwood, The Skinny

A perfect encapsulation of everything I love about Jenni's work - brilliantly real characters, shot through with feminist anger, word choice to make you shiver, & that knack of taking the road least expected' ~Kirstin Innes, author of Scabby Queen

Powerfully conjures a meeting across the centuries between Geillis Duncan, a young girl on the night before her execution for witchcraft in 1591, and Iris, a contemporary witch' ~Sally McDonald, Sunday Post

this book is magnificent. I cannot think of a voice, or imagination, like Jenni Fagan’s' ~Terri White (journalist and author)

Really felt Jenni Fagan's anger coming off the page… brilliant' ~Waterstones Leicester

An ‘i’ Recommended Read' ~i'News

A fascinating and powerful book about the history and traumas of Scottish women' ~Mainstreet Trading

Stunning book. Read this in one sitting on a Sunday morning. It's 100 pages make such an impact. Sublime writing' ~GoodReads FIVE STAR REVIEW

This novel sent chills right through my bones' ~Lizzy’s Literary Life, Blog

A poignant new perspective on Scotland’s notorious North Berwick witch trials' ~Product Magazine

Hex is fantastic!' ~Denise Mina

Packs a mighty punch and has lots of important messages about misogyny, prejudice, abuse and inaction which was rife in the sixteenth century and still permeates modern lives' ~Linger Longer with Books

Hex is excellent and everyone should read it' ~Kamila Shamsie

Visceral, damning, shimmering with literal prowess and prose all under the heady guide of something much darker, this tremendous read shall stay with you forever' ~Daniel Bassett, Waterstones Bookseller

Small but mighty … the mere fact that this tale is based on real events gives the story a powerful, disturbing authenticity' ~Scottish Field

Fagan’s hypnotic narrative reveals the might of language which can bring its own kind of justice in one single sentence' ~Loretta Mulholland, Dundee Courier, Book of the Week 10/10

Written in lucid prose, no word is wasted in this taut story. Hex is an extraordinary prose poem to the brutality, abuse, and repression of women through centuries to the present’ ~Historical Novel Society

I love the idea — drinking in historical fiction as a series of shots' ~Katherine Faulkner, author of Greenwich Park and The Sunday Times’ head of news projects

Fagan’s prose could not be more suited to her subject – at times stripped back, at others almost incantatory' ~Grant Rintoul

Hex is an exceptional example of how to tell a story' ~Alistair Braidwood, SNACK Mag, EIBF Preview

Her work gives glorious voice to ancient Edinburgh tenements, to the Devil’s daughter, to the care-home kids, to witches, to all us pariahs and cowgirls' ~Michael Pedersen, Electric Literature

It's an exemplar of the form, a book that tells its story across space and time from a writer who is fully engaged with both subject and style' ~Snack Magazine,10 Best Scottish Books of 2022

Witchcraft and feminism meet in one short novel that leaves a powerful impact on the reader' ~Faber Blog, Indie Bookshop Recommendations