Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch

This historical fiction novel is the story of Katharina Kepler, a woman accused of witchcraft in 1615 Germany. Katharina really existed — she was the mother of famed astronomer Johannes Kepler — and documents from her witch trial are adapted and used throughout the novel. She dictates her story to her neighbor, Simon, who occasionally inserts his own thoughts. Interspersed with her narration are interrogations of various neighbors who quickly turn on her. Rivka Galchen makes Katharina extremely likeable and real, and the world of suspicion of the devil in early 1600s Germany very much comes to life with her prose.

As Francisco Goldman writes, “On every page of this brilliant, transporting novel are sentences of surreal poetry, of profound insight and enchanting observation, of Monty Python-like sublime nonsense and delightful fragments of fairy tale and lore. Tragic Katharina Kepler, so eccentric and misunderstood, so honest, loyal, brave, and funny, is surely one of literature's great mothers. This is a novel to keep alongside your favorite Calvino or Ishiguro, though its special genius is pure Rivka Galchen.”

“Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch” made me think a lot about superstitions and smart women and being at the mercy of the law. Overall, Galchen has written the best kind of historical novel: one that serves as a lens on our modern times. Plus, how can you resist a book with this title