This was a FUN read. A fun, dark, dark, dark read. The writing is hilarious, but most of all- this is satire at its best. A scarily accurate portrayal of the hive mind mentality that is just…… so relevant to today. It was not hard to imagine some of the characters providing testimony (in the witch hunt that is central to the book) standing next to a Fox News reporter spewing their nonsense.

Katharina, our main character (and mother of Johannes Kepler) who is accused of being a witch is just nonstop funny (slash disturbing)- a few quotes for your enjoyment:

“I suspect the only thing I would be interested in reading would be a history. But I’m told histories are hated, which is not surprising. People prefer to make it up themselves.”

And:

“Do you hear the two of them bickering and having a soup in the next room over? They’re pleased to have the easy work. But also bored by it. The boredom makes them schemers. They’d be better people if they were loading and unloading carts.”

Katharina also has a lot to say about life in general:

“I have sometimes wondered: Why didn’t God leave the world as frank and easy to understand as a cow? Instead it’s all a puzzle, for us to tease out which points of light are planets and which are stars, and who can be trusted and who cannot.”

On trust:

“I trusted him, because he told me that the seeds of the buttercup delphinium are the swiftest cure for lice, even as the same seeds fermented in honey water can be a poison if used too often on the gums, or for epilepsy. He saw delphinium as I saw delphinium. As a plant capable of good and evil both. As a plant that required the knowledge and good intentions of man.”

And on birthing and babies:

“I had loved babies as a child, more than most people do, even. I loved their small fingernails. I loved the way they seemed to arrive older than their parents. I loved the courage they had to sleep as if there were no wolves, no soldiers.”

“I am unusual in this, I know, but I pity men that they will never suffer and nearly curse God and then see the beautiful child who will have that wandering misaligned eye of a newborn, still looking for where she comes from. For a moment the child is the newest person in the world. Only we women ever see that.”

This book was just a surprising delight. And by “delight” I mean: this book was funny in that way that also makes you supremely distressed that this is the world that we live in and that not much has changed about the mob mentality or with regards to women and/or aging in the last 400 years.

Thank you to FSG for the review copy!

I did not know much about this story (or time period in Germany) before reading, and I found it really fascinating. Now I want to read more about the witch trials and Kepler. This was very funny, despite the subject matter, and a really enjoyable read. I always enjoy books that blend fact with fiction, and although this is no Wolf Hall, I thought Galchen made her real characters come to life on the page. Recommended!

I requested this as background reading for a review/feature on BookBrowse. I did not review it myself but links to the posted review and "beyond the book" article are below (and have also been sent to the publicist).

Review:
https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/reviews/index.cfm/ref/ne274368/everyone-knows-your-mother-is-a-witch#reviews
Beyond the Book:
https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/btb/index.cfm/ref/ne274368/everyone-knows-your-mother-is-a-witch#btb

Was not expecting this story to flow the way it did. Of course the antagonist would be named Ursula ugh. Ursula sounds like she’s going to be a problem without context. This story gave off very strong “fake news” vibes. See, even back in the 1600s rumors ruined people’s lies…they don’t even care if it’s the truth or a lie. Did not expect this story at all. I was mislead by the title and cover at first but actually ended up enjoying it.

The book follows Katharina Kepler, Johannes Kepler's mom, when she was accused of being a witch. I had no idea that really happened before I read about this book and I found it so interesting.
The beginning of the book really had me gripped, I like Katharina and Simon and really liked her inner monologue. But I felt the book should've been a novella. From the middle of the book, it became a cylce: Katharina would live a little bit (take care of her cow, talk to her neighbor, go to one of her kid's house), someone would accuse her of witchcraft, she would respond to it and repeat. I thought that due to this repetition, the story lost its steam and by the end, I didn't care anymore, I just wanted the book to end.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

This was much more historical than I was expecting. You can definitely tell lot of research went into this book.
The book really showed how fear and/or jealously could spiral into anyone being a witch.
There were parts that I really struggled with, and the book did move in a sometimes very slow places but overall it was a pretty interesting book.

Everyone knows Frau Kepler is a witch:
Her husband disappeared in the war.
Her children are exceptionally gifted.
She walks around as if she owns the place and she might as well as many owe her money.

Between her unnannounced visits, her dispensing of unwelcomed advice and the fervor with which she defends herself during disputes, Frau Kepler has put off quite a few people.

Add to this that the country is in the middle of a 30 year war. There is devastion and loss through casualty and through disease. The villages are ravaged and burdened by an ongoing economic crisis. People are scared and looking for someone to blame. Katharina Kepler fits the bill and it does not help that her son's book , The Dream -- the world's first science fiction book depicts the Earth spinning around the sun -- also casts her as a sorcerer.

The simple villagers could not accept that the Earth was not the center of our universe. Nor could they separate the fact from the fiction in his work.

<img src="https://media.sciencephoto.com/image/c0304481/800wm/C0304481-Katharina_Kepler_Accused_of_Witchcraft.jpg"/>

<b>Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch</b> reads like a court case thriller with Johannes Kepler at its helm defending his mother against witchcraft. If you are reading this as a thriller fan, there are no surprises here. The history has already been written. But it is an interesting tale that is sure to intrigue scientists and history buffs alike.

I didn’t know this until I was almost finished, but this book is based on the true story of Katharina Kepler, mother of astronomer (among other things) Johannes Kepler. This was an enjoyable book, clever and funny, but I didn’t connect with the characters as much as I would like. Still, an overall good read.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

DNF@12%
I tried with this one but there was no hook. The writing felt stilted and choppy, and sadly I could not get into it.

A historical story that deftly explores witchcraft charges brought against the mother of a famous 17th-century scientist.
Rivka Galchen's novel Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch is a historical fiction tale set in the 17th century in what is now Southwest Germany. Katharina Kepler, mother of famed astronomer Johannes Kepler, is engaged in an ongoing war of words with her neighbor Ursula Reinbold, to whom Katharina refers as "the Werewolf." Ursula spreads the rumor that Katharina is a witch and the gossip gains traction, leading to Katharina's arrest. It's up to Johannes to defend his mother against the accusation, with her fate being death by burning at the stake if he fails. The book unfolds primarily through Katharina's first-person account, which clarifies that the illiterate septuagenarian has asked a friend, Simon Satler, to record her story for her. Interspersed with the monologue are Simon's occasional comments about his own actions throughout Katharina's ordeal.

The word I'd primarily use to describe the novel's plot is "subtle." Superficially, not a lot happens, and at first glance the narrative appears to simply be an old woman's rambling report of her grievances. Upon reflection, though, one starts to appreciate Galchen's talent; she marvelously paints detailed pictures of the era, the characters and the progression of Katharina's case without being overt with her descriptions. Events happen in the background and are referred to obliquely, but the reader is still able to understand what's going on. From her own point of view, Katharina is a perfectly reasonable person, but behind her words we see someone overbearing, cranky and generally difficult. It's the ability to make the complex seem simple at first that sets Galchen's writing apart.

Johannes Kepler's mother really was accused of witchcraft, and he had to defend her in court. Galchen combines translations of letters and legal papers with era-specific tidbits to give her readers an immersive sense of time and place. This makes for extremely well-done historical fiction, and the author's extensive research is evident throughout. The narrative provides little information about Johannes; the historical aspects of the book are concerned primarily with everyday life — for example, the fact that many people made use of the baker's oven since they didn't have one of their own, and that women were required to have an official guardian present when dealing with the legal system.

While there is quite a lot of wry humor in the narration, I found the book rather bittersweet. Katharina and her family experience a great deal of loss, resulting from both the court case as well as the unavoidable hazards of 17th-century life. The energetic, belligerent woman present at the novel's start is transformed by the story's events into a shell of herself, lacking the fire she used to possess; this change, while realistic, left me a bit sad.

I feel that this will be one of those books that critics appreciate more than general readers. First, I think its name alone will cause many to overlook it — I almost passed on it because the title screams "Young Adult." Also, the language Galchen uses at times seems too modern (someone is referred to as "a very honorable guy," another person is "in charge of the kids," "okay" appears as a response), which may be off-putting to some. The biggest potential issue, though, is also precisely what makes the novel a work of genius: As mentioned, it has exceptional depth but at first seems to be a meandering tale without much point. It's consequently a bit slow and requires some reflection for full appreciation of its nuances; I suspect some readers will abandon the book before that realization sets in.

Galchen is an expert crafter of unreliable narrators; not only is it obvious from the start that Katharina fits this description, but it can be applied to nearly every other character given voice. Consequently, Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch will appeal most to those who enjoy this style of writing, as well as those looking for an excellent work of historical fiction. I also highly recommend it for readers interested in a slower-paced novel that rises above the page-turners on the bestseller list.

Delightful historical fiction with a memorable heroine - it's hard to find books with elderly female protagonists, and harder still to find such wonderfully original ones.

What’s better than a really well-written book that teaches a little history - one that I’m still thinking about even after reading it! Nothing. Nothing is better!! Great book - beautifully written, humorous, and so interesting! Add this to your list! Checks all the boxes!

Thanks to Farrah, Straus and Giroux for this copy. I’m so grateful!

The phrase "witch hunt" has been invoked so often lately--and with seemingly no understanding of its historical context--that it seems the perfect time for Rivka Galchen to set the record straight with her new novel "Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch," based on the true story of mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler's fight to exonerate his mother from charges of witchcraft. Fittingly for a book with such current resonances, Galchen gives this historical tale, set in 17th century Germany, a distinctly modern flavor, largely through her portrayal of the irrepressible main character and accused witch, Katharina Kepler. Katharina's narration--not only of her current travails but of her childhood and life to this point--conveys a wry and often witty understanding of the absurdity of the situation she finds herself in, and makes the consequences of the accusations against her frighteningly real. Her chapters alternate with those of her legal guardian and neighbor Simon Satler, who is helping the illiterate Katharina record her account while at the same time making his own observations and notes. Sprinkled in amongst these two accounts are depositions from Katharina's accusers and other legal documents, which creates both an interesting structure for the book and a kind of "social media" flavor and view of the events. By the end I was reading as fast as I could not only to find out what happened but because I was so thoroughly engrossed..

Thank you to NetGalley and to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review. Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and FSG for the ebook. This is such a smart and playful book. In Germany, 1618, an elderly woman named Katharina is accused by a woman in her town of being a witch and making her ill. Based on what happened to the mother of mathematician Johannes Kepler, but very much a wonderfully satirical and biting fiction. The book is made up of Katharina telling her life story as she can’t believe the nightmare that she’s found herself in and by the imagined court testimony of a town who is filled with jealousy for a woman having such a famous son. Not only is this novel accessible, but also mirrors our own times in many ways.

An immersive, can't-put-down historical fiction that reads like the best novel of the summer! This book is a really fast read, even though the style of writing changes throughout I never felt like I was at a place I wanted to stop. I always wanted to learn more.

5/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Johannes Kepler is known for discovering the three major laws of planetary motion, how planets orbit the sun. Lesser known, is the public defense he prepared to save his mother Katharina, a sixty eight year old illiterate widow who was accused of witchcraft in Leonberg, Germany. The year was 1615. In 1620, Kepler left his post as Imperial Mathematician to defend her during the Wurttenburg Witch Trials.

Katharina Kepler, known for providing neighbors with herbal remedies for their ills, had her nose in everyone's business. Her sharp tongued, brusque manner, coupled with the townspeople's envy of Johannes' success, was a recipe for trouble. It started when Ursula Reinbold accused Katharina of "...[using] very considerable dark powers to make [me] moan, weep, cringe, be barren...It was a poison she gave me-a witches brew." Katharine was summoned to appear before the newly installed ducal governor. Simon, Katharina's next door neighbor, would appear with her in the capacity of legal guardian. Should she file a complaint for slander? "One has to insist upon justice-it was the 'terrible incorrectness of the accusations'...the threat of torture and execution."

Neighbor after neighbor added malicious rumors that included passing through locked doors and riding a goat backwards then cooking and eating it. "The people that accuse you, Katharina, are half-formed people...envious people". "...soon my expenses would soar, the revenue from my fields be frozen, the meager assets of my house seized." Katharina's daughter Greta, thought well of the world and everyone in it. "If we behave with grace, then they will behave with grace." Simon, Katharina's documentarian was worried. "I like to be unseen, in plain sight...since I am friend to Katharina that shadow has reached my doorstep." What troubled her the most? She was concerned about the well being of her faithful cow, Chamomile. Chamomile's needs were paramount.

"Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch" by Rivka Galchen is the imagined rendering of the testimonies at the Witch Trial of Katharina Kepler. The reliability of witness accounts was affected by gossipmongers and the natural passage of time that might muddy recollections. Johannes Kepler was tormented with thoughts of being investigated. "...such overblown and ludicrous allegations could blight my fifteen years of imperial service...". It began with the "raving fantasies" of a local housewife...suspicion...baseless slander...superstition...and misunderstanding. What would be the outcome? A highly recommended tome.

Thank you Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a unique, well-written book. It's hard to describe. Perhaps a mix of Drive Your Plow with the historic aspect of Hamnet.

The writing is very good. The main character reminds me of the woman from Drive Your Plow; she knows what she cares about and what she has no patience for. Unfortunately, the people and events she has no patience for are seriously affecting her by claiming she is a witch.

This is set in the early 1600s in Germany, and reading little songs and sayings that people had was interesting, along with the event influence of Martin Luther that came out in some of the characters.

One of her sons was an astrologer (a real person from history, Johannes Kepler, who really did defend his mother at her witch trial) and the hints about his knowledge that was far ahead of his time gave me lots of food for thought.

There were amusing parts and great descriptions of people, as well as some build up of worry about what was going to happen to Katharina.

This book is really good historical fiction. It's set in 1615 where the Witch Trials are happening. The setting is incredibly rich and the characters are 💯. It was very engaging and I sat and read it in one sitting. It feels like a modern day Crucible!

Thankk you to FSG for this early review copy!

𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡, 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡, 𝐚𝐦 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐬.

Katherina Kepler was the mother of Johannes Kepler, Imperial Mathematician and one of history’s most important astronomers. Johannes discovered three major laws of planetary motion but he had many achievements, based in astrology and theology. He understood optics, light, and why eyeglasses work. Johannes is a fascinating subject to research but it is the persecution his mother faced when she was swallowed by the hysteria of witchcraft that left its mark on him. It is also the subject of this historical fiction, based on facts.

1618 Leonberg, Germany Katherina Kepler has been summoned and accused of being a witch. She doesn’t take it seriously, an old woman like her who has lived through so much, and shrugging it off is only to her detriment. In fact, it’s laughable to even imagine that she has used her dark arts to curse silly Ursula Reinbold (who Katherina calls the werewolf). Ursula, whose misfortune, very illness is laid at Katherina’s feet. Ursula, her envious enemy and a liar but it is the many “half-formed people” who are swayed by ridiculous, unreal charges. The years have been difficult, and with failing crops, illnesses, and no end to miseries people turn to superstitions. Sure, she is a gossip and a meddler, with a mean mouth maybe but a murdering witch she is not. Her own complaint against Urusla and her husband, the glazier is turned against Katherina into a criminal case.

Katerina’s forthright manner, her lack of boundaries, the herb and flower concoctions she dispenses only serve to muddy her innocence. Even her kind neighbor, an old widower, knows her to be a handful. When those who have dealings with her, neighbors, friends and foe alike, are called to give testimony even the most harmless of incidents grow into tales of bedevilment. Why, exactly, did she want her dead father’s skull dug up? When her son Hans isn’t quick to respond to a letter, hoping he will stand by her, she fears too what it will do to his place in life, his important work. I looked up Johannes and read that his life was full of sorrows during this time too.

Soon, people who did her a turn of kindness come forward, brimming with resentment. Locals are suddenly remembering wild behavior, and fury, lack of humility in their interactions with her. Each has their own “come to think of it” moments, that make her suspect. How can anyone defend such marks against their character? Character assassination grows into a beast, and suddenly she is to blame for every terrible thing that has ever happened, regardless of how insignificant. All the bad luck is due to a witch in their midst. Katherina is brazen, one who doesn’t shrink into herself, always an unwelcome attribute in a woman, especially in 1619. Too bold, too meddlesome, asking for it- punishment. We get an earful of why she is guilty and the truth, as she tells it, of her innocence. One thing that stuck with me, much like news and gossip, all you need to do is bend one ear to your way of thinking to start a fire in someone’s life, to burn them at the stake. That it is based on a real person is horrifying, it’s so easy to ruin another and the law, in those times as in modern ones, certainly weren’t running on logic. Can you challenge stupidity, when it’s current state of affairs? A solid, historical fiction. Intelligently written and well researched.

Publication Date: June 8, 2021

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Rivka Galchen's Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch is a work of fiction based on the real world witchcraft trial of Katharina Kepler, mother of the ground-breaking astronomer Johannes Kepler. Two rather well-known works of nonfiction documenting this event have been published: James A. Connor's Kepler's Witch (2004) and Ulinka Rublack's The Astronomer and the Witch (2015). Galchen credits the second of those titles as the inspiration for her novel. Galchen worked with a broad body of historical works in writing her novel, but makes it very clear that she is writing fiction that uses a real-world event as a jumping off point. Her novel is not narrativized history.

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch offers a simultaneously absurd, disturbing, and thought-provoking reading experience. The absurdity comes from Galchen's depiction of Katherina, who she pictures as an opinionated, cantankerous, but warm-hearted, women. Much of the book is written in Katherina's voice, and Katherina's description of a daughter in law and of her astronomer son give a taste of this.

Of the daughter in law, married to another of Katherina's sons, and who has a taste for the kind of scandalous pamphlets that were that day's equivalent of the scandal-sheets we see at grocery check-out lines: "Gertie loved to hear about the miser whose heart was found in a chest with his jewels after he died. About the holy nun who married the Moor who kidnapped her. She'll read any pamphlet she can get. It makes me not mind that I can't read myself."

Of Johannes: "he's made his way in the world the easy way, through his studies."

Katharina loves her children, but she seems to love her cow Chamomile every bit as much.

The lengthy sections in Katharina's voice are accompanied by a narrative in the voice of a mild-mannered, controversy-averse neighbor who plays the role of Katharina's legal guardian, as women were not allowed to represent themselves in legal proceedings. (There was a neighbor who had this role in real-life, but Galchen makes it clear that her version of the neighbor is completely fictive.) Like Katharina, Simon, the neighbor, has a wry way of putting things. Describing himself listening to the drunken ramblings of Katherina's son Christoph, Simon notes "I said nothing. If there were a guild of non-sayers, that would be my guild. That's also the guild of standing by."

As one reads and as the accusations against Katharina grow in number and unlikelihood, the narrative becomes disturbing. Clearly some of those accusing Katharina have ulterior motives: they hope to be awarded parts of her land or a financial payout if Katharina is convicted. Others seem absolutely genuine in their accusations, which are often memories of past events they didn't note at the time. In this world, correlation equals causation, even if the things being correlated are only dimly remembered. What can Katharina do to defend herself when anyone can suddenly recall seeing her just before a horse went lame, their children became sick, or they broke out in a rash?

This leads me to what I found to be a particularly thought-provoking aspect of Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch. What is it like to live in a world where witchcraft is seen as a more likely cause of suffering than ill luck? To what extent do accusers sincerely believe they are protecting their community? To what extent are they actually clamoring for a role in the public spectacle a witchcraft trial becomes?

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch offers a compelling read that rewards in multiple ways. Any lover of well-crafted plot- and character-driven driven fiction should appreciate it. And it may lead some readers to Connor and Rublack's books to explore the history behind Galchen's tale.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.