“Bitter Magic may masquerade as a windswept historical gothic in the mode of Daphne DuMaurier or Anya Seton, but is something rarer. Nancy Kilgore’s vision is utterly contemporary, concerned not with simple outcomes of guilt or innocence in the public sphere but the complicated shades of gray within her characters.

”—Stewart O’Nan, author of A Prayer for the Dying

". . . the prose is confident and the setting richly detailed. . . . Kilgore captures the dismal subsistence of the peasants, the pall of religious fervor, the new search for rationality, and the sorry plight of women. . . . A significant, accurate portrayal of a dour 1660s Scotland. . . ."

—Kirkus Reviews

“This page-turning story will keep you up at night, wondering what's going to happen in a much more complex story than we usually hear about "the burning times." The heroine is a curious, likeable young woman, the "witch" an expert naturalist and healer who goes astray, and you'll never see a more thrilling version of the devil.”

- Mary Dingee Fillmore, bestselling author of An Address in Amsterdam

“Compelling . . . A fascinating story made more so by the tie to the historical record and actual documents . . . a more complete, holistic portrait of a strange aspect of human history than other witch narratives.”

- Ruth Linnaea Whitney, author of SLIM, a novel of Africa

“Kilgore‘s lyrical prose and talent for world building create a wondrous landscape in which the many-layered story unfolds.”

- Tracey Enerson Wood, bestselling author of The Engineer‘s Wife