Iceland – Emma's Biblio Treasures

BOOK REVIEW: They Can’t Burn Us All by Cathryn Kemp

Published August 13th, 2026 by Bantam
Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Dark Fantasy, Adventure Fiction

********

ABOUT THE BOOK:

From the award-winning author of A Poisoner’s Tale comes a dark, feminist retelling of the most famous witch trial in 17th-century Iceland, perfect for fans of The Witches of Vardo and The Mercies

Westfjords, Iceland. 1655

Þuríður Jónsdóttir has grown up praying to the old gods and watching her father and brother practise rune magic.

But now, a witch-hunting craze is sweeping across the land of ice and fire, fuelled by the Protestant Reformation. Unlike elsewhere in Europe, those condemned as witches here are not women, but men of learning. And when Þuríður’s father and brother are accused of witchcraft and condemned to burn at the stake, she is helpless to save them.

As Lutheran Pastor Jón Magnússon’s accusing gaze turns to Þuríður herself, the first woman to be called ‘witch’, he will find that she is no ordinary woman.

She is prepared to fight back. But at what cost?

And in an age of fear and persecution, whose side will the community take? Who will fight for justice?

Set against a backdrop of sweeping religious and social change, They Can’t Burn Us All is a feminist retelling of Iceland’s notorious Kirkjuból witch trials.

BUY HERE

********

MY REVIEW:

One of the things I love about historical fiction is when a true story is retold and I learn about things I’d never heard of before. Obviously, we all know about the witch trials. But I knew little about Iceland’s witch trials and nothing about the witch trials of Kirkjuból.

Westfjords, Iceland. 1655. Þuríður Jónsdóttir has grown up praying to the old gods and watching her father and brother make a living practising rune magic. But the King of Denmark has declared praying to the old gods and a crime and witch trials are sweeping through Iceland. Then, Lutheran Pastor Jón Magnùsson accuses her father and brother of witchcraft, puts them on trial and sentences them to burn at the stake. Powerless to save them, Þuríður is left alone. But the Pastor isn’t done with her family yet. He turns his attention to Þuríður and accuses her of being a witch, making her the first woman in Iceland to face such an accusation. But Þuríður won’t go down without a fight and the Pastor is about to discover she is no ordinary woman…

Cathryn Kemp shows that her debut was no one trick wonder by delivering another powerful and unforgettable retelling. Darkly atmospheric, haunting, heartrending and unsettling, I was under her spell from the first page to the last. Exquisitely written and meticulously researched, the story is so detailed that I could feel the icy snow, smell the stench of the jails and hear the raven’s cries. A story of female agency, female rage, prejudice, religious fever and the power of silence, there is a real sense of urgency, fire and savagery on these pages. These women’s long-forgotten voices rise from the annals of history to remind us how important women’s voices are and how vital it is that we speak up against those trying to strip us of our rights. And then there’s that stirring and spectacular finale that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. Sheer perfection!

The story is filled with charismatic characters that you will both love and hate. Strong, determined and headstrong, Þuríður is an unforgettable heroine. I am a big believer in silence speaking louder than words when people are committed to misunderstanding you, and Þuríður takes that to another level. She hasn’t spoken a word since her mother’s death a decade earlier and her silence only adds to her allure. She exudes defiance and her silence only riles those trying to persecute her even more. On the opposite end of the spectrum we have Lutheran Pastor Jón Magnùsson. I despised this man. A vile, unscrupulous character who uses religion as an excuse to persecute and punish those he feels have wronged him, I felt the anger burn within me every time he was on the page. I needed this villain to get his comeuppance.

Gripping, magical and utterly spellbinding, this is a must-read for anyone who enjoys historical fiction or witchy stories.

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮

Thank you Bantam for senidng me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

********

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Cathryn Kemp’s first novel, bestselling A Poisoner’s Tale, won the HWA Debut Crown Award 2025 and has been published internationally in the U.S., Canada, Italy, France, Brazil and Portuguese speaking territories, Vietnam and globally.

Cathryn’s second novel, They Can’t Burn Us All, is published with Penguin Random House in August 2026.

Her personal memoir, Coming Clean (2012), won the Big Red Read Prize for Non-Fiction. Cathryn co-founded charity, The Painkiller Addiction Information Network (PAIN), which has successfully lobbied Government, including the House of Lords and the APPG for dependency on prescribed medicines.

Cathryn is a Sunday Times and Amazon Number 1 (in four categories) bestselling ghostwriter, with a prolific career writing celebrity, inspirational, true crime, addiction and nostalgia titles.

She has written across the full spectrum of the British and international press, and has appeared on television and radio, including ITV’s This Morning, Lorraine and Panorama, BBC’s Women’s Hour and regional BBC radio stations across the UK.

********

Thank you for reading, Bibliophiles xxxxx

This post contains affiliate links

The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea ⭐⭐⭐⭐

SYNOPSIS:

1686, ICELAND, AN ISOLATED, WINDSWEPT LAND HAUNTED BY WITCH TRIALS AND STEEPED IN THE ANCIENT SAGAS.

Betrothed unexpectedly to Jón Eiríksson, Rósa is sent join her new husband in the remote village of Stykkishólmur. Here, the villagers are wary of outsiders.

But Rósa harbours her own suspicions. Her husband buried his first wife alone in the dead of night. He will not talk of it. Instead he gives her a small glass figurine. She does not know what it signifies.

The villagers mistrust them both. Dark threats are whispered. There is an evil here – Rósa can feel it. Is it her husband, the land – or the villagers?

Alone and far from home, Rósa sees the darkness coming. She fears she will be its next victim…

MY REVIEW:

Life in 17th Century Iceland is hard and unforgiving: food is scarce and both the landscape and the sea can be perilous. Following her father’s death, Rósa and her mother are slowly starving until she marries Jón Eiríksson, the recently widowed chieftain of Stykkishólmur – trading her freedom to save her ailing mother. Jón is a stranger to Rósa and she’s fearful of this large man she must now call husband. She feels the shadow of his first wife, Anna, looming over her. The rumours surrounding her life and death haunt Rósa and she lives in fear that she too will mysteriously vanish overnight at the hands of her husband. Alone in the croft she is haunted by eerie breaths and whispers behind her and the echoes of footsteps. She also hears sounds and scratching coming from the loft that Jón is determined to keep secret. What is he hiding behind that locked door?

Mesmerising, eerie, claustrophobic, enchanting and remarkable, this was far from the predictable gothic tale I thought it would be. Just as I was certain I knew what was going on the author threw me for a loop with a surprising twist – something she did multiple times over the course of the book. Exquisitely written with beautiful, haunting prose and wonderfully plotted, this novel had me captivated from the first pages.

It is a story steeped in history, suspicion and tradition, set in a time where Christianity has been ushered in and the traditional gods and runes are frowned upon and only practiced in secret. Rósa is a woman torn between those worlds and with the witch trials a recent memory and the village suspicious of her, she fears she will be the next person to be tried and executed; a fear that emanates from the pages making your heart race with hers.

The characters are engaging and well written. Every one of them brings something important to the story, however small their part. Jón’s first wife Anna may have passed away but she haunts Rósa and there are still whispers about her in the village, making the mysterious woman one of the story’s main characters. I liked Anna and was moved by what she went through. She is a woman who reads and wants independence living in a time women are still expected to be uneducated and have to marry to survive. She is a strong woman but also still a frightened young girl completely alone in her new home. The author uses the bleak and merciless landscape, which feels like a character in its own right, to convey Rósa’s isolation and help us understand her unease and sense of peril.

Jón was one of the characters I could never quite figure out. Was he a villain or is he misunderstood? As we learned more about his past I did warm to him a little but always had a sense of trepidation about him and felt suspicious of many of his actions. But was this just the difference in our culture and theirs or was it that he was truly someone to be afraid of? I could never decide. HIs apprentice and friend Pétur was another enigma. He would go from seeming like a kind, genuine person to someone who was strange and sinister like the flick of a switch. I did find that I understood these traits more as I learned his backstory but I never knew if he could be trusted.

In an era where marriage is for convenience and survival rather than happiness,Jón and Rósa face the greater struggle of having a marriage that contains five people – themselves, Anna, Pétur and Páll (Rósa’s cousin). I know it is a time where women are expected to put up and shut up but Rósa seems to not be someone who is able to do that. She’s too curious. Too much of a thinker. It made me worried for her and I spent the whole book convinced that it was her body the men were retrieving from the water in the prologue. Don’t worry, I’m not going to spoil it by telling you if I was right or not.

I absolutely loved this spellbinding novel. I loved being in the dark waiting for all to be revealed so the unpredictability made it all the more exciting. This is a magnificent debut from a wonderful new talent. I can’t wait to read what she does next and can’t recommend this novel highly enough.

Out now