• ISBN 978 0 7206 1278 3
  • Fiction
  • Paperback
  • £11.95
  • 240pp
  • Available

 

Sycorax

J.B. Aspinall

'Sukie’s a witch an’ a sluttock. Daft too, scroochin’ up trees an’ mumblin’. Best thoo takes her off an’ locks her up, for she’s loony.'

In the credulous squalor of medieval Yorkshire a peasant girl is accused of being sorceress.The suffering inflicted upon her by male superstition sparks a spectacular and terrifying retort which initiates the legend of the witch Sycorax. Many years later, the story is recounted for us by Edmund, a flawed monk at Byland Abbey, who undertakes to write a history of the witch as a penance for lascivious fantasies. In the process, Edmund uncovers a brutal and eerie tale in which he becomes fatally involved. Not just a trip into another epoch, more than a just another supernatural thriller, this absorbing novel of medieval times reveals that the compulsions and delusions examined are endemic in us all today.

Reviews of Sycorax:

‘As historical fiction goes, this book is a grubby little pearl . . . this is such an imaginative, entertaining novel. The myth of Sycorax concocted by Aspinall is completely believable (it's a name shared by Caliban's mother in The Tempest). As well as being a really spooky tale of madness and magic, with great period detail, it offers a clever satire on the hysteria that so often afflicts groups of men, but which less insightful writers usually attribute to women.’ – Tom Boncza-Tomaszewski, Independent on Sunday

‘Sycorax tells the story of a young peasant girl in medieval Yorkshire, who is accused of sorcery and brutally treated by the authorities. Her revenge as the witch Sycorax is documented by Edmund, a monk who still struggles with the legacy of his own lustful past and becomes entwined with lust, sorcery and accusations of witchcraft. After an uncertain start, Sycorax develops into a rambunctious satire on social hysteria, and an amusing portrait of one man's struggle between sex and God. The real heroine of the piece is the witch, who goes from a free-spirited younf girl to a shrieking,skeletal agent of Satan. Boisterous, lurid and well written, Sycorax comes recommended.’ – Hugo Hutchinson, Big Issue

‘Thought provoking and original.’ – Kelly Salter, Big Issue Cymru

Praise for J.B. Aspinall’s previous writing:

Gringo Soup

‘ Darkly comic . . . a brisk, entertaining tale’ – Daily Mail
‘ Highly amusing . . . A lively debut.’ – Big Issue
‘ Entertaining, informative and laugh-out-loud funny, this is an ambitious, well-written novel’
– Marie Claire
‘ Darkly funny’ – Mirror
‘ Immensely vivacious . . . very, very funny indeed’ – Open Book, BBC Radio 4

Sparrow Hall

‘ Pleasingly sly’ – Guardian
‘ Like a darker Tom Sharpe . . . also touches of John Irving.’ – OK magazine

JOHN BRIAN ASPINALL read History at Balliol College, Oxford. He taught literature in city comprehensive before becoming a full-time writer in 1990. He has had numerous poems published in magazines and has published two novels: Gringo Soup (2001) and Sparrow Hall (2003). He currently lives in France.