The hangman's daughter

435 pages

English language

Published Nov. 22, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

ISBN:
978-0-547-74501-5
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OCLC Number:
721882593

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3 stars (8 reviews)

Germany, 1659: When a dying boy is pulled from the river with a mark crudely tattooed on his shoulder, hangman Jakob Kuisl is called upon to investigate whether witchcraft is at play in his small Bavarian town. Whispers and dark memories of witch trials and the women burned at stake just seventy years earlier still haunt the streets of Schongau. When more children disappear and an orphan boy is found dead, marked by the same tattoo, the mounting hysteria threatens to erupt into chaos. Before the unrest forces him to torture and execute the very woman who aided in the birth of his children, Jakob must unravel the truth. With the help of his clever daughter, Magdelena, and Simon, the university-educated son of the town's physician, Jakob discovers that a devil is indeed loose in Schongau. But it may be too late to prevent bloodshed.

3 editions

Review of "The hangman's daughter" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I managed to read this at a rather appropriate time, so the setting and atmosphere were right up my alley. This is a mystery set in Schongau, a small but well-connected town in Bavaria in the year A.D. 1659. It is a strange feeling reading about locations you are somewhat familiar with, or at the very least, looking at the locations on the map and imagining the characters and events that are mentioned in the novel. For historical fiction, this kind of setting is rather unusual, even more so in the English language world. There is no dearth of historical fiction mysteries, but not many of them—aside from our current work—can claim to be set in the cusp of medieval to early-modern Bavaria. The setting drew me into it, but the plot and characters kept me engaged and interested to find out what happens.

The plot is a straightforward mystery, …

Review of "The Hangman's Daughter" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Despite a plot that felt a bit too contrived, the detailed portrayals of societal roles and other historical details really appealed to me. I got interested in this historical period (1660) after reading Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, and this story adds lots of interesting facets, especially on the development of medicine in Europe.

Subjects

  • Fiction
  • Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648
  • Witches
  • History

Places

  • Germany
  • Schongau
  • Schongau (Germany)