10/22/2026
A Mighty Girl Pick of the Day: "In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial" by Mona Chollet. During the roughly three centuries that European and American authorities burned, hanged, and strangled the women they identified as witches, three categories of women were targeted again and again: women who lived outside of marriage, women who did not have children, and women who had grown old. In this fierce book, Swiss-French feminist journalist Mona Chollet makes the case that these three categories of women are still, centuries later, the ones a patriarchal society reserves its deepest suspicion for -- and that the modern judgments passed on them, in media, medicine, and law, are the direct descendants of the older judgments passed on their ancestors by church and crown.
Chollet, formerly chief editor at Le Monde diplomatique and one of France's most widely read contemporary feminist writers, draws on philosophy, literary criticism, journalism, and her own experience to show how each of these three archetypes still carries the weight of the original accusation. The single, independent woman is still cast as suspicious -- too self-sufficient, too difficult, too much. The woman who chooses not to have children, or who argues for her right to control if and when she does, is still treated as if she were betraying nature itself. The old woman is still, in a culture obsessed with youth, more or less erased from public life, her anger and knowledge turned into something frightening. Chollet does not treat the witch hunts as a closed chapter of history. She treats them as a template -- a user's guide for how to discipline women who refuse to be small -- that is still being quietly consulted today.
Originally published in France in 2018 as "Sorcières," "In Defense of Witches" was translated into English in 2022 by Sophie R. Lewis, with a foreword by novelist Carmen Maria Machado. Fiery and thoughtful, it is at once a feminist primer, a defense of the women patriarchy has always found most threatening, and an invitation to recognize ourselves in them. Highly recommended for adult readers.
"In Defense of Witches" is available at https://bookshop.org/a/8011/9781250894878 (Bookshop) and https://link.amazon/B0cTNm0iF (Amazon)
For a sharp, witty, and furious history of the Scottish witch trials, we recommend "How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing Women" at https://bookshop.org/a/8011/9781464241253 (Bookshop) and https://amzn.to/4AH7duz (Amazon)
For a Newbery Award-winning novel about a teen girl who stands up against witch hysteria and mob mentality in early colonial America, we highly recommend “The Witch of Blackbird Pond” for ages 9 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/the-witch-of-blackbird-pond
For an excellent book about an 11-year-old girl who leads the drive to build a memorial to women accused of witchcraft in her Scottish town, we recommend "A Kind of Spark" for ages 9 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/kind-of-spark
For more books for children and teens about Mighty Girls taking a stand against hate and prejudice of many kinds, visit our blog post, "Standing Together: 50 Mighty Girl Books Celebrating Diversity and Acceptance” at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=13481
