Susan Smit | The Last Witch Hunt

Orig. Title: De heks van Limbricht Orig. Language: Dutch Orig. Publisher: Lebowksi 256 pp. | May 2021 Territory: World excl. Dutch

MATERIAL AVAILABLE Dutch MS English translation

RIGHTS SOLD France | Leduc (auction)

# OF COPIES SOLD 60,000+

Susan Smit

Susan Smit (b. 1974) is a writer and columnist. She made her debut in 2001 with Heks (Witch). To date she has nineteen successful novels to her name, including the bestsellers Flood (Vloed), Bride of the Tropics (Tropenbruid) and Gisèle. She spent some time studying the history of witchcraft, which Smit considers to be a spiritual practice and an ancient nature religion.

The Last Witch Hunt

A tribute to an indomitable woman.

Women who are unafraid to stand up for themselves and others often get the epithet ‘witch’ hurled at them. In online discourse, you see it all the time in reference to strong women like Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris. In her novel The Last Witch Hunt, based on historical research, Susan Smit shows how this kind of nasty talk can have serious consequences. In July 1674, soldiers raid the home of 74-year-old Entgen Luijten. She is taken to the castle in Limbricht, a town in the southernmost part of the Netherlands, and locked in a dungeon where she is told that, based on a number of incidents, she is being accused of witchcraft or black magic.

Smit portrays Entgen Luijten as an emblem of female indomitability. During the crossexaminations, Entgen doesn’t mention the names of any other women, because she knows all too well what would happen to them. Despite being locked in a cold, dark prison cell and being starved and tortured, she doesn’t yield. In a society where women are considered the ‘weaker sex’ by the church and the authorities, susceptible to Satan’s temptations, Entgen stands out as wholly individual, a wise and autonomous human being.

PRESS & QUOTES

Smit’s empathy is her great strength. She doesn’t sugarcoat or romanticize; she sweeps the fairytale off the table.

— NRC HANDELSBLAD

This novel gives important insight into how the judiciary, the church and the powers-that-be were able to silence outspoken women.

— ZIN

Smit has written down the gripping story as a thriller. A tribute to a indomitable woman.

— DE TELEGRAAF

With great sensitivity and vivid details, Smit manages to bring to life a world of four centuries ago. Entgen’s fate, and that of fighting women like her, will no longer remain unseen.

— MENSJE VAN KEULEN

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