Description: Accused of witchcraft. Accused of murder. Can she escape the hangman's noose? Lichfield 1723. A woman accused of witchcraft and murder faces the hangman's noose unless Hester and the Lunar Society can save her. Hester, the wife of an acting magistrate, is fighting a cause. Sickened by the hanging of a woman who had been brutalized by her husband, and still deeply affected by her own childhood experiences, Hester feels compelled to help women who face the death penalty. When Hester's husband is summoned to the scene of a murder, Hester accompanies him. They discover that the victim, Lady Aston, is clutching a witch's bottle. Lord Aston is convinced that Gwen Foley, a woman in the village, has murdered his wife. Gwen is branded as a witch and is dragged from her cottage to jail to await trial. But Hester believes Gwen is innocent and promises to help. Is Gwen a witch and a murderer who deserves to hang? With the help of the Lunar Society, Hester is about to find out.
Brief description: Jane O'Connor is a writer and academic based in the West Midlands, UK. Her debut novel, Needlemouse, was selected as the runner-up for the Tibor Jones Pageturner Prize. Her short stories have been published in national magazines, and she was the winner of the 2020 Hysteria short story competition. Jane's latest novel, The Trial of Gwen Foley, is set in eighteenth-century Lichfield and features two of her greatest interests-bookshops and the history of witchcraft. Jane lives in Birmingham with her husband, two boys, and two cats.