TO CONDEMN A WITCH
By LISA A. TRAUGOTT
Historical Fantasy
Publisher: Rose Castle Media
Pages: 399
Publication Date: August 11, 2025
SYNOPSIS
A stolen scroll. A cursed bloodline. A prophecy that binds three witches across life and death…
Scotland, 1729. When clairvoyant healer Fiona MacLeod discovers an enchanted scroll, she awakens a prophecy linking her fate to two other women: Eleanor, a servant-turned-mistress caught in a scandal, and Matilda, a vengeful ghost burned for witchcraft. Together, they must form a coven—maiden, mother, and crone—to protect a changeling child marked by ancient magic.
But a ruthless witch hunter is closing in—one who will stop at nothing to destroy the child and the women sworn to defend her.
Spanning the infamous Hellfire Caves of England to haunted Scottish glens and the wilds of colonial Virginia, To Condemn a Witch is a haunting prequel in the Tales of the Witchborn series—a dark tale of feminine power, sacrifice, and the unbreakable bond between witches who rise, no matter how often they are condemned.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lisa A. Traugott is the award-winning author of the Tales of the Witchborn series (To Rescue a Witch and To Condemn a Witch), a haunting historical fantasy saga in the realm of ghosts, goddesses, and rebellion. She double majored in history and theater to guarantee unemployment yet somehow became a full-time author. An original cast member on American Grit with John Cena, she also had five lines on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
She lives in Austin with her husband and two kids where they enjoy walking ghost tours and telling scary stories around the campfire. You can get a FREE chapter of To Rescue a Witch at LisaTraugott.com.
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REVIEW
I really enjoyed Lisa A. Traugott’s To Rescue a Witch, so I was looking forward to reading the prequel to Annaliese’s story, To Condemn a Witch. Here we meet Annaliese’s mother, Eleanor, who is orphaned at a young age but manages to rise to unexpected heights. We also meet Fiona, William Macleod’s wife, and her Aunt Matilda, who was burned as a witch when Fiona was young.
It was a dark time for wise women. The clergy were determined to stamp out the old ways, and while William knew of (and even appreciated) Fiona’s gifts when they married, now he’s trying to keep her out of trouble with both the church and the law. Fiona chafes against his restrictions, and she secretly stays in communication with Matilda’s ghost, who is determined to wreak revenge on those who killed her knowing she was innocent of the charges against her. There is a curious prophecy in a family heirloom, and this leads Fiona and Matilda to make contact with Eleanor in the Otherworld. They form a coven, working to ensure the prophecy comes to pass.
This story hasn’t drawn me in quite as quickly as To Rescue a Witch did. There are so many characters who are just awful and unlikeable. The witch hunter is an evil, evil person who does things he knows are wrong and just doesn’t care. He’s not interested in ridding the world of what he genuinely perceives as evil. He’s just interested in getting what he wants, no matter who gets hurt (or worse) in the process. The minister trying to root out all traces of pagan festivals among the Macleods’ tenants is a piece of work, too. Man of God, my foot. He has his own agenda. Lady Margaret Hallewell is an absolute shrew. If she didn’t have money, no man would have married her. Lord George Hallewell isn’t much better. His family name was ruined, so he married money. No love lost between him and the lady wife, that’s for sure.
But all is not hopeless. Eleanor has a hard-knock life. She was taken in at the orphanage/workhouse after the rest of her family died, and she has worked. When she’s taken on as a laundress in the Hallewell household, it seems like her fortunes may improve. But she makes some poor choices, and then some more poor choices, and that leads her to where Macleod finds her at the start of To Rescue a Witch. She’s not a bad person, though. Materialistic and trying to be a social climber, but she’s smart and I feel like she genuinely wants to improve her lot in life. She doesn’t want to be destitute, considered worthless all her life. She wants better for herself and for Annaliese.
Macleod himself is a difficult character in this story, although we see glimpses of the man he will yet become. He’s Hallewell’s legal counsel and fixer. He knows it. He doesn’t like it, but he isn’t sure how to get himself out of that role. He’s also got challenges to deal with in his own family, and he doesn’t always handle them well. But he’s slowly realizing something has to change, and he is instrumental in getting Eleanor away from those in London who would do her harm.
There are some rough parts to the story. A witch is burned alive. There’s a bit of on-page spice, and women are treated as property no matter what societal stratum they fall into. A creepy minister, an evil witch hunter, drunken debauchery that, while based on real history, is still a wee bit over the top for me. These all combined to make it an unsettling read. But unsettling does not mean bad. This story needed to unfold to lead us into the events of To Rescue a Witch, and I hope there’s a third story coming at some point to tie it all together!
One thing that I normally don’t mention is error in a story. There were several pretty egregious ones that I noted in this book. I know no editor or proofreader catches everything (I know that from personal experience!). But the errors here yanked me out of the flow of the story, and the repeated use of “prophesy” for “prophecy” nearly had me wanting to throw the book across the room. That’s the kind of error that spell check wouldn’t have caught, because the incorrect word was spelled correctly. It makes me wonder if some type of AI check was all that was done. It’s possible I received an advance unedited copy. If that’s the case, I’ll come back and remove this paragraph from my review.
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Wonderful review. I remember Lady Margaret from To Rescue a Witch and had a hard time finding at least one redeeming quality in her. Most villains aren’t painted so two dimensionally and the reader does need some softening if even if a small thing.
Loved your review and love this prequel/sequel! It was definitely dark like Rescue but I loved how we got more Scotland in general in this book. Loved the lore and the witches + magic made it more fun, though it was harder to dive into this one than the last like you mentioned. I did hate the fact that William’s character regresses since the only reason I liked him in Rescue was his redemption arc. But you can definitely see the foundations the author’s laying for his growth. Matilda was a cantankerous delight for me.