The Wax Child
Hardback Published on: 06/11/2025; Language: English, Danish (Original language of a translated text)
Price: £14.99
Bookseller Reviews
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Womanhood as Witchcraft?
A disjointed account of a 17th century witch trial (based on real events) told from the perspective of a wax child made by Christenze, a noblewoman twice a... READ MORE
Fever-dream folklore
Based on real life reports of women accused of witchcraft in the 1600s, The Wax Child narrates their lives and later arrest and trial. A doll-like figure m... READ MORE
Loved it!!
This is the perfect amount of weird combined with mysterious folklore.
The writing style is like reading butter, so smooth and effortless -a acknowledg... READ MORE
Totally unique and beautifully weird
Oh my goodness - this beautifully translated, lyrically written story by Olga Ravn is certainly a witchy tale with a difference! Narrated from the viewpoin... READ MORE
A powerful tale of witchcraft from one of Europe's best up-and-coming authors that touches on the masterful
While Ravn's firmly post modern writing style may not be to everyone's tastes, for those who it does work will find a work that is equally knotted and evoc... READ MORE
Folklore, Magic and Witchcraft
Folklore, Magic and Witchcraft! What more could a humble person such as I ask for? I read the Wax Child in one sitting, it completely consumed me! Martin A... READ MORE
Strange and unsettling folklore at its finest
Ravn's books aren't ones you're always going to be able to make sense of, but once you get past that, hers is a style that lends itself perfectly to a narr... READ MORE
Delightfully, devilishly strange
A haunting revision of women's history.
Ravn revisits a real life witch trial from the perspective of an eerie wax child who, passed between the arms of ... READ MORE
High Expectations Were Met!!!
This was one of those instances where my enjoyment of a book was matched by the expectations I had beforehand!
The narrative voice is so unique and it le... READ MORE
Unsettling in the best way!
One of my favourite books of this year, and it can be devoured in one sitting - what a plus!
This book is brimming with folklore and is rich in history. I... READ MORE
The author of International Booker Prize shortlisted The Employees and My Work delivers another stylistic swerve in The Wax Child, a wonderfully witchy tale, based on a real-life 17th century witch trial in Denmark. Sinister magic and folk-horror combine into a novel that is as creepingly atmospheric as it is formally impressive.
2025's Best Translated Fiction
Synopsis
Based on a real-life seventeenth century Danish witch trial, The Wax Child tells in vivid prose the story of Christenze Kruckow, a noblewoman long pursued by a scandal of sorcery. People whisper that in her wake one finds illness, death, and unsettling behaviour by pigs and cats.
Some even say she once fashioned out of wax a child, an instrument of the most sinister magic. Christenze will flee the rumours to Aalborg, that great city of seawater and mist. But even there suspicion and fear rule, and once a rumour of witchcraft has taken hold, it can prove hard to shake.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
- ISBN: 9780241752746
- Number of pages: 192
- Dimensions: 205 x 138 x 20 mm
- Weight: 276g
- Languages: English, Danish (Original language of a translated text)
Customer Reviews
View allIntense and Strange
Based on real life, this pieces together the documentation regarding a sixteenth century witch trial in Denmark. The eerie and remarkable thing about this ... READ MORE
A fierce reimagining of women’s history
The Wax Child is a haunting historical novella narrated by a wax doll, crafted in 1620 by Christenze Kruckow, an unmarried Danish noblewoman accused of wit... READ MORE
Well researched
Told from the perspective of a wax child, this well researched book blends myths and folklore with the lives of women involved in an infamous 17th century ... READ MORE
Too much armpit for me
Olga Ravn’s exploration of witchcraft and folk horror is weird and disjointed but hauntingly beautiful. The narrator is a wax doll crafted for some obscur... READ MORE
Another innovative but different novel from a versatile author
Olga Ravn, a Danish poet and novelist, came to first Anglophone and then international (with translations into 23 languages) attention after seemingly sui ... READ MORE
“It was early in my dream, I was but a child, I was new to the world, freshly broken from the whole to be a single part. Now I am new no more, I am decidedly worn out.”
Olga Ravn's novel is set in the year 1620, Christenze Krukow makes a wax child, she makes it out of beeswax to the likeness of a human child. Keeping it wi... READ MORE
Tumultuous.
It is the wax child itself that narrates this tale, based, shockingly, on real events, of women accused of witchcraft in sixteenth and seventeenth century ... READ MORE
Verified Purchase
Experimental prose exploring Danish witch trials
The Wax Child is a literary historical novel based on a real 17th century witch trial in Aalborg, Denmark. It was a really strangely written story, especia... READ MORE
No Hygge here, just rot
Born of beeswax and human remnants, and fashioned by a woman accused of sorcery, the wax child watches and listens, and tells us a story of suspicion, miso... READ MORE
Beautifully written
Beautifully lyrical and strange, the book is written from the perspective of a wax child as it narrates the story of its mistress being accused and charged... READ MORE
In the end, to me, this novel is the voice of unrequited longing and love, and the sorrow that grips your heart when the one you love is taken from you.
‘’And yet, I could cry if only I had eyes to cry.’’
Denmark, 1620. A child is born. A doll made of wax and longing, and sorrow. For its maker and mistre... READ MORE
Very artsy
This is a very different piece of High Art styled literature. It came across as a written form of a very much ‘live voice’ performance piece.
The narra... READ MORE
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