Book Review of Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen

Rivka Galchen’s Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch (2021) feels both eerily historical and painfully modern. It is clever, caustic, and curiously funny reimagining of the witch trials that plagued 17th-century Germany. Based on real events, it tells the story of Katharina Kepler, the mother of astronomer Johannes Kepler, who was accused of witchcraft in 1615.

But Galchen isn’t merely revisiting history; she’s holding a mirror to our present. In a world of cancel culture, where rumours spread faster than facts, Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch feels less like a period drama and more like a sly allegory for the age of misinformation.

Gentle Spoiler Warning

If you prefer to experience the slow unravelling of the accusations yourself, consider this your spoiler warning. From here on, details about the plot and ending will be discussed.

The Plot

Katharina Kepler is an old widow living a simple life in Leonberg, a small German town. She’s eccentric, outspoken, and unapologetically herself; traits that, in the 17th century, are practically an invitation for suspicion. When a neighbour falls ill after drinking a herbal concoction Katharina gave her, whispers begin. Soon, the entire town seems to agree…