The Last Witch

C. J. Cooke is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors, and her latest book is my favorite one yet. The Last Witch takes readers back to 1485, where Helena Scheuberin is a young wife trying to finally conceive a child. But just when she discovers she’s pregnant, she’s arrested on charges of witchcraft. She and six other women are locked in a dungeon and tortured, their pleas of innocence cruelly ignored. It seems that, regardless of how true or false an accusation, Father Kramer is determined to see them all burn at the stake. Bishop Golser may be their only ally. But is there any hope that they’ll be set free and seen as women, not witches, ever again?

What I Liked:

• Exposing misogyny. Sexism is nothing new, but wow, Kramer’s intense hatred of women is something else. He despises and fears women to such an intense degree as to be unfathomable to me, and he actively turns his evil feelings to spreading hatred and killing women. He’s a murderous psychopath in a monk’s robe, infecting the world with his twisted, deeply misogynistic views and leaving a long list of victims in his wake.
• Exposing religious failings. Kramer may be spearheading this murderous rampage, but he has the full support of the church, the pope, and (almost) all around him. The supposed teachings of Christ are nowhere to be found among these men of the cloth. Seeing such failings here can make anyone an atheist, or at least result in a deep distrust of organized religion.
• The horrors of mankind. The terrors and evil in this book stem not from dark magic and demons… but directly from regular people. Especially men. The human capacity for cruelty and blind hatred is astounding, and seeing the way the seven women here were tortured is painful to read about. It’s enough to make you lose faith in humanity. I felt so much anger and disgust while reading this, mainly at Kramer, but also at Sebastian, Ericka, and the general population of Innsbruck.
• Helena’s strength. Despite the torture, cruelty, and complete lack of support, Helena shows immense strength of character. Her determination to show herself and her fellow inmates as women, as innocent, is remarkable. She is the main force behind their hopeful freedom.
• Georg Golser’s commitment to doing the right thing. The other primary force of good is Bishop Golser. A secretly gay man who’s suffered loss, he’s the only good-hearted man in this whole story. Along with Helena (and her handmaid Sophie!), Georg is instrumental in uncovering the truth about the women’s innocence.

Final Thoughts

The Last Witch inspired such intense feelings in me that I actually had to pause reading it twice, but always I wanted to go back and see how it would all turn out. This book is based on true events, and it will certainly inspire a fair amount of rage within you… but also respect for the few strong characters who were committed to truth and justice. I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time and will encourage everyone I can to read it. This is the best C. J. Cooke novel so far! I’m excited to read more from her.

Special thanks to the publicists at Penguin Random House, Berkley, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy The Last Witch here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

The Last Witch by C. J. Cooke
Audience	Adult
Genre	Horror; Women’s Fiction; Historical Fiction
Setting	Germany
Number of Pages	352
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	October 14, 2025
Publisher	Berkley

Official Summary

A deeply compelling historical horror novel following a woman accused of being a witch who must use her voice to fight for her life—and the truth—from the acclaimed author of The Book of Witching

Innsbruck, 1485. Helena Scheuberin should be doing what every other young wife is doing: keeping house, supporting her husband, and bearing his children, but as an outspoken, strong woman, she sometimes has difficulty fitting in. Then she draws the unwanted attention of a malign priest who is just starting his campaign to root out “witches” from among the women of her town, and when her husband’s footman dies, she finds herself accused not only of murder but of witchcraft.

Helena must find the courage to risk her life and the lives of others by standing up to a man determined to paint her as the most wicked of all….

Based on the incredible true story of a woman who challenged a man who went on to become one of Europe’s most notorious and cruel witchfinders, this novel offers a jewel-bright portrait of female power.