The Wax Child
Published on 30. September 2025
Book
Hardback
176 pages
978-0-8112-3883-0 (ISBN)
Description
In seventeenth-century Denmark, Christenze Kruckow, an unmarried noblewoman, is accused of witchcraft. She and several other women are rumored to be possessed by the Devil, who has come to them in the form of a tall headless man who gives them dark powers: they can steal people's happiness, they have performed unchristian acts, and they can cause pestilence or death. They are all in danger of the stake.
The Wax Child, narrated by a wax doll created by Christenze Kruckow, is an unsettling horror story about brutality and power, nature and witchcraft, set in the fragile communities of premodern Europe.
Deeply researched and steeped in visceral, atmospheric detail, The Wax Child is based on a series of real witchcraft trials that took place in Northern Jutland in the seventeenth century. Full of lush storytelling and alarmingly rich imagination, Olga Ravn also weaves in quotes from original sources such as letters, magical spells and manuals, court documents, and Scandinavian grimoires.
The Wax Child, narrated by a wax doll created by Christenze Kruckow, is an unsettling horror story about brutality and power, nature and witchcraft, set in the fragile communities of premodern Europe.
Deeply researched and steeped in visceral, atmospheric detail, The Wax Child is based on a series of real witchcraft trials that took place in Northern Jutland in the seventeenth century. Full of lush storytelling and alarmingly rich imagination, Olga Ravn also weaves in quotes from original sources such as letters, magical spells and manuals, court documents, and Scandinavian grimoires.
Reviews / Votes
"It should be read by everyone." -- Thessaly La Force - The New York Times "Dark and strange and beautiful and completely gripping" -- Mark Haddon "The Wax Child spins its own spellbinding tale of loss and longing as the true story of Christenze Kruckow weaves through language that makes what happened to her, and to so many other women like her, pulse with a clarity more real than fact. A magnificent book. A true masterpiece of both substance and style." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred) "Olga Ravn is a master and an alchemist. There's nobody else doing quite what she does." -- Samantha Harvey "Gripping... This devilishly subversive feminist anthem is one of a kind." -- Publishers Weekly (starred) "The story is told by a doll carved from beeswax... a fascinating and totally inhuman consciousness, one of many startling feats in this book." -- Emma Alpern - New York Magazine "Ravn's prose is striking, richly marbled with quotation and detail pulled from primary sources. The texture of this true language is perfect alongside Ravn's keen ear for viscera: blood sucked from a cut finger, pens scratching and leaking, teeth sliding through the narrator's wax body." -- Emily Temple - LitHub "Addictive and unsettling." -- Claire-Louise Bennett "An instant classic that feels passed down from centuries ago and yet utterly unique, fresh, and modern. Another stunning, surreal journey from an author who seems to never disappoint." -- Jeff Vandermeer "Ravn's narrative gathers pace with unflinching and claustrophobic swiftness." -- Kat Trigarsky - Washington Post "Ravn creates a visceral atmosphere using rich, tactile details... The Wax Child asks to be read in a single, rapturous sitting in which its dark, fast-paced and disturbing narrative pulls the reader immediately into otherworldly environs." -- Anandi Mishra - ArtReviewMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Dimensions
Height: 185 mm
Width: 118 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
256 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8112-3883-0 (9780811238830)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Olga Ravn
The Wax Child
Book
approx. 09/2026
New Directions Publishing Corporation
€15.50
Not yet published
Additional editions
Olga Ravn
The Wax Child
Book
approx. 09/2026
New Directions Publishing Corporation
€15.50
Not yet published
Persons
Olga Ravn (born 1986) is a Danish novelist and poet. In collaboration with Danish publisher Gyldendal she edited a selection of Tove Ditlevsen's texts and books that relaunched Ditlevsen's readership worldwide. Her novel The Employees was on the shortlist for the Booker Prize in 2021.
Martin Aitken has translated numerous novels from Danish and Norwegian, including works by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Peter Hoeg, Ida Jessen, and Kim Leine. He won the PEN Translation Prize for his translation of Hanne Orstavik's Love.
Martin Aitken has translated numerous novels from Danish and Norwegian, including works by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Peter Hoeg, Ida Jessen, and Kim Leine. He won the PEN Translation Prize for his translation of Hanne Orstavik's Love.