Hangman's Daughter (Potzsch) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
This work seamlessly merges brutality and compassion, and its elegant plot, appealing characters and satisfying conclusion will keep the reader wide awake and turning pages well into the night.
Shelf Awareness


Readers who like a plot-driven story with identifiable heroes and villains will be drawn to this ambitious novel. And unlike some stories in the genre, The Hangman’s Daughter only gets better as the climax approaches — an exciting duel between the hangman and his nemesis. It truly delivers the thing so many of us look for in our novels: entertainment.
BookPage


The translator has done very well by the author; both setting and characters are vividly drawn, making for a compelling read . . . Based on the author's research into his own family history, this novel offers a rare glimpse into a less commonly seen historical setting. If you liked Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, give this a try.
Library Journal


[Pötzsch's] novel reads quite vividly.... Based on the author’s family history, this excellent story brings 17th-century Bavaria alive with all its fears, superstitions and politics. Jacob Kuisl is not your ordinary hangman, and readers will root for him and his search for the truth. There’s enough 'unreality' in the evil of superstitions that this novel may appeal to fantasy readers, and the twists and turns of the plot will appeal to mystery fans.
School Library Journal


[A] romantic theme to this fast-paced thriller. When an orphan is found dead with a mysterious sign etched in his skin....[t]he complexity of the mystery is matched by the layering of sensory and social detail that firmly sets this historical fiction in a seventeenth century Bavarian village, revealing the stresses of family relationships and the complex interactions of authority in the village and the general willingness to accept a supernatural explanation rather than scientific and logical reasoning. —Elisabeth Greenberg
Children's Literature