"Suffer a Witch" by Joy McCullough

This book isn't out yet, but will be in August 2026. I received a digital ARC for it (thanks!). I don't think I've ever encountered this format before, but this is a memoir in verse. It's targeted at young adults, but very much suited for adults too. It focuses on the author's experience with sexual assault within a church setting, and she connects it to women (well, children) prosecuted for witchcraft in the past. This book is so intensely personal, as the reader you really get a look into how a situation of grooming can arise and continue for such a long time. It's almost impossible to read without fuming from anger. The author is open about how this isn't a temporary pain, but how she carries the trauma with her all throughout her life. Eventually this book isn't only about her, the web of abuse made possible by hierarchical positions keeps expanding with multiple upsetting revelations. I think one of the most difficult things to read was how much effort she has put into stopping…