About the Book: Imagine it’s the 1500s, and you’ve misplaced your silver spoons, your child is ill, or you seek love, luck—or escape. In Cunning Folk, historian Tabitha Stanmore reveals that in medieval and early modern Europe, many turned to “service magicians”—local practitioners of everyday magic who helped with healing, divination, love spells, and more PenguinUniversity of BristolFinancial Times. Neither feared nor revered like witches or saints, these cunning folk were quietly embedded in daily life and indispensable to communities across social strata PenguinSalem Witch MuseumWikipedia. Stanmore, drawing on court records, chronicles, and legal texts, presents a vivid, compassionate account that makes premodern magic feel both plausible and deeply human