Mortimer and the Witches cover art

Mortimer and the Witches

A History of Nineteenth-Century Fortune Tellers

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Mortimer and the Witches

By: Marie Carter
Narrated by: Marie Carter
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Under the pseudonym Q. K. Philander Doesticks, P. B., humor writer Mortimer Thomson went undercover to investigate and report on the fortune tellers of New York City's tenements and slums. When his articles were published in 1858, they catalyzed a series of arrests that scandalized and delighted the public. In Mortimer and the Witches, author Marie Carter examines the lives of these marginalized fortune tellers while detailing Mortimer Thomson's peculiar and complicated biography.

Nineteenth-century fortune tellers offered their clients answers to all questions in astrology, love, and law matters. Yet Doesticks saw them as the worst of the worst. His investigative reporting aimed to stop unsuspecting young women from seeking the corrupt soothsaying advice of these so-called clairvoyants and to expose the absurd predictions of these "witches."

Carter views these stories of working-class, immigrant women with more depth than Doesticks's mocking articles. She presents them as three-dimensional figures rather than the caricatures.

Mortimer and the Witches offers new insight into the neglected histories of working-class fortune tellers and the creative ways that they tried to make a living.

©2024 Marie Carter (P)2024 Tantor Americas Gender Studies Social Sciences State & Local United States Women Thought-Provoking Witty Astrology Witchcraft Magic Magic Users
All stars
Most relevant  
Enjoyed the history of that era and how women struggled with trying to make money to live.

The author brought the book to life

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.