# I Put a Spell on You

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/john-burnside/i-put-a-spell-on-you

![I Put a Spell on You](https://quivercdn.com/covers/vintage/john-burnside/i-put-a-spell-on-you_978-15-2996-286-4-4550cac6.jpg?v=2026-09-24%2002%3A55%3A16)

- Authors: [John Burnside](https://www.bookquiver.com/john-burnside)
- Language: en_GB
- Published: 2014-05-01

## Description

In this exquisite, haunting book, John Burnside describes his coming of age from the industrial misery of Cowdenbeath and Corby to the new world of Cambridge . The old Scots word ‘glamour’ means magical charm, and the first time he was played I Put a Spell on You , John Burnside thought he had never heard a more beautiful song – it was an enchantment, a fascination that would turn to obsession. Implicit in the song were all the ambiguities that intrigued him – love, possession, and danger – and this book is an exploration of the darker side of glamour and attraction. Beginning with memories of a brutal murder, the book follows the author through a series of uncanny encounters with ‘lost girls’, with brilliant digressions on murder ballads, voodoo, acid and insomnia, and a cast that includes Kafka and Narcissus, Diane Arbus and Mel Lyman, The Four Tops and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and time spent lost in the Arctic Circle, black-and-white films and a mental institution. Ending with the tender summoning of the ghost of his dying mother as she sings along to the radio in her empty kitchen, I Put a Spell on You is a book about memory, about the other side of love: a book of secrets and wonders. ‘A marvellously meandering, digressive study of the nature of love… Exact and enthralling.’ Tessa Hadley

## Editions

### I Put a Spell on You

- Publisher: Vintage
- ISBN: 978-15-2996-286-4
- Pages: 304
- Published: 2025-08-07
- Language: en_GB

### I Put a Spell on You

- Publisher: Vintage
- ISBN: 978-00-9955-494-3
- Pages: 288
- Published: 2015-05-07
- Language: en_GB

### I Put a Spell on You

- Publisher: vintage_digital
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-14-7351-184-2
- Published: 2014-05-01
- Language: en_GB