In the late 1800s, three sisters use witchcraft to change the course of history in a Hugo award-winning author’s powerful novel of magic amid the suffragette movement.
In 1893, there’s no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.
But when the Eastwood sisters — James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna — join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women’s movement into the witch’s movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote — and perhaps not even to live — the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.
There’s no such thing as witches. But there will be.
My thoughts:
I loved The Ten Thousand Doors of January and had high hopes for this beautiful looking book and oh I’m so pleased by it. It’s just marvellous stuff.
An alternative history plot, with women having been the dominant sex for years, the gender swapped writers and famous figures were a particular delight.
Magic has been repressed and denied – women have died for possessing it but it’s still there, hidden, waiting.
The three Eastwood sisters reunite in New Salem and their bond wakes something, not just in them but in many of the women and even some of the men in the city.
The story weaves around you, with folkloric elements and slightly altered fairytales between the chapters. There is something incredibly enchanting and seductive about the narrative, I was completely drawn in and couldn’t put it down.
Absolutely delightful and wonderfully done.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 