One less star for Irène.
A Secret History of Witches is an interesting book that covers the history of five generations of witches of the Orchière clan, from Grandmère Ursula, the most powerful of the clan, to Veronica. The book is about the way witches lived, hiding their powers to evade witch hunters and their relentless persecution, where by blind fanaticism they condemned and murdered innocents only based on ridiculous beliefs and absurd evidence.
The story is divided into five parts each one dedicated to a female member of the clan: Nannette, Ursula, Irène, Morwen and Veronica. For me, the most despicable character in the book, in addition to those who persecute witches, is Irène. When I got to this part of the book, I almost gave up reading, but Morwen and Veronica's stories are the best.
All the characters are very well designed, the setting in the different historical periods is excellent and the plot absorbing, with the appearance near the end of the book of a witch that left me pleasantly surprised and that gives an unexpected turn to the story.

A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan

9780316508551

496 Pages
Publisher: Orbit Books / Redhook
Release Date: September 5, 2017

Fiction, General Fiction (Adult), Historical Fiction, Magic, Family Dynamics

The book begins with Nanette at age four when her grandmother Ursule dies suddenly. It seems their magic dies with her. Nanette grows up with her older sisters live at an orchard farm. The sisters make potions and poultices, but none have the magic energy to light the crystal. One sister sees into Nanette’s future and knows a man is coming for just for her love. The rest of the story is about Nanette’s descendants and how magic affects their lives.

The story was steady paced, and the characters were well developed. It is written in third person point of view. If you like stories about magic and strong women, you will enjoy this book.

A SECRET HISTORY OF WITCHES is a well-written, engaging novel about multiple generations of witches. It's well-written, and the characters are well-drawn. As is often a risk with generational novels, there are some characters I preferred over others (always sad to move on when this happens), but each successive character and generation was nevertheless interesting in their own way.
An intriguing read. Looking forward to trying more by the author in the future.

As always, I love anything with witches/magic/folklore, but this one didn't *quite* hit the mark. One of the things I dislike in books like this is the lack of actual magic being done. For example, in the second book of Deborah Harkness's all-souls trilogy, one of the main storylines is that Diana is going to learn to use and control her magic, but I felt like she really didn't; like that didn't happen. The same thing happened with this book - I WANT MORE MAGIC.

Perhaps it was the too many generations aspect or that the stories started feeling repetitive, but I didn't finish this book.

A Secret History of Witches is the story of five generations of witches and their trials and tribulations. Each witch has her own story to tell and the choices she makes in her life. I found that I enjoyed the earlier generations rather than the later ones. The background general history was fascinating but I found it a bit less believable as the stories became closer to modern times. I also found the stories were a bit uneven and more developed with the earlier generations. Overall, I did enjoy the book especially as a testament to the idea of strong and empowered women.

This book spans 5 generations of women who inherit magical power, a scrying stone and a grimoire from their mothers when they reach puberty. Most use their powers for good, but all are tempted to misuse “the force”. The book was just a bit too long for my taste. I wanted to get to know some of the women better, and others I could hardly wait for their stories to end.

The premise was so intriguing, and the back blurb so well written that I COULD NOT WAIT to read this book. I think i was hoping for something along the lines of the Psychick Book of Deliverance Dane or Practical Magic, as A Discovery of Witches didn't do it for me. Instead, it felt like the author threw in too many characters right at the beginning and it became clear to me pretty early on that she wouldn't be able to do them all justice and get the reader to connect emotionally with all of them. It was a DNF for me at about 10%.

Let's be honest here. This review is very overdue. I jumped at the chance to read this when it first appeared on NetGalley, then my daughter was born and the sheer number of pages on this one had me putting it on the back burner.This year while doing a NetGalley clean up, I was able to find the audiobook via Overdrive and my library and listened during my daily to commute.


This book was amazing. I loved the history of the entire family. Seeing how they lived their lives and fought their individual battles (since time changed what type of battle they needed to deal with). How the heritage was passed down through generations. There were some story lines that maybe could have been less drawn out, but I understood the need to give backstory so that the entirety of the book would make sense.



I loved the generational aspect and how the story shows each witch coming into her power, how she chooses to deal with her magic and how the tradition was passed down (or not). The POVs change when a new generation is born and the elders are then background characters. Each character has different values and you see how the power affects them - good or bad.



My favourite story lines were of the witches in the 1800s when the witch hunters were the biggest threat and they had to truly be careful of showing their power.


I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

This was enjoyable, if not outstanding. I thought A Secret History of Witches captured a bit of the imagination and was pleasantly readable.

Overall, I think I liked this book. I know it's odd to write 'I think' but that's what it feels like: a guess. I can't really put my finger on why I liked it but I can say what I didn't like. What the story lacks is cohesion. It's more like reading a series of related short stories than one, united story line. This approach makes it easy to put the book down in my opinion because there's little rush to move on as a reader. I would be invested in one woman only for her to disappear all together in the next section.

Nannette was the hardest to get into I thought and Irene was too unlikeable so I didn't even want to root for her. I liked Ursule simply because she was different and Morwan, unfortunately, did not feel very unique after the three women who came before her. I liked Morwan though and was disappointed how she vanished from the story when we moved to Veronica, who I did like simply because her path was so different than that of the previous women.

The book is written well though and I liked how it blended in the big events of the two world wars. As a fantasy lover, I would've loved more about the magic itself and how it worked but I can see why that might not have been in the book considering this was much more of a historical fiction than a fantasy. Either way, the book was fine though a bit too easy to put down.

Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher Orbit books, and the author Louisa Morgan for the opportunity to do so.

Mildly interesting but way to repetitive for my taste. I needed a lot more variety to the story to truly enjoy it.

If you like a story goes through multiple generations of one family, you might enjoy this. Just be prepared for some repetition since the women of each generation must give birth to a girl to pass on the family magic. It did get boring with the repetitiveness, but I enjoyed reading Veronica's story during World War II.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley. This book had me from the very beginning. I love that it kept me engaged the entire time. I couldn't wait to see how it ended. I would highly recommend to all my fellow readers. Thank you for the chance to review this book!

This book was good, right up until Veronica's chapter. I liked reading the struggles of the strong women and how they'd overcome their obstacles. While interesting, I wasn't fond of SPOILER how the Queen helped use her magic during WWII. It seemed a little rushed and just thrown together.

Three and a half stars: A lengthy novel that explores the tradition of witch craft over two hundred years as it is passed from mother to daughter.

It is the eighteen hundreds, witches aren’t hunted and burned at the stake like they once were, but make no mistake, being branded a witch still has devastating consequences even two hundred years past the height of the witch hunts. That is why on this particular night, the Orchiere family is on the road, fleeing the villagers who mean to persecute them. Grandmere Ursule pushes out her powers to cloak them, giving her life in the process. She leaves behind her clan, but her magic seems to die with her. Until one day, the youngest of the Orcheres, Nanette, realizes her powers. The power is once again wielded and passed from mother to daughter. Will they power serve for good or ill?
What I Liked:
*A History of Witches is a lengthy, multi generational novel that spans two hundred years, over the lives of five witches. If you have the patience for this type of novel, and you don’t mind the slow pace, this is an interesting novel to take on. I rather enjoyed this tale.
*I liked that each witch was unique and each wielded the power in a different way. Some hardly used it, while others snatched it up and bent the power for their own personal gain. Of course, I found myself drawn more to certain witches than others, but they each were interesting to follow.
*I enjoyed the changing of the points of views and the changing of the times. I also appreciated that the book started in the early 1800s and spanned through World War II which isn’t the typical time frame for a witch book. It was nice to get something beyond the seventeenth century when witch hunting was at its peak. I especially liked the final chapters that were set durning World War II. I was especially surprised by how the witches wielded their powers to help the war aid, and who was involved.
*The book moves at a slow pace, and some readers might get frustrated at the pedantic pace of the story, but I rather enjoyed it. The voices shift just as each witch is coming into her power. Often the mother witch is still in the background, aging and watching her daughter and helping, while other times the witch is on her own. I liked exploring each character, watching her make mistakes, and I liked the slow pace.
*The story ends in a good spot, while the story could go on, I thought that it ended in a good place.
I listened to he audiobook version narrated by Polly Lee. I thought Ms. Lee did a good enough job with the narration, and I think that I enjoyed this book far more on audio verses if I had read it.
And The Not So Much:
*My biggest frustration with this one was the skipping ahead in time. There were several points in the book where one witch’s story is reaching the climatic point, and then the story jumps ahead into the future with the next witch’s story. I was especially frustrated when the narration shifted from Ursule to Irene because I wanted to know much more about how Irene fared after she escaped the farm. Tiny details are given, but it wasn’t enough. Then when the narration shifts from Morwen to Veronica a great deal is skipped again, and not many of the pieces are filled in.
*The overall message of the book got to be repetitive. Basically, each witch is taught to fear men and their oppressive rule. I got it the first time around, it got old after awhile.
*I also found myself wishing that the witches had learned to do more with their powers than ensnare men to propagate their line. Finally, at least Veronica does something different with her powers.

A History of Witches is a hard book to review. On one hand, I was fascinated and riveted by the tale, but I can honestly say this isn’t a book for everyone. If you like slow paced tales that cover generations and span decades, this is for you. Don’t expect a fast paced novel with lots of action, instead you get an interesting story about how each witch learns to adapt to the times and use her powers. It requires patience, but I found it worth the effort.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for this review.
Posted@Rainy Day Ramblings.

This book follows five generations of witches, showing the magic passed down from mother to daughter and tells the story of the struggles the family face trying to keep their lifestyle and craft a secret.

I was so excited when I heard about this book as magic and history are just such a perfect pairing and I was ready to become obsessed with this story. However, I was left feeling somewhat unenthralled as if I was missing something. Although the writing style was solid and what I would expect of a published author, there was no spark for me. I didn’t feel as if I wanted to read and, to be honest, I didn’t care what happened to the characters.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I loved how independent these women were. They were badass and powerful, but they were also unlikable. Everyone except the grandmother did not seem to have a mind of their own and seemed to come under the category of rude and just plain annoying. Once the grandmother passed away, I really stop caring about what would happen next. I was looking forward to a story about all-powerful, gender role breaking women, but as the story went on they began to fall right back into their gender roles.

You would think with the reversion to gender roles the historical aspect would be centre stage. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case. The story misses so many opportunities to really delve into the historical background of these time periods and really compare and contrast the changes that society would’ve been going through. I have no doubt that the author did a lot of research when writing this book, but I would’ve loved for her to incorporate it more into the actual plot.

Another major problem I had was the actual structure. There are many time hops throughout, but there is no real way of telling the difference except for the chapter title. There wasn’t a massive contrast between the different generations and if there were no names throughout I honestly wouldn’t be able to tell which generation was speaking. I had to keep turning back to remember which generation I was reading about, which really takes you away from the flow of the story.

Overall, this was such a great idea and I think with a bit more time, it would’ve been a real winner. However, the characters and the structure make it very hard for me to love this book. I think if I wasn’t reviewing this, I would’ve put it down after 100 pages. If you love anything involving magi,c and witches, then maybe give this book a go. But if you are picking a historical fiction book, I would stay away from this one.

Great literary fiction. Narrated beautifully. Characters were very relatable. I enjoyed getting to know all of the characters in this story. The setting was perfect. the plot was very easy to follow a long with and it flowed well with the length of the storyline.

This is a epic sweeping generational historical tale of several generations of Mothers and Daughters who follow them with magical powers. I enjoyed the authors writing as this story is narrated from different time periods for each person. Each generation is drawn into the time period of history and the author gives each their place in changing history through their magic. . Its truly a magical read as it draws the reader into the story. I enjoyed reading this very much and look forward to the next book by this wonderful author.

Thank you for the review copy which does not influence my personal review.

When I requested this book on Netgalley, I envisioned a homey, historical tale of a family of witches. And that's kind of what I got, though there were some flaws that kept this book from living up to the enjoyable and comforting read that I wanted.

A Secret History of Witches is exactly what it sounds like. It documents the generations of an ancient sorceress line, the Ochiéres (sp?), who escape prosecution in France by traveling to England. The book goes through many parts, each focusing on one woman in the subsequent generation. Each part varies in length and plot, and the sectioning of the book in this manner is where my main issue lies.

While reading, especially in the beginning, I kept trying to find a uniting theme or reason for moving from witch to witch, with relatively nothing happening in some of the earlier parts. The first few parts were rather boring, with a quick retelling of the woman's life with maybe two interesting things that happened to her. I couldn't figure out why I was reading this, and what these stories were trying to tell me--it just seemed like a simple family diary. It got slightly better as I read on, since the later parts got longer and told a more detailed and exciting story. I wish that the entire book was condensed, so that we focused on the last two generations of witches (Morwen and Veronica), who I connected with the most and who had actual plots and interesting conflicts they had to understand and learn from. I understand, after reading, that the earlier parts serve to provide background to the reader, but I feel this could have been accomplished in shorter flashbacks or re-tellings inserted into the story of Morwen and Veronica.

I also take issue with parts of the plot--Why does everyone's mother have to die before they can pass down the craft? Why hide it so much? I feel like it is a cop out for trying to make their lives exciting or more unique. I also felt the casting of Queen Elizabeth as a fellow witch, and them forming a coven to help win WWII, SO bizarre! Like... where did this come from? Why did this need to happen? It just seemed so odd and out of place..

Anyways.. this book was more enjoyable as I read along, but I'm not sure I would recommend it to anyone. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy, even though I read it very late..