The Once and Future Witches is a story of fighting for your rights, finding strength in each other, and never giving up on the power to change someone's heart. Agnes, Juniper, and Bella are three estranged sisters that find each other and their power amidst the suffragette movement.

The Once and Future Witches is a reminder of how many institutions and constructs have been built to keep women from finding the power of our unity. How we accept and even build upon these institutions, find ways to divide ourselves, and refuse to open our hearts to each other. Even though this is a story of witches amidst the suffragette movement, it is very much a reflection on this moment. This novel had almost everything: witches, feminism, and Alix E.Harrow's gorgeous prose. I love getting lost in her words. I loved that the sisters are strong and flawed. I love that this book affirms why all dresses should have pockets.

This was not a perfect novel - the pacing was a bit uneven, and the archetypes (Maiden, Mother, Crone) at times prevented the sisters from feeling like fully fleshed out women. I struggled with the rating on this because of its unevenness. Ultimately, this is a story I keep thinking about. It was a book that makes me want to reach out to my friends and make sure they know how powerful they are. Plus, it has one of the prettiest covers ever.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for an eArc in exchange for my honest review.

" 'Witching and women's rights. Suffrage and spells. They're both a kind of power, aren't they? The kind we aren't allowed to have.' The kind I want, says the hungry shine of her eyes."

If this cover isn't my entire aesthetic, I don't know what is. Wow, this book left a sort of unsatisfied burn in me. Not because the plot is left at loose ends (it's not) or because it failed to meet expectations (it exceeded them) but because it's a feminist manifesto clothed in a witch's cloak and bitterness and sweetened with just enough hope and sisterly love to make you crave more. Don't expect neat plots and cute tropes with this one. Come seeking twisted witch tales and plots for revenge, ambitious gambits and heart-wrenching decisions.

The Eastwood sisters grew up in a dangerous household with only each other to hold onto. When that bone-deep loyalty was subverted seven years ago, they parted ways with the seeds of hatred planted among them. Now, in 1893 New Salem, a jaw-dropping show of witchcraft at a suffragist rally will bring broken, bookish Bella, withdrawn, sensible Agnes, and vicious, untameable Juniper back into one another's orbit. Only time will tell if trust can be mended.

Even if this book didn't come in at over 500 pages, I would have a hard time summing up everything it made me feel. Harrow's writing style is vivid and eloquent. The sisters' trials are brutal and realistic. The tantalizing scent of witchcraft beckons. All three sisters strode purposefully into my heart with the force of a binding spell.

Finally, it wouldn't be true feminism if this were a story of straight white women romping through Salem on their adventures. Class and race are important factors in the plot and social critique. Cleo Quinn, queer black woman and unyielding journalist will seize onto you with her take-no-prisoners confidence. Queer stories in the book braid hardship & misery, love & triumph into one of life's messy knots. I leave my comments here vague for fear of spoiling plot revelations, but know this is no TERF's story of witchcraft.

Usher in spooky season with a feminist bang when this book hits the shelves on 10/13! I hope it destroys all of you like it did me, and I say this with sincere reverance.

Alix E. Harrow presents another magical novel for readers that is due out just in time for the witchy season! Set in Salem in 1893, where witches have become a thing of the past, the newest way to punish women was by arresting them for campaigning for women’s right to vote.

When the Eastwood sisters join forces with a suffragist group, no one ever imagined that the women would resort to witchery in order to improve their lives. For most of the women, the only thing about witching they know from the old days is old nursery rhymes and herbal remedies that have been passed down from their grandmothers.

The Eastwood sisters were raised by such a grandmother. Beatrice, the scholarly of the 3 sisters, works in the library and one day comes across an old spell and unknowingly says the spell aloud, which sets in motion an unsettling chain of events.

Once Beatrice realizes what she’s done, she and her sisters, Juniper and Agnes, set out to find more spells to set things right and to remove an evil presence that has been hovering over Salem.

This was a fun, fairy tale of a novel and I enjoyed reading all the old nursery rhymes that are scattered throughout the pages of the book. My only complaint is the story just seemed way too long and some of the information was redundant. I think some good editing could have moved the story along a bit smoother.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Redhook Books for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.

This is a powerful, magic-filled tale centering around 3 sisters who have lived through all sorts of abuse and trials. Their grandmother taught them witch rhymes when they were young, and though witching ways are despised by the ruling class of men, it does not seem so different to me as the right to vote. Here, the Eastwood sisters seek both; knowledge to use their witching power as well as equality and the right to vote, as they well should.

Many readers will enjoy this story, as it is well-written and its themes and characters are relatable. But this is a dark tale, and I have not seen proper content warnings aside from the author answering a direct question, which is hidden on Goodreads and entirely missing on Amazon. Readers, please note all the potential triggers, in the author’s own words:

“Child abuse, both physical and psychological; parental death; arrest and imprisonment; mind control; pregnancy and childbirth, including forced hospitalization; racism; sexism; homophobia, both external and internalized; threat of sexual assault, averted; torture (mostly off-the-page, but alluded to); execution (attempted); child abandonment; major character death.”

I voluntarily read a Review Copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely my own and no one else’s.

Wow just wow. This book was better than I expected it to be. Besides being beautifully written, it was creative in using children's nursery rhymes and children's stories. I was not sure if it would be a hit or a miss the combining of witches and women's rights, but I found it worked well for the story.
It was clever, there were a few unexpected twists, and showed the power of recognizing a woman's worth. What more could I ask for?
Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for providing me with a copy of this book.

When I started this book I did not realize quite how long it was and I felt like the first 100 pages kind of slogged along. Alix Harrow was developing her world and holding secrets from us. I persevered and I am so happy that I did. Once the story developed it really took off and I ate up the next 428 pages in mere hours. I was unwilling to put the book down.
I was immediately intrigued by Agnes Amaranth and Beatrice Belladonna because I could relate to them. James Juniper was more wild and coarse. It took me a while to warm up to her character and I found her somewhat off putting.

This alternative time prior to women getting the vote was an interesting setting because 2020 is the 100th anniversary of women getting the vote in the United Stated. This fact stayed with me throughout the reading of this novel. I liked that the author intertwined the suffragists with witches. I think this does a wonderful job portraying feelings about women receiving the vote. I like that some women went to any means to try to get voting rights for women. This novel had characters that represented a wide variety of thoughts and beliefs, but they all held the overall belief that they deserved more, they deserved better and they deserved the right to vote.

It interesting to hear all of the tales I read and rhymes I said as a child brought back to represent magic and spells. I liked that each chapter started with a verse, the needed accoutrements and what the spell was used for. What started as working for the right to vote became so much more for the Eastwood sisters. They turned the women’s movement into the witch’s movement. They discovered so much about themselves and being witches throughout the book. It was exciting to watch them take on evil and while the book starts off slow once it takes off it is a fast-paced nail-biter that keeps you absorbed till the end. Then you feel bereft because it is over. I would recommend this book to people who enjoyed Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic series or the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness.

I was given an ARC by NetGalley for an honest review of The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix Harrow's first novel, is one of my favorite books ever, and for someone who reads as much as I do, that's saying something. The Ten Thousand Doors reminded me of the feeling I had when I read The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe for the first time as a pre-teen -- that feeling of opening a magic door and finding a whole new world on the other side just waiting for you to join it. So I wasn't about to miss her second novel, The Once and Future Witches.

Thanks to the lovely folks at NetGalley, I had the chance to devour this book before its release in exchange for my honest opinion. And my honest opinion is that Alix has created that same magic again. With as much reading as I do, it's rare for a book to surprise and delight me at my age and level of cynicism, but this one, like the Ten Thousand Doors, did just that.

The scope of this story is not as broad as January's tale, and in fact it seems very little actually happens for the first half of the book. Normally this would drive me batty -- bring on the action already! But Alix's prose is so beautiful that I didn't mind. I just sat back and let her words roll over me. It's rare for me to highlight quotes as I read, but I did that throughout this book. Some passages were so beautiful I want to remember them and come back to them when I need them.

I share Alix's love of words, and also her love of fairy tales and myths, which are in abundance here. I literally laughed out loud a few times -- that's how delighted I was with her literary allusions to everything from nursery rhymes to Greek myths to folk songs. You'll never hear those stories the same way after reading this book.

The themes of the book revolve around feminism, women's suffrage, women's power, and women's anger, with some ruthless and corrupt politicians thrown into the mix too. All of those things are timely in this strange year of 2020, even though the story is set in 1893. The themes are age-old, but the story feels immediate and relevant to the here and now.

There's so much more I could tell you about plot and characters and tears and breathtaking moments and sentences, but you need to experience all that for yourself. You need to see how the whole thing fits together and how beautiful it is when a writer comes up with precisely the right words at the right moment. I rarely read books twice -- who has time for that when there's so much reading to be done? But I'll be going back to New Salem again sometime soon.

(Posted on Goodreads 9-8-20)

In New Salem in 1893, the Eastwood sisters - Bella, Agnes and Juniper, find each other again for the first time in years. As they begin to try to make peace with the past and move on, Juniper joins the suffragists, and tries to bring back witchcraft using the words and ways that they were brought up knowing, dragging her other two sisters along behind her. Mayhem erupts, as it always does when witches start coming out, and things that can't be explained start happening. A shadowy force unlike anything they have ever encountered before starts stalking them, and they have to draw upon the ancient magics of the maiden, the mother and the crone in order to survive.

I loved this book. It was so good. It had all of the fairy tales and rhymes from childhood interspersed throughout the book, only they were changed just a bit to turn them into spells or make them into stories about witches. I loved all three of the Eastwood women. They were really female protagonists you could root for. The story kept me captivated from beginning to end. I highly recommend this delightful tale.

Witches. Alix Harrow. Complicated families. Need I say more?

Okay, fine, I will. The Once and Future Witches is an enthralling fantasy novel set in 1893. Salem, Massachusetts (one town over from my hometown by the way) has burned to the ground and witches are not supposed to exist anymore. It takes three wayward sisters, with help from their unlikely friends, to bring back witchcraft and provide power to women. Harrow turns typical nursery rhymes and fairy tales we all learned as children into spells and true stories of witches.

This atmospheric novel takes the reader through numerous plots and themes: suffrage (great timing by the way with it being 100 years since the nineteenth amendment), feminism, siblings, true love, motherhood, and much more. For those who loved Ten Thousand Doors of January, the plot is entirely different and darker, but still has the beautiful, fantastic writing found in Ten Thousand Doors.

One complaint about this novel is the length and pacing. I had to push through some sections that just didn’t fly by, but in retrospect I’m not sure what could be removed without taking way serious value to the story. The length could be very intimidating to some readers. But stick with it friends, it’s worth the ride. For feminists looking for a beautifully written, atmospheric, character-driven novel, I highly recommend this book.

BIG THANKS to NetGalley and Orbit for a free copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

It's 1893 in New Salem, and the suffragettes think that women should be polite and ladylike if they are to make any progress, get any power.

The witches have other ideas.

Bella, Agnes, and Juniper Eastwood are sisters, and witches. Of the three, Juniper is the most troublesome, apt to leap headlong into danger. The sisters have been estranged, and have very dysfunctional relationships and a lot of baggage, but some strange force is working to make the three converge in one place so that an ancient hidden Tower, full of spells and old knowledge, can reveal itself again. The forces of darkness, conveniently disguised as the disciples of righteousness and political saviors, will do anything to destroy the Tower and to prevent the witches from coming into their full power. Police power and political power are on the side of "righteousness," but more women, and men, and those with atypical gender identity, have vast magical powers than anyone would ever believe, if they can just reclaim it and all work together.

Interpolated fairy tales and spells weave throughout "The Once and Future Witches" with mixed effect. Gritty and emotional, the novel makes the most of fantasy tropes such as maiden-mother-crone. The pacing of the novel could have been better and the past-present tense switches were hard to follow.

Harrow has the rare talent for writing novels that can make you truly feel the magic, in the same vein as Harrow's last novel, "The Ten Thousand Doors of January." While this novel was a great ride, in this reader's opinion, "Ten Thousand Doors" was a better book.

"The Once and Future Witches" can be utterly immersive and for several chapters at a time, I was riveted and emotionally invested until tripped up by the pacing and the frequent need to switch focus. Recommended to fans of Margaret Atwood's reworked fairy tales and also readers who are open to modern feminist fantasies that are explicitly intersectional and nonbinary.

I received a DRC of this book from the publisher and Netgalley and was encouraged to submit an honest review.

"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.

For more from Alix E. Harrow, check out The Ten Thousand Doors of January."

October screams witches! And with the election ever looming, a little suffrage is a good thing!

Alix E. Harrow's The Once and Future Witches was a delightful, well-written alternate history (semi-fantasy?) about the power and drive of women. In this alternate universe, magic and witches have continuously bubbled up all over the world, only to be wiped out by men and fear. In 1893 New Salem, the city built after the Old Salem was burned to the ground in the last big witch burning and extermination, three sisters reunite and in an attempt to get votes and rights for women, they come up against a truly evil character that uses the public's fear of witching and magic to try to erase it once again. Turns out, magic is actually all around them, in the rhymes, sayings, and stories told through generations and they may be able to unite women, and men, to fight for a better future.

I truly love Harrow's imaginative and creative way of establishing magic in this alternate world. She cleverly changes words and pronouns in famous sayings, rhymes, stories, and songs to reflect generations of witches (ie Red Skies at Night Witches Delight instead of Sailor's) to reflect spells that have been hidden in plain sight and shared for millennia. Though Harrow's book is centered in Massachusetts, the magic that is experienced is from all over the world and from many different cultures. We even have inclusion of LGBTQIA+ characters and relationships as well important characters of different races. The Once and Future Witches was an absorbing thrill of a read. Though it was a bit slow to take off and had some interesting pacing, I was excited to see what came next. Though I have not yet had a chance to read Harrow's first novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, I most certainly will now! Harrow is an amazing writer and the thought and planning that weave through this book was truly remarkable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Witching becomes a powerful tool during the time when women must fight for the right to vote, and the Eastwood sisters are the leaders the women need to bring back witching and give them a fighting chance against the darkness threatening their homes. The story is told through the points of view of our three main characters, Beatrice Belladonna, Agnes Amaranth, and James Juniper. They each have their own distinctive voices, mannerisms, and ways of moving through the world that makes me feel like I know them personally, which better allows me to empathize with their struggles and revel in their delights. I thoroughly enjoyed watching their individual character growths throughout the story, and how their individual arcs influenced and fed off the relationship development between the three of them. While there are many of them, most of the side characters are also surprisingly well fleshed out. There are several twists and turns among them that I wasn’t expecting in the slightest but was incredibly happy to learn about.
Harrow has a delightful way of making you believe that magic is not only conceivable but seems inevitable through extensive buildup of ordinary, seemingly insignificant details. These witches are no longer merely a fanciful story. They seem to be ingrained in the true history of the world because of how Harrow weaves the words out of the children’s songs and finds the ways in easily accessible items. Things we all fight for, words we all know, items we can all get our hands on; these are what make the magic in the story come to life. It’s realistic and convincing, and I now believe we all have a little witch in us somewhere. In the same way, she uses lyrical prose and beautiful descriptive verses to make the story an immersive experience. I’m no longer reading about a character’s heart pounding as they run in fear from my comfy couch, I’m running alongside them, my heart beating wildly in time with theirs. I am on that train platform, seeing the cat-like smoke curling around legs as it hisses out of the train. Her skill with words is nearly unparalleled and makes for an amazing reading experience.
I loved the clever use of the spells as chapter headers. It kept me on the hunt for the workings throughout the story, to see who would use them and under what circumstances. It was a brilliant way to introduce the words and the ways without stopping the momentum of the story to explain what the characters were doing. The ending was PERFECTION. So many little details fall into place in the last quarter of the book that I had to read all the way to the end in one sitting to see how everything was going to fit together. Of course, I want every ending to be a Happily Ever After, but that’s just not always logical or realistic, and some stories try so hard to make it happen that it ends up ruining the ending. Harrow doesn’t fall into this trap. We still get our happy ending, but in a way that seems more realistic, and therefore makes the story even more believable.

I received a digital advance reading copy from Redhook Books via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I was eager to read The Once and Future Witches because I loved Alix Harrow's first book, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, and I was intrigued by this story's premise about suffragist witches. I do not typically gravitate to fantasy books but found Ten Thousand Doors completely absorbing. I did not become immersed in the world Harrow creates in Witches in the same way I did in Ten Thousand Doors. Doors was a page turner for me, and while I did want to find out what happened next in Witches, the story's pacing felt slower to me in spots. I found myself wanting to see the suffragist part of the storyline further developed and had expected that based on how the book was described. The best part of Witches for me were the spells that introduce each chapter based on familiar nursery rhymes. Overall, I liked the book and am glad I read it, but Ten Thousand Doors remains my favorite book by Harrow. People who are drawn to the fantasy genre more than I usually do may enjoy Witches more than I did. Harrow's stories are unique and creative, her writing is gorgeous, and she writes strong female characters. I look forward to seeing what she writes next.

I received an advanced reading copy of this book from NetGalley. The once and future witches is a fantastic story about sisterhood, fighting against inequality and for yourself and a little magic. I believe this could be a great hit for Harrow. It is somewhat reminiscent of the Ten Thousand Doors of January. I’d hazard a moment to say more polished, and more compelling. The characters feel real and the story stuck with me. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a good summer/fall read.

In 1893 New Salem, the word witch is the nastiest thing you can call someone. While there used to be witches in the "dark days," now all that remains are nursery rhymes and small charms passed on from daughter to daughter. With no power left for women, they taken on the march to the ballot box to try and secure the vote. However, that wish is not a clear path as prominent resident George Hill is very clear that women should not get the vote, and witches need to stay gone.  That doesn't sit well with the youngest of the Eastwood sisters, James Juniper. Having mysteriously just arrived in New Salem without a piece of property left to her name, she quickly runs afoul of the locals. It doesn't help that just as she's arriving a mysterious tower appears in the center of town with three interlocking circles emblazoned on it. As quickly as the tower appears, it disappears before George Hill and his lackeys are able to investigate.  Juniper soon finds her sisters, both desperately wanting to stay quiet and hidden in their lives in the city. Agnes Amaranth is pregnant by a local man, and wants to simply work in a factory and stay out of trouble. She has no desire to marry the father of her child or continue to work with a grabby boss, but sees no alternative. Beatrice Belladonna is a quiet librarian who has always felt that the path of a spinster is the only one left for her as she favors the fairer sex.  While Juniper determines that suffrage is not enough and that women need to reclaim their power, Agnes and Beatrice find themselves trying to rescue their little sister and keep her from trouble. However, trouble may be what the women of New Salem need. 

The Once and Future Witches is so full of twists and turns, it is a blessing that author Alix E Harrow is our navigator.  She is absolutely amazing at  creating characters that readers both want to cuddle to them to keep safe and shake them out of what we may think are bad ideas. She also brilliantly includes the names of suffragettes into the narrative, but with subtle enough changes to the names that it doesn't feel a heavy handed attempt at pointing out the history of women voting in the United States. She has a brilliant Black character named Cleo who is confident, self assured, and plays a major role in it all. I refuse to give away spoilers, but the group names in this book for underground organizations are utterly amazing. I want to gush and tell you every last detail, but I would fail brilliantly because there is so much to this book  Harrow does a great job of including different groupings of people and cultures, including myths and legends from even Russia. 

While I intended to read The Once and Future Witches in segments so to savor this book like a fine meal, I ended up devouring it without stopping like the glutton for great writing that I am. This would make an incredible limited series and I seriously hope that someone options the rights to this as soon as possible.

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow is available from Redhook Books October 13, 2020.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow was one of my favorite books of 2019. It was like a love letter to readers everywhere. And Harrow has done it again with The Once and Future Witches. This time it’s a love letter to fairy tales and the magic that resides inside of every woman.

The Once and Future Witches combines fairy tales, magic, and the Women's Suffrage Movement into a tale that unfortunately we are still telling today. Powerful men take what they want and use others until the others have nothing left to give. I don’t want this review to be a downer, because even though this is still the world today, Harrow gives a story that inspires hope.

This is a bigger book at 525 pages, but it flew by. Not like a thriller where you are turning the pages so fast because you want to know what will happen next, but because the story is so well told. Normally I am not one who enjoys a lot of descriptive writing, but Harrow does it perfectly without making the reader feel like they are being bogged down with details.

This novel is about family, the good and the horrible that they do to each other. And about women who are learning about themselves and coming into their own power. The fight of Good against Evil, and all the degrees of humanity in between. But most of all it’s a story about how the world is a magical place.

Do yourself a favor and read The Once and Future Witches and The Ten Thousand Doors of January. Harrow has strengthened her fanbase by one more reader who is contentedly waiting for her next offering to the world.

Delightful. Magical. Enchanting. Empowering.

If you follow my reviews, I don’t rate many books 5 stars. This one earns each star.

<i>”There’s no such thing as witches, but there used to be.”</i>*

This book has perhaps one of my favorite beginnings ever. It’s so good and swept me away immediately. I love that this book is totally different from Ten Thousand Doors and still retains the beautiful prose that I enjoyed from that novel. However, Harrow’s storytelling abilities are growing (if you can imagine that). This novel is more tightly plotted and more intricate than TTDoJ.

<i> “Books and tales are as close as she can come to a place where magic is still real, where women and their words have power.” </i> *

This novel is about womanhood, feminism, and female relationships in all their various forms. It is so very beautiful. There were moments when I wanted to shout with joy and moments I was crying. It was everything I was expecting from this book and more.

I loved the sisters and their friends. They were great characters with plenty of depth and individuality. Juniper is feisty and willful. Bella is clever and level-headed. Agnes is fierce and loving. Then there is Cleo (not a sister, but important) who is intelligent and passionate. I was surprised and touched by Jennie’s story. I couldn’t help but pull for these characters every step of the way.

We see the maiden, mother, and crone who are familiar features in witch stories, but given so much more power and depth here. I love the way she describes what each is supposed to be versus what they truly are.

I could say so much more about this book. However, I’ll just suggest that you should read it for yourself.

I was so excited when I received the notification that I was approved for this arc. I squealed, jumped up and down, and immediately texted one of my book buddies. Thank-you Alix E. Harrow, netgalley, and redhook books for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this arc!

*Quotes may be altered in the final version.

I just cannot find my way into this book... I have no idea why. I absolutely loved the author's first book, could not rave enough about it. I love the idea of this one. I like the politics and the characters, but for some reason I simply cannot find my way into it... I read a handful of pages and I have to stop because I lose interest. And then several days go by before I come back, and I find it near impossible to regain the thread and fall into the story yet again.

I don't know if this is just the case of the wrong book at the wrong time - there is a lot going on in my life and complex reads are not a very good fit for me right now, so that may well be it. Other reviewers seem to be finding out to be the delight I expected, so clearly I'm in the minority here. But I just can't seem to get the rhythm of this one... I have enough confidence in Harrow's writing that I will definitely come back to this one, but for now I'm simply finding it too dry a read and I have not been able to finish it...

"Once upon a time there were three witches."
Wow. This book was not what I was expecting in the slightest.
Alix Harrow has a very unique writing style- a mix between straightforward and lush. Her atmosphere was incredible within this book, so I just kept picturing scene after scene with such clarity.
Now my biggest complaint for this book is that it's a bit slow. I'm usually one for slow paced novels that set up the scene and character relationships, but this one bordered on too slow. It made me feel like I was dragging my feet every once and a while.
Now. My favorite part. I think the whole last two parts were beyond incredible. They not only gave us the answers we were seeking, but also the best parts of the relationship between Juniper, Agnes, and Bella. I was so satisfied.
Another favorite part was the little fairytale retellings sprinkled around the book. They not only gave more strength to the original female characters in said fairytale but they were just calming. I wish there were more, but I understand the fear of those stories taking away from the actual plot of the novel.
This book is very much a feminist outlook on witch huntings for this period, and it was interesting to read it alongside the suffrage movement. Suffrage via Black women is even a point of discussion within this novel, which I think was very important because white women obviously have more privilege and bias at this time period. White women had a tendency to fight only for their specific rights and no other women's rights.
Overall, this novel takes place in the 1890's, and it was unique in adding diverse voices. Do I wish there was a bit more at times? Yes, but I'm glad Alix didn't just think, "oh this takes place in the past and there was no diversity because it is run by white men." There's an f&f romance, Black female rep (through a main supporting character so take with that what you will- she was one of my favorite characters), and transgender rep (side character). While I understand Alix's decision to wait so long to inform the audience who this trans rep refers to in the book since the character does not know who to trust, I will say I was upset that it wasn't discussed sooner. It was a short little scene, and I would have definitely preferred more representation. It did fit the character's history, but it can feel a bit tokenized when there's such little discussion.
There's trigger warnings for abandonment, negative childbirth experience, torture, jail violence, sexual assault (though not shown, implied), etc.
All in all, I highly recommend reading this fantastic story. While I do not have any sisters myself (only a brother), I think this book will speak to anyone who has siblings, especially about the importance of love. It made me tear up a few times, which is not something I can say often.
Thanks Orbit Books for an eARC of this lovely novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
P.S. I may come back to this and add more.