The Factory Witches of Lowell
Historical fantasy about industrial action in America

Content warning: slavery

I received a copy of this eBook courtesy of the publisher.


“The Factory Witches of Lowell” by C. S. Malerich is a historical fantasy novella set in Massachussets, USA in the 19th century and is a fictionalised account of the Lowell Mill Girls. When management increases the rent of the women who work in textile factories without increasing their wages, the women organise themselves and agree to go on strike. With the help of Mrs Hanson, who runs one of the boardinghouses, and the guidance of ailing Hannah Pickering who has a gift for seeing, the women cast a spell to ensure they all stick to the strike until their demands are met. However, when management counter their action, the women realise they are going to have to take more drastic measures.

This is a light-hearted story that transforms a historical event into a subtle fantasy novella just one step shy of magic realism. The magic is sparse yet effective. Although dealing with serious issues including women’s rights and workers’ rights, Malerich has a humorous and gentle style that makes this book very quick and readable. Judith Whittier is a strong character and a strong leader, and I really enjoyed the banter between her and Hannah. I thought the romance in this book was done well, and was a good counterbalance to the industrial action afoot in the town. There is a point in the book where Mrs Hanson’s loyalties come into question, and I had my heart in my mouth wondering what was going to happen next.

I think that the only issue I had was that this book does at times border on an irreverent tone. The reader is thrown headlong into a very limited point in time, and I felt that the terrible working conditions of the women were downplayed somewhat, and the resolution seemed too simple, given the historical context. Malerich, I think in an effort to acknowledge that slavery was still in place during this time, refers to Hannah’s ability to see a physical embodiment of being enslaved. This was handled in an unfortunately dehumanising way, and became more about furthering Hannah’s story rather than a comment on slavery itself.

A light, enjoyable read that perhaps occasionally made too light of some things.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars. The Lowell mills are a marvel, producing loads and loads of bolts of woven cotton. Young women work long, long hours each day at the horrendously loud looms, fibres hanging in the air and making their way into the women’s lungs, sickening and killing them too soon. The conditions are a health and safety nightmare, but the Boston owners’ profits are paramount, and there’s always another new girl to replace a sick or dead one.
At the same time, working at the looms is attractive for the pay, and for the small financial independence it gives these young women.
The Boston bosses demand good and godly comportment from the girls, with their behaviour monitored by the matrons of the boarding houses they live in.
Then, the bosses demand greater output with higher boarding room fees, and barely a pay raise.
The women decide to rebel, forming a union, and refusing to work until they receive a pay raise.

C.S. Malerich’s characters are modelled on the 1830s young women who took the unprecedented, and to the mills’ owners, despicable step to band together for a pay increase. That these women did this when they were still considered property themselves in the eyes of the law, and could not vote, was pretty amazing.
The young women here are led by Judith and Hannah. Judith is the organizer, while Hannah’s a Seer, and together they craft the resistance.
This could just be a historical story, but Malerich adds a little witchery to the proceedings, with the girls weaving a spell to ensure they all stick to their plan.

This is a novella, so there’s not that much time to provide a lot of depth to the characters, but I actually found that the person who was most vivid and complete in my mind was Mrs. Hansen, the main characters’ boarding house matron. I had a harder time getting a feel for Judith and Hannah, while Mr. Boott was mostly just self-interested, and I questioned whether he would really have jumped to “witchcraft!” as what was holding the young women together.
So the characterization was a little lacking, but I still mostly liked this, and love that I felt compelled to learn a bit about the real efforts of the Lowell women who organized the first union in the US.

The Factory Witches of Lowell is a short historical fantasy by C.S. Malerich. Released 10th Nov 2020 by Macmillan on their Tor/Forge imprint, it's 144 pages and available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats.

I really liked the premise of the book - fictionalized history with a magic twist. There's a f/f romance subplot, some young mill-worker witches striking for better working conditions, and a well written and engaging character driven narrative. The characterizations were well done and I found them both sympathetic and understandable.

I'm not sure precisely whom this book's intended audience should be. It felt a lot to me like a young adult novella, but if so, there's a fair bit of graphic racism and sexism whose treatment I felt was problematic and, frankly, tone deaf. It wasn't so much the historical reality of the time (where there was obviously rampant sexism and racism), it was actually the author's treatment of the subjects and the actual objectification of people of color and women that I found fairly repugnant. I will say, however, that the author is a gifted wordsmith and the plotting and narrative arc and writing were exceptional - so I've no doubt whatsoever that the objectification and vile manner of equating beaten and enslaved humans to beasts was 100% intentional. I'm just not sure if that makes it better or worse.

This is an interesting and engaging novella. I enjoyed it, and the romance subplot was gently and sweetly written. I found parts of it troubling and difficult to read.

Three and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

The Factory Witches of Lowell by C.S. Malerich is a historical fantasy novel out on November 10th. It is a fictionalized account of the beginning of Lowell’s mill women’s union, following the events of a strike.

A delightful story about the power of taking control against those who subjugate. The setting is lush and thebackdrop of 19th century Lowell, Massachusetts plants the reader in a fantastic alternate history full of Unions, looms, and witches.

I enjoyed the story and found it interesting, but found myself wanting more. I think it could have made a more compelling novel if provided more background and character development. For a novella, it was good.

Being from Lowell, Massachusetts and having worked as a seasonal Park Ranger at the Lowell National Historical Park in college, I was dying to read this as soon as I saw the cover! Overall, it was an interesting story and I liked the ways witchcraft was used to bolster their strike and Union. This story takes place in the 19th century and incorporates accurate depictions of life as a Mill Girl, buildings/landmarks, and even some significant historical figures. The story mostly follows Mill Girls living in a boardinghouse, including: young, determined Judith who fights against poor working conditions; and Hannah, a Seer, who helps teach the girls spells. The writing style was a bit difficult to read as it seems like it could’ve been written in the period it depicted. For that reason, I felt a bit disconnected from the characters. I also wished this was a longer story, so it would be easier to get to know characters better. It’s clear Malerich has done a lot of research about Lowell and the life of a Mill Girl, which really made the burgeoning city come to life! Many of the textile mill buildings still exist in Lowell, so it was fun for me to picture what things were like in the 19th century.

Thank you NetGalley and TorDotCom for providing this digital ARC.

Content warning: Workers' rights violations, terminal illness

In Lowell, Massachusetts, weavers are fed up with long hours, unfair and unequal wages, and terrible working conditions. Judith and Hannah, literal witches, band their boarders together with witch craft and hope, starting a union to fight back against their managers.

This novella is just fun. The witchcraft is very real and well-defined on the page. There is a delightful camaraderie between all the girls (and yes, there are girls who kiss in this book). What stood out to me the most about the magic was the fact that it was consent-based. You couldn't just cast a spell on an object if it wasn't yours, and you couldn't cast a spell on a person if they didn't want it. This type of system lent itself well to the unity experienced by the unionizing girls.

It really leans into its historical period by contextualizing the plight of the young factory workers while also anchoring the events in the context of how work is valued. The cultural and historical context is rich here, which makes it an engaging read from start to finish.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review
The Factory Witches of Lowell is a charming short novel about Lowell's mill girls using magic and friendship to improve their lives. As a New England native, this story caught my interest because it gives the mill girls a chance to prevail against the forces of capitalism that exploited them. Read it to put a smile on your face and hope in your heart. People who enjoy feminist lit with happy endings will especially love it.

This is such a creative idea with great scenes and fascinating characters. The choice of historical setting melding with fantasy elements is just wonderful. The difficulty is that the tale itself is sluggish and suffers from a writing style that is too fusty; the author chose to write in the style of the times she was describing, and it bogged down. I would have loved a more energetic voice and fewer characters to keep track of, it would have felt more action-oriented. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

An interesting, brief tale of striking witches.
"The Factory Witches of Lowell" is an interesting twist on a number of classic stories - witchcraft, solidarity, women's historical and economic recognition, and more.

Well-written, engaging, and interesting.

The nitty-gritty: Malerich brings some interesting ideas to the table, but the novella format was just too short in this case, and didn’t allow for much story or character development.

The Factory Witches of Lowell takes place in nineteenth century Lowell, Massachusetts  (the exact date is never mentioned) during the boom in the production of textiles, when young girls were employed as cheap labor to operate the large looms necessary in the production of cotton fabric. However, as you probably guessed from the title, there is a speculative element to the story, as a group of disgruntled girls decide to use witchcraft to bind themselves together and go on strike until their demands for better working conditions are met. I thought this was an interesting idea, and I was intrigued by the setting and the time period, a part of American history that I didn’t know much about. However, despite enjoying certain elements, I ended up being mostly underwhelmed by the story itself, the characters, and especially the witchcraft.

I want to start with the positives, because as I mentioned, there are things I liked about this book. The first chapter is simply magical: a group of girls has decided enough is enough, and so they gather in the attic of their boarding house, cut off locks of their hair, and weave them together into a rough fabric of sorts, all while chanting a spell of solidarity. Each girl is given an armband from the woven together hair and vows to wear it and uphold the strike until Mr. Boott, the mill owner, agrees to increase their pay and cut back their hours. But is this magic strong enough to turn the tide in their favor? At first the girls are worried because Mr. Boott simply goes out and hires more girls to take their places. But then Judith, the ringleader of the group, comes up with a radical idea that might give them an advantage.

The story focuses on two of the girls, Judith and her friend Hannah, who has the “sight” and claims she can see demons in the looms, demons who are literally stealing the girls’ lives away. I love that the author added interesting historically accurate details about the hard life of factory workers into her story. Hannah is ill and coughs nonstop, due to long hours inside the mill, breathing cotton particles into her lungs. Malerich mentions something called the “kiss of death,” part of the weaving process where the girls must suck threads through a shuttle in order to thread the loom, and small particles of thread enter their lungs each time. This is a horrifying yet fascinating bit of history that worked really well in this story.

The author adds a queer romance between Judith and Hannah into her tale, and while I appreciated the idea, like many other aspects of the story, this one just didn’t have enough time and space to properly develop. In fact, the novella’s length is the story’s main downfall, unfortunately. It was too short to explore all the interesting aspects—the author even brings up slavery a couple of times in respect to the bails of cotton that are being used in the mills, but there just aren’t enough pages to fully integrate this into the story. And I’ve read some amazing novellas this year, so you can’t really blame the format.

Ultimately though, I mostly found the story to be just OK. I thought it would be easy to read this all in one sitting, but it failed to really capture my attention, and so I kept setting it aside. I was hoping for a story focused more on witchcraft, but those elements turned out to be rather sparse. If you’re interested in a historical witch-centric story, you’re much better off reading The Once and Future Witches, which also deals with women’s rights but is much more successful.

With thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

This review is posted on goodreads and my blog, but I will not be posting on Instagram because the visual format doesn't work well with a low rated book - I don't want people to assume I am recommending the book without reading the caption first.
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I received an e-arc from Tor through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. And if you ever doubted my honesty, get ready for this review.

The Factory Witches of Lowell by C.S. Malerich is a historical fantasy novel out on November 10th. It is a fictionalized account of the beginning of Lowell’s mill women’s union, following the events of a strike.

As soon as I heard about this book a few months ago, I knew I had to read it. I mean, sapphic working class witches? Could I ask for anything more targeted toward my tastes? Apparently I could.

The Factory Witches of Lowell has an incredibly historical tone and almost feels like reading a period text. This unfortunately includes all of the hallmark sexism and racism. Something you might not expect from a book mainly featuring a cast of women. It also leaves the text feeling dry and uninspiring, which isn’t great for a book of only 80 pages. It really failed to draw me in.

The language used about some of the characters feels strangely demeaning, even in parts where it isn’t from the perspective of the religious, white, male mill owners. There is a lot of lightly sexist language that belittles the choices the characters are making, even though they are working toward rights for working women...which should be something we, in the modern era, respect.

And then, on to the racism. The story doesn’t feature, but does reference, slaves and does so really poorly.

C.S. Malerich has created a magic system that is strictly hierarchical. You can only perform magic on those who agree to be part of it, or on people or things you own or have dominion over. This is a key part of the plot, and not just a passing reference as it seems at first. In fact, this magic system is used to explain why (and I quote) “the enslaved wretches that pick cotton” can’t hex “the whole White race.” Yes, white was capitalized.

Part of the reason I like magic is that it can impact boundaries and barriers, that it can bring power to people who don’t have it within their society.

But oh, it gets worse.

There is an entire scene dedicated to explaining how one character, who can see the magic essences of other people/objects/etc, “cannot be near subjugated creatures, man nor beast” that basically equates Black people who have been sold into slavery where they are exploited, opressed, and abused to farm animals. I was totally blown away by that statement and the fact that right now, when Black Lives Matter has been even bigger in the media than usual, when people are reading anti-racism textbooks, that no one caught the racist fucking tones of this section beforehand. I can’t say I was surprised, but I was incredibly disappointed.

All in all, I would not recommend The Factory Witches of Lowell. There are better books for your queer witch needs.

I think that The Factory Witches of Lowell is an amazing story. And I think that I would have loved it more had I not JUST read Once and Future Witches and had that to compare it to. Because I love the women’s rights. I love the women supporting women but struggling with their own families as well. I love the witch lovers and the whole idea of the book.

But it just didn’t go deep enough. It was more like a novella. A flat lay plot without layers, scenes or parts. No twists or turns. Frankly I just wanted more.

I love a good Massachusetts witch tale and a story about labor and rights and all of that, but this was a racist and sexist approach to both. It's an honestly upsetting title I wouldn't recommend to anyone.

Fast-paced and character-driven, is a quick read. The two 19th-century mill girls who fight back against the mill owners are inspirational and the clever use made of magic to bind themselves together as they create a union to strike against the mill owners. This is a book that could easily be read by young adults. I would have loved to learn a little more about Hannah and Judith’s backstory.

ARC provided by NetGalley and TOR in exchange for an honest review.

This book wanted to be more than it ended up being. I have to wonder why it was written as a novella instead of a full novel. Because it’s so short there was no backstory, no real character development, and actions and conversations felt abrupt and rushed. The lesbian storyline felt tacked on as an interesting tidbit. If it had been a full novel, I could have gotten really into their fight for worker’s rights, the magic of these girls, and the relationship between the two main characters. Instead, I just felt like I was missing out on something.

Sparse tale about mill girls in Lawrence unionizing. With sympathetic magic. And love. And spit.

Though it deals with serious issues, i wish it had been more complex. It seems to me a YA book actually meant for YA readers. This is not a slight; just acknowleging that I am not its primary audience.

I read lots of witchy books in October. Unfortunately this one didn't grab my attention and I ended up not finishing it; more of a "me" problem than an issue with the book itself. Very interesting concept but perhaps it tried to do too much.

Thank you so much to TorDotCom for supplying me both with an e-galley and a finished copy of The Factory Witches of Lowell. Unfortunately the content hit a little too close to home for me and I had to DNF, but from what I read this sounds like a spectacular, powerful, and important read.

Malerich has a gift for language. I was immediately drawn in and connected to the characters. The addition of magic to the retelling of the Lowell strikes and formation of a union were fascinating. My only complaint is that I wanted more!