The Factory Witches of Lowell is a great novella that combines an important part of history with the wonders of Magic. Combining magical realism with a very real part of history, the Factory Witches of Lowell was a good quick read, perfect for escaping into the past for a bit. Though the story lacks a bit in terms of characters, it makes up for it with a great story. I do hope that perhaps one day this could be translated into a novel, or perhaps a series of novellas, it seems like there is so much more to this world and I would love to learn more about it and give the characters more of a chance to develop. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for ARC.

An interesting book, which shows the mill girls going on strike, the only difference is they are witches, well some of them anyway. A serious look at the conditions mill girls used to work in, before they got equality, including sicknesses they got from the mills. A good read.

The Factory Witches of Lowell is a short novel with a big message. The setting is Boston. The reader isn't given the year but can assume that it takes place in a time before electricity. The reason for this assumption is because the factory the witches/mill girls are working in is a textile mill that is run off of hydropower. From the very beginning of the story the reader is immersed in the deplorable conditions of early factory workers in industrial America. These workers are actually young girls that are living away from their families in boarding houses. The girls whole lives are spent working the mills in order to pay for their board and meals and any money left over is sent home to their starving families. The girls are required to work more than one loom at a time sometimes up to four per person in order to increase the profits for the men they are working for. The girls often times develop what they refer to as the "kiss of death" from the amount of cotton fiber they ingest into their lungs by threading the shuttle for the looms.

C.S. Malerich does a wonderful job immersing the reader in the horrible day to day lives these poor girls lead. Her main characters are Judith and Hannah. Judith is the "bulldog" of the group and the voice for the rights of the girls of the mill and Hannah is the witch with the magical words to invoke the spells the girls use. The reader finds out early on that the girls working the looms have magical powers and even dabble in a little witchcraft. Being that the mill girls live in boarding houses together they have time to talk after work about how horrible their work environments are and how unfair their treatment is compared to other occupations and genders. The girls hatch a plan to start a union called the Factory Girls' Union of Lowell. The plan starts at one mill but soon spreads to include all the mills in the town. Unanimously the girls decide to strike in order to get their working conditions and wages changed, but as most everyone knows a strike is not effective unless every worker in the strike adheres to not returning to work until all of the demands are met. Unfortunately, one of the girls in the story breaks the spell/strike to start work again because of her poverty stricken family, which causes a bit of chaos, disrupting the spell/strike.

I greatly enjoyed this novel. The characters and plot were so original. I honestly have never read a fictional story based on the early Industrial Revolution. I think C.S. Malerich did a great job helping the reader understand the horrible conditions the early workers in our country lived and worked through. In all honesty C.S. Malerich's characters may be fictional but they are the definition of what a union does for employees by creating safe, fair waged work environments for all employees without discrimination. The sprinkles of witchcraft help to keep the story interesting. This story left me with the inspirational feeling that there is power in numbers as long as we can ban together for the greater good for all.

Thanks as always to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for an advanced reader copy for an honest review.

The women of Lowell, MA have had enough. When the mill owners of Lowell decide to raise the price of room and board without raising salaries yet again, the women who work in the factories of Lowell form a union. With a determined leader, a fierce bond, and a little magic the factory workers go on strike and present mill owners with a list of demands. Will they succeed or will they be left homeless, jobless, and alone?

Witches and worker's rights combine in this speculative alternate history novella about a union of girls using magic to fight for their rights at a cotton mill town where part of their work is literally called the "kiss of death." Definitely an appropriate read for fall with all the witchy vibes and I liked the blending of machinery with magic.

This novella is compact, almost to the point of being slight -- while the characters do feel distinct from each other, I didn't feel like they fully had much ability to develop. Maybe this could become a novel, in the future? Or perhaps there could be more novellas? That said, what Malerich has created with this story is firmly and thoughtfully grounded in the realities of female factory workers' lives -- the logistics of where they live, and how money flows between owners, investors, landladies, and workers themselves -- and I would not want to give that up just to see the characters developed further -- this story is precisely about how Judith, Hannah, and their co-workers are situated within those logistics, and how they challenge them. I did not see the resolution coming, and I liked very much how it was grounded in the subject matter of the work of weaving. I'll be looking forward to seeing more from Malerich in the future.

A short historical fiction novella that uses magic to explore community and resistance among young mill workers in Lowell. Judith and Hannah are best friends (and maybe more...) who use Hannah's magical gifts to form a formidable union against the factory bosses.

I was a bit disappointed with this one. I wanted more from the characters; I found some of them interesting and others less so. Beginning with the spell-casting was a good introduction, but without showing these workers in the mill before the strike, I missed seeing the camaraderie that formed in those poor conditions and the communal decision to lead a revolt. I supported their labor endeavors nonetheless, but I wanted a build-up and a stronger sense of place before jumping right into the strike.

(2/5: Quick read that would appeal to YA readers or those who are not usually comfortable with historical fiction but enjoy stories about strong women. A bit sparse at times; I wanted deeper connections between some of the characters. It was unique though, and anything historical with witches is automatically a worthwhile read for me. Points for queer historical ladies as well, especially radical ones! I just didn't fall in love with these women like I wanted to.)

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When a group of young working women determine that acting together is the only way to improve life for all of them, things start to happen--and a little spellcasting helps, too. Lovely prose, engaging characters, original plotting, bits of humor, and good research underneath the whole story. I look forward to reading more long fiction from Malerich.