Slewfoot is the story of Abitha, a feisty young woman struggling to exist in a Puritan community. When her husband dies suddenly, things just get harder for her…but then some help comes from a strange place.

Sutton, Connecticut, March 1666

At seventeen, Abitha's father sold her to the government to be shipped off to the colonies and become the bride of a Puritan man named Edward. For a girl who has a temper and has no problem spouting profanities, living in a Puritan society has been difficult. Even though he is ten years her senior, Abitha and her husband Edward get along and even are working at growing close to one another. Edward's brother Wallace, however, often tries to take advantage of Edward and this pits Abitha and Wallace against each other. When Wallace can't pay off a debt, he tries to take Edward's farm instead of losing his own and this sets off a tale of murder, spite, revenge, and fantasy and human devils trying to claim the land.

“Angels must often do dark deeds in the name of the Lord.”

Slewfoot was a story that combined fantasy horror with historical fiction. The colonial Puritan setting already provides it's own chills as their history in the 1600s is well known and with each charm Abitha makes for a fellow woman in the village, the tension creeps further in as you know how deadly this path could end up for her. I didn't expect the fantasy horror part to play such a large part, it sometimes felt like a separate story at times and wasn't until the last 20% that I thought those two components cohesively gelled.

“Even the Devil does not wish to be the Devil. [...]”

The fantasy horror part involves some inspiration from various pagan lore to create the “wildfolk” and their “father” who they wake up by luring a goat and then Edward into a pit and having father feed off their blood. As the goat was Abitha and Edward's, named Samson, this father goat beast becomes Samson. He's physically described to resemble a 1600s devil and this is what characters who see him call him but he's confused as to who , what, and why his purpose is. Samson dealing with his existential crisis provides a track for the author to explore nature vs human themes while Abitha's story fades to the background a little bit and she slowly gets put on a collision course to battle with Wallace.

As at least cruelty was a thing that could be pointed out, confronted. But this belief, this absolute conviction that this evil they were doing was good, was God’s work— how, she wondered, how could such a dark conviction ever be overcome?

With Abitha making charms for the other woman, we get some backstory that her mother was a “cunning woman”, a pagan healer, this works to bridge her to Samson as she works to convince herself that he isn't merely the devil but one of the gods, faefolk perhaps. At 40% the two sort of join forces as Samson helps her grow her crops to save her farm and she gives him a purpose other than murdering humans that are encroaching on the land. This upsets the wildfolk as they want to fully reclaim the land and the dichotomy of “good” nature vs “evil” humans gets played with as the wildfolk aren't altruistic and Abitha actually finds friends in a Reverend and his wife.

The Devil has come for me!

The middle, with Abitha and Samson, slowed down for me but at 60% we have the creeping witch hysteria finally come to fruition and the focus shifts to that horror as Samson exits the story for a while. The author does a great job of showing how spite and misogyny started the accusation against Abitha from Wallace and then how sweeping fear and cravenness fueled the townspeople. There's some torture scenes and then the last 20% brings together the witch hysteria historical fiction with the fantasy horror and I thought the two finally gelled together and created a murderous revenge celebration.

“If it is a witch they want,” she hissed, “then a witch they shall have.”

The beginning had a nice creeping tension feel to it, the middle slowed for me with the Samson fantasy thread not fully gelling with Abitha's historical fiction, but then the ending brought the two together to create some satisfying horror as the devil take their due. The epilogue will probably hit readers differently but I always enjoy a good happily ever after.

This is a story about a girl who wishes to live deliciously.

*Bonus points if you recognize the horror movie reference*

I was so fascinated by the Salem witch trials as a kid- they always felt almost mythical… but in recent years they’ve felt almost around the corner, so I’ve been less drawn to period pieces. Enter this strange, beautiful, unsettling book. The protagonist is strong during a time where there was no room for her to be. The magical realism has a unique quality to it, and the intermingling of mythology with puritanical terminology was fascinating. This was a perfect read for the season.

Thank you so much Netgalley Macmillan Tor Nightfire for this eArc!

Wow! I'm not always a fan of some of the horror genre, but this book was too good to put down!
The story is about Abitha, an English woman sold off by her father to become the wife of one of the puritans in a town in Connecticut. When her husband is murdered, her husband's brother tries to steal their land, but Abitha stands up to him, something women were not supposed to do in Puritanical communities..
Abitha meets Samson, who doesn't remember who he is, but is possibly the devil. Samson helps Abitha hold onto her land, until her scheming brother in law decides to accuse her of being a witch.
I enjoyed this tale, the setting and very well-defined characters. Makes me want to try some of the authors other books now..

Oh, what a beautiful, bizarre book. The story held me in its web from the very first page, and left sadly, desiring more.

Slewfoot has been in my orbit ever since I preordered it and for good reason. I’ve been a fan of Brom’s work since reading Lost Gods a couple of years ago and Slewfoot is nothing but pure excellence. Dark and lush with its woodland scenery, I felt steeped in the eerie sensation of having eyes on me. His characters have always elicited something in me, both empathy for the protagonist and an easy hatred of any antagonist.

It was so easy for me to hate the inhabitants of the colony with their self righteous and hateful treatment of Abitha and anyone else who was deemed “other”. It was so easy for me to read their hate knowing, or at least deeply hoping, that they would get what’s coming to them in the end and I was vindicated. I hoped from the very beginning that the colony would burn for their actions. They took umbrage in their good Christian ways, but failed to see the hypocrisy in their actions—pride in their piety while tossing rocks and clumps of manure at those they saw as having less of a connection to god. Pride is a sin, Goody Asshat.

Samson was easily my favorite character. I loved and supported Abitha, but my empathy sat with him for the most part. He just wanted to learn who he was and he was struggling hard to be what Forest said he was. He was expected to be a destroyer while trying to reconcile his growing urges to care for Abitha as someone who prayed to him. The guy needed a hug the whole time why did no one ever hug this terrifying beast of a creature please give him a hug.

Well, this was a hell of a lot of fun.

I’ve never read Brom and even when I requested this ARC on NetGalley and Tor Nightfire gifted me with a copy, I know nothing whatsoever about him - I went in base solely on the synopsis and the cover. I didn’t even realize until about a third of the way through the book that the non-ARC will have illustrations! Sounds like this is going to necessitate a buy or at least borrow from the library.

Because I enjoyed this so much. I hadn’t a clue that Brom is an artist and, as a writer, they were barely a blip on my radar as existing before I was attracted to and requested this one. Having googled Brom, now, I like the art as much as the writing; my kind of themes and darkness.

Other reviewers criticisms about the one-note villain(s)? True, absolutely. I can see where the author sort of attempted to give the primary antagonist some justification - if reasonably only in his own mind - for his actions, but it felt like a bit of a lame attempt at rounding out the guy. This is a harsh thing to say, but let me hasten to add that, ultimately… I didn’t care. I didn’t care that the bad guy was just… a bad guy. Instead of being disappointed that the author didn’t give him too much of a backstory or depth beyond his role in the story… I just enjoyed thoroughly hating him for what he was, and rooting for the protagonist(s). Alternately, I did enjoy the fact that, despite Abitha, the primary protagonist, being pitted against an entire village of Puritans, they were not all just automatically evil and antagonistic through and through. In so many stories like this, there’s no gray area, no bending, nothing other than black and white of men hating women and assuming that if they don’t conform, then they must be witches. Many of the characters here are more nuanced and multi-faceted than that, and for at least a couple for them, they have half a brain and a touch of compassion and justice. They try, anyway.

This is such a lovely blend of elements I love - paganism coming up against Christianity, people attempting to survive in extreme communities, supernatural versus religion, etc. I’ve never read “this story” - as in, the basic story of witchcraft/the witch trials in Puritanical New England, told in this way, regardless of other stories I’ve read in the same setting/time period that also include supernatural/paranormal elements. It just really delivered on the type of story I’m always looking for when I’m attracted to books like this, without giving any spoilers.

<spoiler> But let’s make it clear that, if The Witch is a favourite movie of yours, as it is mine, you’ll likely enjoy this, too.</spoiler>

Based on friends’ reviews of Brom’s backlist, I’m somewhat hesitant about what to try next from the backlist, but I will definitely be on the lookout for and absolutely consider his future novels. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and it was the perfect month and season for reading it.

Lush and gothic, this is a beautiful story of horror and love, power and perseverance. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Most of the first part of Slewfoot reads like Puritan-times historical fiction, with Abitha desperate to make her way in a male-dominated world where she has no rights. I actually liked this part best because I felt the claustrophobic oppression she fought against.

Slewfoot’s character feels almost cartoonish, with his ongoing confusion making him more wimpy and whiny than dangerous. The horror aspects are far more gratuitous gore than terror. Slewfoot does gradually become something to fear, but it’s almost too late for the story to take that turn.

I appreciate what the author was going for here, with the blend of pagan traditions, witchcraft, and a real devil pitted against the rigid Puritan society, but the horror aspect didn’t really work for me.

As I stated in my review for the audio of this book , Brom never fails to intrigue his audience. The only thing I can say that I find disappointing is there isn’t more of his titles available through audible. I have every one from lost gods to krampus etc. But I suppose you truly can’t rush greatness. Brom is one of the very few I enjoy enough that I reread or listen to every year . Such as krampus I listen to each year at Christmas, and now I will add Slewfoot to my yearly Halloween reads. If you’re undecided on getting it all I can say is you won’t be disappointed if you get any of his books on audible they are all very much worth the credit and then some.

This is the third book by Brom that I’ve read and I love all of them. Slewfoot is set in 1666 in Connecticut. Abitha has been sent from England to marry Edward and work on their farm, living in a pious Puritan community. A dark spirit has been awakened in the woods. Is it satan? Old slew foot himself? Well it is complicated. As is Abitha. She is an outsider whose mother was a “cunning woman”, a healer, (a witch?). “Samson” is the name she has given the dark spirit that has been awakened and she has befriended. But is he satan? Is she making deals with the devil? Again, it is complicated. As much as we may want everything to be as simple as “good v. bad”, it is much more nuanced. Definitely a revenge book. Not scary, but a bit gory. I may have been cheering for the devil because the evil in this book seems to be in the humans rather than the horned creatures.
Thanks NetGalley and Macmillan Tor/Forge for the e-arc of this book.

I reviewed this for Shelf-Awareness.com
Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery

by Brom


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In Brom's riveting gothic fantasy Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery, set in 1666, a puritanical community in Sutton Village, Conn., accuses a young bride of witchcraft and tries to strip away her land following the death of her husband.

Before Edward and Abitha Williams make the final crop payment on their farm to Wallace, Edward's older brother, Wallace tells the couple he has transferred ownership of the farm to rich land baron Lord Mansfield to cover a bad investment. But the village council decides Edward and Abitha can keep their original arrangement as long as the couple makes the final payment on time to Wallace. Then Edward dies in a mysterious accident, and 19-year-old Abitha must harvest an entire crop by herself or lose everything. No one thinks Abitha can succeed, and when she does, she's accused of consorting with the devil after a malevolent creature is seen roaming the forests of Sutton Village.

Tales of religious zealots killing people they suspect of being in league with the devil are sprinkled throughout history; in Slewfoot, Brom (Lost Gods) puts his own spin on these stories. His protagonist does consort with a demon, but one that isn't after Abitha's soul--Slewfoot is only helping Abitha stand against her persecutors. The author posits that perhaps archaic thinking and a misunderstanding of scripture might be the real evil. Whether readers are swayed or not, Slewfoot remains easily devoured. --Paul Dinh-McCrillis, freelance reviewer

Discover: Concepts of good and evil are reinterpreted in this dynamic dark fantasy about an ancient demon helping a widow save her farm from misogynistic, Puritan colonialists.

I loved the twist and turns in this book!! Well written. And a different kind of book that I'm not used to. So, it was a breath of fresh air after many duds. Then main character was fierce and likeable. She did not want to be pushed around by men and told what to do. But the time she was in and the "community" she married in to that was exactly what was expected. She had very few allies to help her out and a brother in law that hated her. Then something happens to change her course. This book was great to read.

We all know this story: Puritan community in the Northeast turns on a local woman of witchcraft because she's different. The overall set up of this novel is not new. However what sets this story apart from others is that there isn't unfounded hysteria. The protagonist Abitha is in fact cavorting with a devil or demon or otherworldly creature of some time.
Tabitha was sent from England to be married off to an eligible bachelor by Tabitha's drunk of a father to pay off debts. She does not fit in with the austere Puritan community she finds herself in. She wants passion and love. She knows little charms and home-remedies. The only thing that ties her to the community at large is her husband. But when he dies, Abitha finds the she must fight for her home, her land, and her freedom. She enlists the help of a supernatural entity that she calls him Samson. He has cloven feet and horns and other general goat-like features. He can perform magical feats, and he protects her from those that would harm her.
This book excels when Brom is writing the hysteria of the community and the helplessness that Abitha feels. It was infuriating to read yet compelling. I wanted to shake every man's shoulders in this book and yell at them to just get a grip! This books got really bogged down though with the more supernatural aspects of Samson. His backstory felt confused, jumbled, and ultimately unnecessary. I don't think that Samson's backstory added anything to Abitha's plight, and I didn't care too much about his emotional or mental throughout.
What saves this book from being three stars is the ending. Brace yourselves. Abitha exacts deadly, bloody, and marvelous revenge on a town that turned its back on her. It is gory and brutal, but feels perfectly in place to cap off Abitha's story.

I just kind of feel meh about this book. I think the end helps make up for the slow meandering pace of the rest of the book, but there isn't anything I love about this book. It was a nice read, but nothing special.

However, enormous trigger warning for graphic animal death, specifically that of a pet. It's brought up multiple times, and was incredibly unnecessary and cruel.

I really enjoy discovering new artists. Even when they’re not really “new” and they’re just undiscovered…by me, anyway.

“Brom”, the nom de plume of Gerald Brom, might be noted by some as a fantasy artist of some note. So when this title showed up as an offering on Net Galley, I was intrigued first by…the cover art. Now, I know, never judge a book by its cover, but, I mean, an attractive if sinister looking woman with goat legs riding a broom…what’s not to like? Clearly Brom has the visual thing down. So what about the verbal side? Can he maintain?

I am quite pleased to report that the answer to this question is, well, unquestionably YES. “Slewfoot” is a tale to be savored from beginning to end.

The beginning then: we are first introduced to what we presume is the title character, where else but in a pit. A pit where he is not alone, being surrounded by insistent voices that are trying to bring him around to some sort of consciousness…and, thus, mischief. To this end, these voices have lured in a bit of food, a goat, which happens to belong to the chief character in this story, Abitha Williams, a young woman recently relocated to the Puritan colony of Sutton with her husband Edward and his extended family. There’s a bit of plot here about Edward being subservient to his older brother Wallace, who is a bit of a (expletive deleted) but it all adds up, really, and you’ll end up hating the guy before too long. And, I might add, adoring Abitha, who is a wonderfully strong character.

The emergence of Slewfoot, soon to be dubbed Samson—in honor of the name of the lost goat—is rather abrupt, as is that of the “helper” characters, what I can best describe as earth spirits, namely an opossum (Forest) a raven (Sky) and an airborne fish (Creek). Sounds weird, but hey, it’s a weird story. Soon they claim another victim in Abitha’s hubby, and that’s where things really start to spiral. Throughout this drama, the older brother Wallace is trying to claim the property of Edward and Abitha as his own, and of course the loss of Edward will only make this easier…or will it? Abitha has a friend in the Sutton preacher and his wife. This is a nice touch which rather unexpectedly ties the story together quite well as it matures.

We get some background on Abitha’s family, more specifically her mother, who turns out to be a pagan figure of note, which also keeps the plot trundling along and explains why Abitha makes “charms” that she then sells to the local Sutton residents…and, being as this is a Puritan colony, you can probably see that this is going to play against her in the future. That after Edward’s untimely demise she hooks up (so to speak) with Samson only makes it more inevitable that she eventually be accused as a witch, and this is only hastened by Wallace and his efforts to take over Abitha’s property…which is suddenly prospering with the unseen help of Samson, natch.

There’s the inevitable confrontation, in which Abitha is accused, and inevitably convicted (because, of course she is) and her execution.

Sort of.

Now, you would think that it would be Samson to the rescue at this point, but he is nowhere to be seen through the interference of those damned earth spirits, who, it seems have an agenda of their own, to regrow a Tree of Life of sorts called Pawpaw. To this end they lure him to the den of a shaman called Mamunappeht, and the action which follows is better left undescribed for fear of providing spoilers. Suffice to say, when Abitha needs him most, Samson is out of pocket and in the skull, which you will understand when you get there.

And that, gang, is when the fun really begins, and where this review necessarily ends. “Slewfoot” is hugely entertaining and a great Shocktober-kinda read. You will grow to love the two main protagonists and despise the real villains, and you’ll be able to determine which is which fairly quickly…plenty of time for a lot of stomach acid to build up as you wait (im)patiently for the worm to turn. But it does turn, and when it does, things all come to a fiery conclusion that is most satisfying.

And if that’s not enough, there’s a neat little coda at the end that that ought to give fair warning to anyone illegally hunting in West Virginia…but never mind. You’ll know it when you get there too!

Hey, sometimes you really CAN judge a book by its cover. In this case, it’s epically enjoyable. Brom has a winner here. Grab it right now and get your own Shocktober reading off to a fine start.

Highly recommended!

A very interesting, complicated but which seems like one thing then turns into another. I found this started out difficult to get into but it eventually turned into a delightful read which will definitely stick with me. Thanks to #netgalley and the publisher for this arc of #slewfoot to read and review.

Whether we realize it or not, our society is built on the idea of projecting our anxieties onto others. Think about it. The land we claim to have “discovered” was occupied by the time Columbus found it, but in short order beliefs about the entitlement to the land were created that cast the indigenous peoples that lived here as “savages” who needed to be reformed by white settlers’ ideas, or disposed of in some form if they refused to cooperate. And so, onwards into history, white men in positions of power they create for themselves have been threatened by Others who are different from them (from different cultures to different genders to different beliefs) and constructed stories in their heads that cast them — the white men in power — as heroes confronting the villainy of anyone who dares to challenge them. This way of thinking has hardly changed since the beginning of documented and colonized time, but there are a few particularly poisonous areas of history where this anxiety has bled into the soil and reared its head.

With Slewfoot, Brom explores one of the most notorious instances of this kind: the Witch Trial era of the 1600s, when any woman who showed too bright a streak of independence or hesitancy in agreeing to Puritanical ideals was thought to be a witch. Abitha, one such rebellious young woman recently sold to a Puritan community to be married off to a stranger, is constantly butting heads with the people who try to silence her input on her life. Just when she is beginning to truly fall for her older but kindly husband Edward, a fatal accident leaves her a widow who must battle her husband’s brother to maintain control of her house and land and avoid indentured servitude. Meanwhile in the forest, deep in the cave where Edward met his tragic end, a being predominantly known as Father (eventually dubbed Samson) awakens after a centuries long sleep, led by his companions on a quest for blood — though the most important thing to Father is to understand his own identity and battle his fractured psyche.

Abitha and Samson both spend much of the novel trying to understand how who they understand themselves to be fits into the narrative of the societal ideas being pushed upon them. For Samson, the wildfolk that wakened him make him believe his greatest role is that of a bloodseeker, even though in his own heart Samson believes himself to be a creature more in tune with the inclination to bring life to the earth rather than take it. Abitha, meanwhile, simply refuses to bend to Puritanical ideas of a woman’s place, continuing the cunning ways she was taught and fighting for her freedom from under the hand of her husband’s domineering brother; as such, he labels her a witch and does his level best to have her either put into the stocks for punishment or killed. When Samson and Abitha meet, it sets off a vibrant quest of understanding across borders of belief. Samson believes himself first a creature without identity, then a personal god for Abitha, until he finally realizes his true purpose. Abitha never doubts her own position — she is in fact grimly aware of the stakes if she is to fail the eventual deal struck for her land — but she does have to constantly evaluate where she stands on what Samson is, and the full scope of the consequences of his being and his help.

One of Brom’s greatest strengths of storytelling is his ability to twist and maintain sympathies with characters we ordinarily understand to be villains — or at the very least markedly intimidating beings. The villains of Slewfoot are, for the most part, firmly in the Puritan human camp, but Samson’s companions and personal demons are none too savory creatures either. For much of the novel, in fact, I understood Samson to be akin to Pan far before his true nature was revealed, though naturally he is primarily referred to by others as the Devil or a demon. As he fights to understand himself and his shattered memories he struggles against the ideas of himself imposed by other people. Even the wildfolk we are meant to understand as his closest companions are selfish creatures bent on making him into the fullest version of one half of himself.

The struggle to understand one’s place in the Big Picture scheme of the world goes beyond any boundaries we use to separate ourselves from others. It does not matter what spiritual force you believe in or what your ideals are, we are all trying to find a place where we comfortably fit in the world. It becomes a matter of life and death only when the people above us impose their worldviews that effectively cast Others to the outside — or to the grave.

Slewfoot is an exceptional work of connection released in a time of anxiety-inducing levels of division. Connections with people, connections with the world, and connections of ideas. It is a story of growing comfortable with the full complexities of one’s identity and confronting traumas we do not wish to face in order to heal and grow to our fullest selves. It also functions as a cautionary tale about the dangers of poisonous belief systems. The monsters of times like the Witch Trial era were born from the seeds of mass panic and anxiety of the un-usual, and the myths surrounding these times are perpetuated by continuing cycles of empowerment and fear in equal measure. For every disenfranchised person finding connection in themselves through stories of the gods and practices of old, there are at least a handful of (usually privileged) people there to smother them either back into submission or out entirely.

Brom’s Slewfoot is all of this and more, at its heart another fascinating exploration of a mythos surrounding a genuine moment in history, reminding us once again that there is always a new perspective to approach from, and that connection is always possible.

Great spooky atmosphere and everything I wanted it to be. Its my first time reading Broms work, but Ive always eyes their books. Im glad I was able to finally pick one up.

CW: Animal death, physical violence
"If it is a witch they want," she hissed, "then a witch they shall have."

Okay, let me start by saying I really wanted to love this book. I mean, a headstrong woman who repeatedly gives a middle finger to the bullshit puritanical patriarchy? Sign me up! And I did end up loving parts of this book - specifically the last 30% or so. But a lot of it, while I'm fairly certain was historically accurate, just dragged for me. I can appreciate the amount of work that went into this, don't get me wrong. But there were times that it just felt so long and it was hard for me to pick it up and maintain any longstanding interest in it. Until the very end, that is.

The one thing I will say about the first at least 50% of the book is that it gives you plenty of time to allow your anger to simmer to a full-fledged boil. By the time I reached the end of the book, I was furious with so many people and was happy to cheer on them receiving some form of justice. I outright hated so many of the secondary and tertiary characters in this book, and some of them didn't suffer enough for their sins in my opinion. But some of them did and it was so satisfying.

There are also some seriously creepy elements to this story. I keep seeing it as a recommendation for the spooky season and I can definitely see why - it's reminiscent of the movie The Witch but I feel like Slewfoot does it better. All in all, I think it was well done overall but it just felt too long at times.