Fantasy & Magical Realism
A Novel
Three women, separated by four hundred years and joined by blood, a Cumbrian cottage and a strange kinship with the natural world, anchor Emilia Hart's bestselling debut: Altha, tried for witchcraft in 1619; Violet, a curious girl chafing against a cruel father in 1942; and Kate, fleeing a controlling partner in 2019.
As their braided stories converge, each woman discovers that the 'weyward' women of her line share a quiet power - over insects, birds and their own fates - that patriarchal violence has tried and failed to stamp out.
Hart writes accessible, atmospheric prose and wields the triptych structure to draw a clear line between witch trials and modern coercive control, a feminist argument delivered with the momentum of a book-club page-turner. It is magical realism at its most companionable rather than its most demanding.
For readers who want an empowering, moving, nature-soaked story of women's resilience across the centuries, it is a warmly satisfying, award-winning read.
The book
Three women across five centuries, a girl accused of witchcraft in 1619, a woman fleeing an abusive marriage in 1942, and one escaping a controlling partner in 2019, are linked by a Cumbrian cottage and an inherited affinity with the natural world.
More in
