I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow Published by Redhook on October 13 2020
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 528
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A lively and compelling feminist story about grit and determination, sisterhood, and the hidden power of stories.
“A witch is merely a woman who needs more than she has.”
If ever there was a time for this book, that time is now. The Once and Future Witches is a love letter to women everywhere, a call to arms, a promise that women have the power within themselves to be more than they are, more than men want them to be. This is a story about witches, sisters, friends. It’s a story about hidden spells and the power of stories. It’s about bad men and good men. It’s about the magical thread of sisterhood that binds us together. This book was not what I expected, but it was exactly what I needed. Once again, Alix E. Harrow has charmed me with her gorgeous prose and uncanny ability to take elements of history and truth and twist them into something completely new.
This is the story of the three Eastwood sisters: James Juniper, the youngest, who is on the run after killing her father; Agnes Amaranth, the middle sister, who finds herself pregnant and is contemplating abortion; and Beatrice Belladonna, the eldest, who works for the Salem College Library in the town of New Salem. Seven years earlier, Agnes and Bella left home, abandoning Juniper and stranding her with their abusive, alcoholic father. Now something has brought the three sisters together again. On the day of the suffragettes’ demonstration in the town square, the impossible happens—a tower appears through a tear in the sky, a tower whose presence can only mean one thing: someone has spoken words that have been lost for generations and has brought witching back into the world.
But even as the sisters wonder about this miracle and what it might mean, evil forces are gathering to stop the witches. The mayor, Gideon Hill, is determined to catch the sisters and burn them at the stake, just like the days in Old Salem. But Bella, Juniper and Agnes will find out just how strong they are as they and the other women in town discover how powerful words can be.
Just like she did in The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Harrow has created some truly wonderful female characters. I love stories about sisters, and Juniper, Agnes and Bella go through some very tough times together. Juniper starts out hating her sisters for leaving her seven years earlier, and even when she discovers why they left, it still takes quite a while for her to forgive them. Their relationships are broken, and Harrow doesn’t mend them easily. This created quite a bit of tension as they realize how much is at stake and why they must work together, even with resentment seething just below the surface. And there are other characters who added so much to the story, including Miss Cleopatra Quinn, a Black journalist with her own powers who is smitten with Bella, and Mr. August Lee, who falls for Agnes despite her condition and turns out to be sympathetic and helpful to the witches. Then there’s the villain of the story, Gideon Hill, who is much more than he appears—and in fact, we learn late in the story that he has a connection to a famous fairy tale! I thought that was pretty cool.
But mostly, this story is about the three sisters and their bonds with each other. And linking everything together is the power of stories and myths and how information is passed down from generation to generation. In Harrow’s story, spells are hidden in plain sight, there to use if you know where to look. The author starts each chapter with a familiar children’s rhyme, but tweaked in such a way as to make it slightly ominous. And hidden within each rhyme is a spell:
London Bridge is falling down, falling down,
iron bars will bend and break, bend and break,
My fair Maiden.
A spell for rust, requiring saltwater & joined hands
In this way, magic has stayed hidden and even better, has been passed down from mother to child through songs and nursery rhymes, never to be forgotten, even though witching is forbidden. I loved this idea of preserving a heritage through written and spoken words and the implication that it isn’t the witch herself with power, but the words that give her that power.
Harrow sets her tale in a time period when women had no rights at all, which is why this unabashedly feminist story works so well. I loved the backdrop of the women’s suffrage movement and the fact that in 1893 women still can’t legally vote. Women also make very little pay, don’t have any rights over their bodies and often work in deplorable conditions. The twist here is that witchcraft exists in the world, although it’s kept secret because it’s illegal. Many girls are raised learning small spells to help with housework or alleviate pain, but it’s generally known that real witchcraft has died out. That all changes when the sisters converge in New Salem and witness a miracle—the appearance of a tower thought to be a myth. I loved seeing the various women in town realize that they might have some power after all, no matter what the men are telling them, and best of all, I loved the combined strength of all these women as they realize how powerful sisterhood can be.
I do have to warn you that The Once and Future Witches is not a fast-paced book and takes a while to get going. Harrow has a lot of backstory to set up, although she does it in an unobtrusive way. She also doesn’t give things away easily. For example, we know that the sisters’ father was abusive in some way, but Harrow never comes out and tells you exactly what he did. She drops hints throughout the story, mostly through dialog, but it isn’t until later that she explains why Juniper killed him. But once the women are accused publicly of witchcraft, the hunt is on and the pace picks up considerably. They get into some terrible situations and find themselves in grave danger, not to mention the fact that Agnes is about to have her baby, and you can imagine how stressful that was to read about!
The ending was surprising and shocking and emotional, and I loved every bit of it. Alix E. Harrow is such a talented writer, and it really shows in this book, especially the way she ends her chapters. This is the kind of book I want to read out loud because it’s so perfectly written. I’m not sure if Harrow planned on her book being published right before a presidential election, but I feel the timing gives it even more relevance, especially in today’s climate where women are still fighting for equal rights, and the rights that they do have are being threatened as we speak. If only we could all be witches, perhaps this world would be a better place.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
Great review Tammy, I loved her first book and I’m really looking forward to this one.
She’s so good! I hope you enjoy it:-)
Oh my goodness, does this sound brilliant — though, I note your point about the pacing.
I’ve seen some reviewers struggle with the pacing, but for me I loved it anyway:-)
I’m really looking forward to this one and so glad to see how much you enjoyed it. I like that it’s about the power of stories, much as The Ten Thousand Doors of January was, though it sounds very different, which is also great. I hope she keeps creating such beautiful books.
She really has that theme of “the power of stories” in both books but she does it differently here. So good, hope you get to read it at some point:-)
I’ve been in a slump lately with back-to-back DNF titles, but I’m looking to this one next. Here’s hoping she can cast her spell and break the streak!
I hope this works for you!
I’m so glad to see you’ve given this such a positive review and rating! I’m hoping to dive into it soon and I’ve heard nothing but praises. This sounds like a really beautiful story and I’m sort of looking forward to something a bit slower paced that takes it time. Wonderful review!
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I enjoyed savoring it, seriously. The relationships and the writing, all of it was a delight:-)
Once again, loved your review. Can’t say I’m looking forward to reading this, despite it being a gorgeous book, both aesthetically and quality-wise. It’s just I won’t be able to get any ARC and buying these “trending” books is out of my budget. However, thanks for just a detailed critique, Tammy. 🙂
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Thanks Debjani. I wish you had better access to newer books:-(
5 stars yay! I definitely need to buy this book and The Ten Thousand Doors of January too while I’m at it. They both sound amazing. But this one especially!
Stephanie @ Bookfever recently posted…Review: The Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes
They are both very different but equally fun to read:-)
Great review! I’m about halfway through at this point, and I’m loving it (after a few false tries at getting started.)
Good to hear that!
Free time being what it is, I have so far refrained to request this book despite being intrigued by its core concept: now that I’ve read your review, and learned about the difficult – but I’m sure fascinating – relationship of love and resentment between the three sisters, I know I cannot let this one slip away from me unread.
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…SISTERS OF THE VAST BLACK – Lina Rather
I do hope you get to read it at some point. It was a lot of fun but with a good message too:-)
Ooh, I cannot wait to start this! Something tells me I’m going have a good time with it too, plus it just feels like my luck with books has picked up since fall started 😛 I’m currently stacking horror/dark fantasy/thriller reads for Spooktastic, but this one’s next after that!
It honestly made me want to join a group of women and fight for something! lol I got riled up:-)
Fabulous review! Since you say it is not fast-moving, I probably will do better with the audio version.
I think the audio would be good too!
This sounds absolutely amazing!
I just loved it. I think I read it at the right time:-)
This one sounds really intriguing! Glad you liked it so much 🙂
It was really good:-)
We’re review twins today, haha! I’m so happy to see you loved this book too. I really loved these characters and pretty much everything about the story. I do agree about the pacing. It didn’t bother me, but I could see some struggling with it. I just love her writing style so much.
I agree, her writing just pulled me in and the pacing didn’t matter that much.
This is definitely going onto my TBR list. I still haven’t read Ten Thousand Doors yet so I’ll two books to look forward to 😀
They are both so good!
I want to read it and am intimidated at the same time! The Ten Thousand Doors of january was quite ..heavy as in slow with lots of description rather than action and even if it was beautiful, it as not my cup of tea. So yes, I am intimidated!
It’s not action heavy so if that sort of story doesn’t work for you, you might not like it. I just found the idea of women taking back their power to be so uplifting:-)
What a wonderful review. I can’t wait to read this one. So glad to see you gave it 5/5!
I’m surprised by how many 5 star books I’ve ready lately:-)
Excellent review! I can’t wait to read this one!
I didn’t even realize it was the author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January until now hahah It sounds truly wonderful, especially with this gushing review! Thanks for sharing! 😀
Lashaan Balasingam recently posted…The Seventh Perfection by Daniel Polansky
I’ve only skimmed this review because I’m currently reading this one. Happy to see you loved it so much though.
Lynn 😀
Wow this is a beautiful review and the book sounds like something I need to pick up!
Kal @ Reader Voracious recently posted…September Adventure Log // the month I resurrected from hiatus
Loved the review amd loved this book!
Oooooh, I’m so excited for this and even moreso after reading your review!
Great review Tammy! I really wanted to love this book but it just wasn’t for me. It was beautifully written and it looks beautiful – I’ll maybe give her other book a try.
I’m thrilled to hear how much you loved this book. I expected to like it, otherwise I wouldn’t have picked it up at the library, but I was absolutely blown away by how high my enjoyment level was. This ended up being my favourite read of 2020 and Alix E, Harrow one of my favourite authors. Although I still need to read A Spindle Splintered. Like you said her character are superb though and incredibly well developed. Plus her writing is jusy glorious. And I adored the unusual take on magic within this book. I ended up getting both of the authors earliest books out of the library but I’m 100% going to have to purchase them in print at some point.