WILDWOOD MAGIC by Willa Reece – Review

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.

Wildwood Magic by Willa Reece
Published by Redhook on July 25 2023
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 432
Format: Finished paperback
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Folk magic and relatable characters are front and center in Willa Reece’s latest Morgan’s Gap story.

“Community was like wildwood magic, a precious gossamer thing, light and fleeting, which could easily slip from your grasp.”

Wildwood Magic is set in the same small rural town of Morgan’s Gap, Virginia that Wildwood Whispers was (Willa Reece’s last book), but this time the author jumps back about thirty years or so in the past. The books are loosely connected but with different characters, although a lot of names will be familiar to you if you’ve read the first book. That being said, you do not need to read these books in any particular order, in my opinion, so don’t worry about missing anything important if you haven’t read Wildwood Whispers. Both books are similar in many ways, which made this feel like a comfy blanket kind of read. I loved slipping back into Reece’s dreamy, magical world, where the wildwood women of Morgan’s Gap have a strong, sisterly connection to each other, as well as to the land and animals around them.

The story takes place in 1969 but also jumps back in time to 1885 with a series of dream sequences. Rachel Smith came to Morgan’s Gap in 1965 after running away from her abusive husband Ezekiel Gray, the leader a conservative religious cult called the Sect. At the time she was unexpectedly pregnant with Ezekiel’s baby, but Rachel knew that she would never escape his clutches if he found out about the baby, and so she faked her death and headed to Morgan’s Gap, a place she thought she could hide from her husband. Rachel is drawn to the place, and she feels a special affinity to the apple orchard behind Mary May’s house. In order to protect her daughter Pearl, Rachel “gave” her to a kind woman named Helen to raise. Pearl’s connection to Rachel must remain a secret, and so Rachel can only gaze at her daughter from afar, although it’s worth it to know she’s safe.

When the story begins, Rachel is living with Mary May, one of the wise women of Morgan’s Gap. But one morning when she wakes up, Mary is no where to be found. Instead, Rachel finds a note in the kitchen with a list of names, as well as a few recipe cards. Inferring that Mary left them there for a reason, she decides to visit each of the women to see what she can learn. Rachel’s peaceful existence is about to be interrupted, though, when she spots the familiar revival tents of the Sect, setting up on the edges of town. Surely Ezekiel is among them, and now she’s terrified that he will not only find her, but discover Pearl as well. Luckily the women of Morgan’s Gap are a formidable group who do whatever it takes to protect their own. 

In alternating chapters that take place around 1885, we meet Siobhán Wright, a young woman who flees Ireland and winds up in Morgan’s Gap. Bringing apple seeds with her from Ireland, Siobhán plants the seeds which eventually grow into the orchard that supplies the apples for Mary May’s special cider. Siobhán’s sections are framed as dreams that Rachel is having, which I thought was a good way to introduce the past events that shaped Morgan’s Gap and the longstanding tradition of the women who live there and care for each other.

Once again, Willa Reece has written a wonderful story about strong women and how important they are to the land and each other. This is a quiet, thoughtful story with positive messages about self worth and acceptance, with the Sect cult standing in as the antithesis of everything that’s good about Morgan’s Gap. Rachel is still learning about her connection to the local women, and so it was nice to see the way she grows into her true self. She loves to embroider, and Reece uses her embroidery skills as a metaphor for “stitching” together residents of Morgan’s Gap. Certain motifs occur over and over in the story: bees, apples, vines and even snakes. Rachel acquires a familiar of sorts, a green snake who magically appears when a wooden spoon with a snake carved down its handle goes missing. Mack, the local tinker who also serves as a love interest for Rachel, is a talented woodworker whose wooden animals sometimes come to life. There are subtle touches of magic like this throughout the story, just enough to give it a sense of wonder.

Women aren’t the only gifted characters, though. Mack is also very sensitive to the land and will only use wood that’s already fallen off trees to make his creations. And although Rachel has never told him the truth about Pearl, you get the idea that he senses the truth, even if he doesn’t have all the details. We do get a few sections from Pearl’s point of view as well, which I loved. Pearl is only four, but she’s wise beyond her years, probably because she’s intricately tied to the women of Morgan’s Gap. Pearl doesn’t know that Rachel is her biological mother, but she’s seen her crying outside her window on occasion, and she refers to her as the Crying Lady. It was heartbreaking to think that Rachel had to give up her daughter, but I do love the way this story element is resolved at the end.

I did find Ezekiel to be ridiculous and over-the-top, though. As a religious fanatic and a cult leader, he’s opposed to everything that doesn’t fit in with his conservative religious views, like gays, Black people, strong women and even noisy, disrespectful children. There are a few scenes where I actually laughed as Ezekiel is trying to convert the people of Morgan’s Gap, and even though a few men wander over to his side of the fence, for the most part the town just wants the Sect to leave them in peace.

But as much as I loved Reece’s hopeful messages, the story is extremely slow and meandering, so readers who go in expecting a faster pace with action scenes will be disappointed. Most of the conflict comes from Siobhán’s chapters, which were dramatic and exciting, and there’s a final showdown at the end involving Ezekiel and the people of Morgan’s Gap that had me on the edge of my seat. But for the most part, Wildwood Magic is a slowly unfolding story that focuses on the philosophical ideas of nature and caring and others. If you don’t mind a low stakes, feel-good story, then you’re probably the perfect reader for this book.

I’m not sure if there will be more stories set in Morgan’s Gap, but I hope so! It’s nice every now and then to step away from the horror I usually read and immerse myself in an uplifting story like this one.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.