"...her daddy said women were like hens, flocking together and pecking at one another, and Juniper didn't want to be a hen..."
As summer wanes there is the first breath of autumn in the air, so it is time to retreat indoors, preferably with the company of witchy books. I've had this book for some time, but I wanted to wait until I could give myself up to it entirely. I took a few days off from my own writing and crept into the fantasy world of New Salem and The Once and Future Witches - Bella, Agnes and Juniper.
This book is a melting pot of feminism, literature, Authurian legend, folklore, fairytale, mythology and politics, which the author has stirred together in a big cauldron, thereby creating a totally unique novel. Here we have the suffragettes that we all know from history, with the Pankhursts making a cameo appearance, yet in this novel they are not only fighting for the right to vote, they are fighting for the restoration of witchcraft. The sisters are natural witches who want witchcraft to take up its rightful place in their society, giving women back their goddess given power. It is a dangerous task and the city of New Salem where they live was built upon the ashes of the witches they executed in old Salem.
The story is told from the perspectives of the three sisters and this does lead to a certain amount of head hopping in that you just get used to one character, when the viewpoint changes again.
I also wonder if there isn't just a bit too much crammed into the story. Although it works as a cohesive whole, there is a lot in this novel and I am not convinced that all of it was necessary. For instance, although I understand that this is a feminist book, I'm not sure why the author felt the need to turn all great writers of the past into women, so we have a Charlotte Perrault instead of the fairytale anthologist Charles Perrault and the Sisters Grimm instead of the Brothers Grimm. I'm not sure that this was needed and it seemed quite clunky. Diminishing or appropriating the accomplishments of men from the past does not lift women higher! So I didn't like that part.
There also seems to be a trend for lesbian sub-plots in publishing at the moment, with many new titles having an obligatory gay female character, or at least one who is open to sexual experimentation. I feel that this is being driven by the diversity band wagon, rather than the authenticity of the books, or even of the authors themselves. It makes me wonder how much of it is being suggested to authors by publishers in an effort to keep up with social trends. This novel is no different and again, I didn't really like it. I'm not sure what it adds to the witch story and even though I liked the character of Bella, I'm not remotely interested in reading about her lesbian crush!
On the whole though, The Once and Future Witches did draw me in and I enjoyed the overall plot and the storytelling. It is very nicely written and as I said, it is completely unique in it's approach to historical witchery. It just wasn't the book that I was expecting. However, I'm sure young millennial readers will love it, as it ticks all their politically correct boxes!
Happy Reading!
Marie x
AD: This novel was sent to me by the publisher for the purposes of review. It is available now in digital and paperback formats.
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