Review: The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

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The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

Published: 13th Octover 2020 | Publisher: Orbit | Cover Designer: Lisa Marie Pompilio | Source: Publisher
Alix E. Harrow's Website

In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.

But when the Eastwood sisters--James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna--join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote-and perhaps not even to live-the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.

There's no such thing as witches. But there will be. From Goodreads.

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I received this eProof for free from Orbit via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Rep: Disabled protagonist; lesbian protagonist; Black, lesbian main character, trans woman secondary character, Native American secondary characters.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features a (vague) sex scene; a description of an open wound; birth; abortion; mention of stillbirth; ableism; racism; homophobia; transphobia; an abusive, homophobic conversion school/prison; child abuse - physical violence; sexual assault; an angry, violent crowd; violence against women; torture; use of scold's/witch's bridles; a witch trial; discussion of burning witches, with descriptive detail.

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Blog Tour: Deirdre Sullivan Introduces Savage Her Reply + Mini Interview

Deirdre Sullivan Introduces Savage Her Reply + Mini Interview

Titles marked with a (^) are ad: affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through them, I'll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Titles marked with an asterisk (*) were gifted to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Today is my stop on the blog tour for Savage Her Reply* by Deirdre Sullivan. It's a feminist retelling of the Irish legend The Children of Lir, from the persepctive of Aífe, the story's villain. For us bloggers, this blog tour was arranged a little differently, and we got something super special. We were invited to an exclusive private Zoom meeting with Deirdre and publicist Nina, where Deirdre told us about Savage Her Reply, and we also got to ask her a few questions each, for our own exclusive element of our posts. Unfortunately, I was on holiday when the meeting took place, but it was recorded and Nina was kind enough to ask Deirdre my questions on my behalf.

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Review: Savage Her Reply by Deirdre Sullivan

This post contains Ad: Affiliate Link - marked with an asterisk (*) - which means if you make a purchase through them, I'll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Savage Her Reply by Deirdre Sullivan

Published: 1st October 2020 | Publisher: Little Island Books | Cover Designer and Illustrator: Karen Vaughan | Source: Review Copy
Deirdre Sullivan on Twitter

A dark, feminist retelling of the favourite Irish fairytale The Children of Lir told in Sullivan's hypnotic prose. Aife marries Lir, a king with four children by his previous wife. Jealous of his affection for his children, the witch Aife turns them into swans for 900 years. Retold through the voice of Aife, Savage Her Reply is unsettling and dark, feminist and fierce, yet nuanced in its exploration of the guilt of a complex character. Voiced in Sullivan's trademark rich, lyrical prose as developed in Tangleweed and Brine - the multiple award-winner which established Sullivan as the queen of witchy YA. Another dark & witchy feminist fairytale from the author of Tangleweed and Brine From Goodreads.

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I was sent this review copy for free by Little Island Books / Nina Douglas PR for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features children being taken from parents, death in childbirth, animal cruelty, animal death, forced marriage, rape, and what I believe to be depression.

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Review: Witch by Finbar Hawkins

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Witch by Finbar Hawkins

Published: 1st October 2020 | Publisher: Head of Zeus | Cover Designer: Edward Bettison | Source: Publisher
Finbar Hawkins' on Twitter

Set in the 17th century, a breathtaking debut, and a potential prize-winner, about the power of women, witchcraft, fury, revenge and the ties that bind us.

After witnessing the brutal murder of her mother by witch-hunters, Evey vows to avenge her and track down the killers. Fury burns in her bright and strong. But she has promised her mother that she will keep Dill, her little sister, safe.

As the lust for blood and retribution rises to fever pitch, will Evey keep true to the bonds of sisterhood and to the magick that is her destiny? From Goodreads.

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I was sent this proof for free by Head of Zeus for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features vomiting, killing of an animal, hair catching alight, ableism, possible blackface, assault, abduction as arrest, a young woman being followed by a predatory man, sexual assault, violence against women, description of violently breaking bones, murder, a dead body being abused, a witch trial, and women and children hanged.

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Review: The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

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The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Published: 6th February 2020 | Publisher: Picador | Cover Designer: Katie Tooke | Source: Publisher
Kiran Millwood Hargrave's Website

Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Magnusdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden and reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Arctic town of Vardø must fend for themselves.

Three years later, a sinister figure arrives. Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa, who is both heady with her husband's authority and terrified by it. In Vardø, and in Maren, Ursa sees something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place untouched by God, and flooded with a mighty evil.

As Maren and Ursa are drawn to one another in ways that surprise them both, the island begins to close in on them, with Absalom's iron rule threatening Vardø's very existence.

Inspired by the real events of the Vardø storm and the 1621 witch trials, The Mercies is a story of love, evil, and obsession, set at the edge of civilization. From Goodreads.

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I received this proof for free as a bookseller's reading copy from Picador for the purposes of recommending/handselling. I review all books I read honestly on my blog.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features dead animals, including discussion of slaughtering, skinning, and butchering reindeer; vomiting; breastfeeding, and the implication that it's shameful to breastfeed in public; fatphobia; use of the word g*psy, but approproate for the time; racism against the Sámi people; miscarriage; consensual f/f sex scene; numerous examples of unwanted, painful sex within marriage (not considered rape for the time); predatory looks and rape hinted at; mention of someone being burned as a child by another child throwing boiling water over them; mention of torture through branding; torture through forcing someone's head under water; ducking - binding an accused witch and throwing her into the water to see if she drowns of floats; suicide; manslaughter by blows to the head, murder by strangulation, and murder by burning at the stake.

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Review: The Golden Key by Marian Womack

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The Golden Key by Marian Womack

Published: 18th February 2020 | Publisher: Titan Books | Cover Designer: Julia Lloyd | Source: Publisher
Marian Womack's Website

An extraordinary, page-turning Gothic mystery set in the wilds of the Norfolk Fens from the BSFA-shortlisted author.

London, 1901. After the death of Queen Victoria the city heaves with the uncanny and the eerie. Séances are held and the dead are called upon from darker realms.

Samuel Moncrieff, recovering from a recent tragedy of his own, meets Helena Walton-Cisneros, one of London’s most reputed mediums. But Helena is not what she seems and she’s enlisted by the elusive Lady Matthews to solve a twenty-year-old mystery: the disappearance of her three stepdaughters who vanished without a trace on the Norfolk Fens.

But the Fens are a liminal land, where folk tales and dark magic still linger. With locals that speak of devilmen and catatonic children found on the Broads, Helena finds the answer to the mystery leads back to where it started: Samuel Moncrieff. From Goodreads.

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I was sent this review copy for free by Titan Books for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features the word g*psy, and prejudice against the traveller community, misogyny of the time, animal cruelty, animal death, people in a catatonic state, child death, mention of abusive marriages, child abuse, mention of death by suicide, and problematic language around suicide.

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Done With Rowling

Trigger Warning: Transphobia. 

Until the very recent past, Once Upon a Bookcase was only a book blog. A book blog that promoted diverse books. It was also a book blog where I was very vocal about my love of the Harry Potter books. Because of this, I feel it is important that I speak up regarding J.K. Rowling's recent transphobic tweets and essay on her website. I am absolutely disgusted. I am horrified at the pain and suffering trans and non-binary people are experiencing because of her transphobia. I am so damn angry.

Continue reading Done With Rowling