Barnes & NobleThe Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

Name: The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
Brand: Barnes & Noble
Rating: 4.60 (9 reviews)

4.6 (9)

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"A gorgeous and thrilling paean to the ferocious power of women. The characters live, bleed, and roar. "Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling authorA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR Books Barnes and Noble BookPageIn the late 1800s, three sisters use witchcraft to change the course of history in this powerful novel of magic, family, and the suffragette movement. 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 sistersJames Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonnajoin 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 voteand perhaps not even to livethe 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.

Product Features
- Author- Alix E. Harrow
- Publisher- Orbit
- Publication Date- 09-28-2021
- Page Count- 544
- Hardcover
- Adult
- Science Fiction and Fantasy
- Dimension- 5.5 H x 8.2 W x 1.5 D
- ISBN-13- 9780316422017
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Ratings & Reviews

4.6/5

9 star ratings & reviews

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9 months ago

from Chicagoland area

I laughed, I cried, this book became a part of me.

I was gifted this book by a bestie whose daughter had given her a copy. When I began to read it, I texted her that I was 5 chapters in, and glad the book was over 500 pages, because I was really ready to get enthralled in a novel, and knowing I had this many pages to read was thrilling. Once I had finished it, I put a notice on my FB page, for everyone I know to read this book. It's THAT good! The story is told in alternating viewpoints, by the 3 Eastwood sisters. They were reared on a small piece of land in a southern state, by a mom who didn't fight for herself, and a dad who beat and abused them all, reminding them frequently that they were worth nothing. Their mother's mom, Mama Mags, was a witch, but no one called her that. She lived close by , raising and collecting herbs to help people--she was also a midwife. If their dad had allowed her to be called when the youngest sister, Juniper, was born, their mother might not have died in childbirth. Juniper has been living alone with her dad, because her older sisters left. She has no idea why they left. She only knows they did, leaving her to bear the brunt of the cruelty with not even a postcard to let her know they remembered her. In the start of the book, she's running away from home because their dad is now dead, and he left their land to a nincompoop of a male cousin, solely because he's a man. When Juniper arrives in New Salem, she's out of place instantly, being a country gal with a limp and an old cane. But when questioned by a police officer, she uses a tiny bit of magic she knows to stop him from talking to her, and runs to the center of town, where there is a meeting of the suffragettes advocating for the rights of women to vote. And she promptly decides that, as the family rebel, she's going to join in fighting for equal rights for females. She doesn't know it yet, but both of her sisters are in New Salem also. She will soon find them, and start on a mission to bring witchcraft and magic back to people. Seems that Old Salem was burned down years ago, when someone accused women of being witches. Not bothering with trials, they burned the whole old city down, with all of the females and children in it. New Salem was built next to it, and is considered too modern to have anything to do with old ideas like magic. But that's soon to change. It seems that there are always 3 witches in mythology--the maiden (young virgin,) the mother, and the crone. Juniper is the youngest. Her sister Agnes, who is about 10 years older than her, has become pregnant. Despite living in poverty and toiling at a low-wage job, she's decided to keep the baby, even thought she knows from having grown up with Mama Mags, that there are ways to end a pregnancy. The oldest sister, Belladonna, is a librarian, working feverishly to discover as many spells and incantations as she can from old books. Magic requires the will, the words, and the way. Bella is determined to find the words, which have been passed down from mothers to their children, in the form of nursery rhymes and songs. I can't do justice to the spell-binding (sorry!) story told in this book. Suffice it to say that many a night I read "just one more chapter," repeatedly, before I had to force myself to close the book. While telling the story of the sisters, and magic's revival, Harrow weaves in feminism in a big way. Because women are considered inferior and have no power of their own in the late 19th century, their only way to survive involves magic. But magic is forbidden by the white men who rule. Now what? My mom raised me to be a feminist. I raised my 4 children, 3 sons and a daughter, to all be feminists. Reading such a wonderful story proposing that magic might be a solution to the problems we STILL face, was eye-opening, and a welcome distraction from the politics of today. I'm very well aware that this is a fictional story, not least because there are happy endings of sorts, even for the supporting characters--all of whom I came to care about. But while I was reading, I found myself able to believe that someday, magic might be restored, and women, as well as people of color, might be able to be considered full citizens. This is the hope and promise of this book.

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