Hello, hello! I have something a little different & exciting for you all today. Susan, NovelLives, has decided to try and get back into the review writing game by blessing me with a guest post for my blog. If you’ve been following me for a while, you will know Susan is one of my favourite people and someone I adore buddy reading with. I have seriously missed her reviews, so I was so happy when this popped into my inbox. Shockingly, this review has added yet another book to my overwhelming TBR, Susan has a tendency to do this regularly, and I think you will be able to see just how much she loved this story.

You can check out Susan’s past reviews at her blog linked above, her goodreads where she posts her bookish ramblings and twitter where she promotes books she loves, as well as the Coven, AKA her cats!

Three women. Five centuries. One secret.

‘I had nature in my heart, she said. Like she did, and her mother before her. There was something about us – the Weyward women – that bonded us more tightly with the natural world.
We can feel it, she said, the same way we feel rage, sorrow or joy.’

In 2019, Kate flees an abusive relationship in London for Crows Beck, a remote Cumbrian village. Her destination is Weyward Cottage, inherited from her great Aunt Violet, an eccentric entomologist.

As Kate struggles with the trauma of her past, she uncovers a secret about the women in her family. A secret dating back to 1619, when her ancestor Altha Weyward was put on trial for witchcraft…

Weyward is a stunning debut novel about gender and control – about the long echoes of male violence through the centuries. But more than that, it is a celebration of nature, female power and breaking free.

Emila Hart’s Weyward is a cross between The Last Apothecary and Once and Future Witches. Historical women’s fiction and fantasy/witch lore that will tug at your heart, make you think, and stay with you.

I love everything about it. One family and three women spanning generations. Be(Witching)… bad pun. I know.

The characters are rich and beautifully developed. Each woman has their own voice and ways of dealing with everything around them.  The family connection is both tangible and yet just out of grasp to not just tell readers what to think about the hidden secret that will unfold. 

The plot keeps you tethered throughout. And the common string of how society/circumstances tried to keep them from being themselves, was brilliant. Each situation was completely different, in each time period. Yet the commonality of themes is executed without faltering.

Each time period has its personality, showing the differences in women’s circumstances. This is both different and yet oh so similar.

Weyward is lovely without being overly mushy. It is fantasy without being over the top. It is suspenseful without losing its themes (or beating them like a dead horse). It is completely genre-defying. 

I can’t wait for everyone to get a hold of Weyward in March