Rating: 5⭐️
“The connections between and among women are the most feared, the most problematic, and the most potentially transforming force on the planet.—Adrienne Rich”
That’s the quote that ends this extraordinary story but just as easily could be the one that begins it.
This is one of my most favored books.
Emilia Hart’s story of three women, related to each other by blood and by the horrific abuse they are experiencing, and the cottage named Weyward that’s their home and finally their sanctuary.
The author relates their stories simultaneously in three different time frames , managing to emotionally and historically connect them and us as a whole rich tapestry.
Kate is the first voice, so fearful and utterly desperate. It’s 2019 and she’s got one chance to flee her abusive husband. The scene is chilling and the terror palpable.
Altha, a healer, is equally terrified, afraid for her life when we first meet. She’s on trial for witchcraft. The year is 1619.
Violet is the third voice heard, an innocent in 1942, one who listens to her bees and mayflies in the gardens, and crows in the trees. She’s a wild child hidden away from the world by a harsh father , a woman, damaged by those close, who will be an unlikely bridge to the other two women and their worlds.
The writing is remarkable, Hart is able to create a wild magic in her descriptions of the natural beauty and sounds of a garden. She brings alive the power of winds blowing through the woods, a dark threat imminent, on a dark, scary night, making the reader feel the fears for ourselves.
The basics of the book is the women come from a long line of witches, which make them in tune with the power of the natural world , the insects and animals, as well as the environment around them. But it’s also about each of them finding their inner strength, their acceptance of themselves and their past experiences. And these women have had some truly traumatic past histories and experiences occur to them. Every possible thing you can think of.
They survive, are courageous and resilient and beyond brave in going forward with their lives in the end.
This is one of my favorite books besides The Women by Kristen Hannah . Such a remarkably crafted story and memorably well written women.
Highly recommended. Read the trigger warnings.
I love the cover. Morg the crow and possibly his descendants play an important role in their lives.
Cover art by Michael Storrings
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I am a Weyward, and wild inside.
2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great-aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she suspects that her great-aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.
1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. When Altha was a girl, her mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence of witchcraft is laid out against Altha, she knows it will take all her powers to maintain her freedom.
1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family’s grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weywardscratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.
Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart’s Weyward is an astonishing debut, and an enthralling novel of female resilience.
- Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (March 7, 2023)
- Publication date: March 7, 2023
- Language: English
- Print length: 408 pages
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 