#BlogTour ‘The Once And Future Witches’ by Alix E Harrow

About the book…

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.

My undying thanks to the awesome Tracy of Compulsive Readers for the blogtour invite and fabulous Nazia of Orbit books for my gifted review copy of ‘The Once And Future Witches’ which is out in ebook and hardcover editions from October 13th!

There is an alchemy at play in Alix’s prose which draws you into the world’s which she creates, and makes it so very difficult to step back from.

In this, her second novel, she tackles female and ‘other’representation in the form of witches, seen as those with a dangerous elemental power.

The three forms of womanhood(maiden,mother and crone) are represented in the personas of James, Agnes and Belladonna who between them run the gamut of the female lived experience.

Their powers and abilities are sanitised and muted by the public perception of witches as Disney-fied, fairy godmother-esque figures. In a neat reflection of today’s feminist battles to be seen and heard,the setting of New Salem is perfect for the battle between the marginalised and the mainstream.

What is feared is sublimated and made powerless,and in this unabashedly feminist tale,these are women reclaiming their agency and bringing the marginalised up with them.

It is a novel of strength,power and substance which weaves a spell around you like no other. It is a battle of rights and you, the reader, absolutely knows which side that you are on.

About the author…

I’ve been a student and a teacher, a farm-worker and a cashier, an ice-cream-scooper and a 9-to-5 office-dweller. I’ve lived in tents and cars, cramped city apartments and lonely cabins, and spent a summer in a really sweet ’79 VW Vanagon. I have library cards in at least five states.

Now I’m a full-time writer living in with my husband and two semi-feral kids in Berea, Kentucky. It is, I’m very sure, the best of all possible worlds.

My debut novel–a historical fantasy called ‘The Ten Thousand Doors Of January’-was published in 2019 from Orbit/Redhook.

My writing is represented by Kate McKean at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.

Links-https://alixeharrow.wixsite.com/author

https://www.compulsivereaders.com/

Twitter @AlixEHarrow @Tr4cyF3nt0n @orbitbooks @Gambit589