Once upon a time, Alix E. Harrow cast a spell in the form of her latest published novel, The Once and Future Witches. Extremely hard to put down, Witches is a transportive, enrapturing fable from the talented, Hugo award-winning author.
Scarred by an abusive father, the Eastwood sisters individually found childhood safety and respite in the presence of their grandmother, Mama Mags, and the fairy tales she told. Mags used to tell them that magic could never die, no matter how much it had been beaten, she gave them hope through words and stories.
New Salem in 1893 is not a kind or welcoming town. Tense and paranoid, unwelcoming and harsh, it is the fateful location for a fractured Eastwood sibling reunion. At this time in American history the last residues of witchcraft and spell-casting have long since faded away, and yet, there are hints and glimmers of this lost way of life. Simultaneously, the New Salem Women’s Association is spearheading the local suffragist movement, empowering women in a way that was previously unheard of.
As the lives of the Eastwood sisters unfolds, so does the magic of Harrow’s storytelling prowess. The power is in the story itself, in the prophecies fulfilled, in the act of storytelling and the belief it instills. D.B. White would be thrilled to dive into The Once and Future Witches, no doubt.
Review by Joel
$28.00 Hardcover
The Once and Future Witches is in stock at the bookstore, you can order it online or call us at (505) 988-4226.