Hmm, this book has thousands of glowing reviews on Amazon, but for me it was just a bit bleah. At best a three out of five (and I’m a very generous marker!). I’ve read many similar books, most of them better.
It’s a timeslip novel following women in one family from the 16 hundreds to the modern day. The thread between them was supposed to be a witchy nature – ie connection to animals and plants and skill with herb lore etc as well as powers to control nature to a degree. I like a bit of magical realism, and would have liked more of that (I’m thinking of the, in my mind, much better book The Change by Kirsten Miller, in which women come into their witchy powers after going through the menopause and use their powers to help other women (and deserving men).
All the men in this book were awful – I know, sadly, that men abusing women has been a theme all through history but all the men in this book were either bullies or ineffectual.
The writing was okay but not fabulous – I’m not sure why the book has been so well received. Ah well. I was glad when I got to the end of it and could move on with my life.
Sarah Wray Writer 