Weyward
A Novel
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4.4 • 882 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF TWO GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS (Best Debut Novel & Best Historical Fiction)
An Indie Next March 2023 Pick • A LibraryReads March 2023 Pick • An Amazon "Best Books of the Year So Far" 2023 Pick
"A brave and original debut, Weyward is a spellbinding story about what may transpire when the natural world collides with a legacy of witchcraft." ––Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The London Séance Society
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 weyward scratched 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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Three generations of women wrestle with the actions of violent men and the secret powers that unite them across time. Emilia Hart’s debut novel shifts between the 17th century, where a healer named Altha has been thrown in a dungeon under suspicion of witchcraft; the 1940s, where a spirited young woman named Violet bristles against her domineering father and pines for her dead mother; and the present day, where we follow Kate, a former children’s book editor who flees from the sterile London apartment she shares with her abusive husband. As Kate settles into a dilapidated, overgrown cottage she inherited from an elusive great-aunt, she unearths secrets about her family’s history and discovers her own strength. Weyward is a suspenseful read that celebrates women’s stories and the magic of the natural world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hart explores in her triumphant debut sexual desire, violence, and personal autonomy in the lives of three strong-willed English women from the 17th century to the present. In 1619 Lancaster, 21-year-old healer Altha Weyward stands accused of witchcraft after using powers learned from her mother to provide women with reproductive care. In 1942, 16-year-old Violet Ayres passes time by observing the creatures around her family home near the village of Crows Beck. Her widowed father keeps her confined there because she exhibits the same strange behavior as her mother, Elizabeth Weyward Ayres, who had the ability to command crows, but Violet nonetheless lusts after an army officer who visits the house. In 2019, pregnant 29-year-old Kate Ayres flees her abusive boyfriend and moves to a cottage in Crows Beck that was left to her by her great-aunt. As she settles into her new home, she finds documents about the Weyward women's powers. Hart skillfully weaves together the stories of the determined women, showing how they confronted a patriarchal society to take control of their lives. The magic harnessed by the characters feels completely real in this captivating outing.
Customer Reviews
Powerful
This is a powerful and pleasing read. Women are connected to the world and each other. Thank you for this story.
Weyward
A beautiful story. Perfect for October reading 🎃❤️
Good read, not great
Author descriptors are vivid and interesting. I found the book slow and somewhat disjointed. For me, it was a good read, not great.