I suppose books about witches are about as trite as vampires or werewolves.  I know I avoided them for most of my life with that in mind.  But lately, as in the past couple years, books about witches have started getting my attention.  These new stories paint witches in a much different light than stories from decades ago.  These new stories approach the subject as women’s empowerment; a natural order that has been suppressed by men, a shout-out that women can still direct their own fates.  And this is infinitely more interesting to me.

There is a family that had lived for generations on a place named Wild Hill on Long Island.  Centuries earlier, a woman was hanged as a witch and she continues to haunt the place.  The family of Duncans have always known they had power but they are waiting for the coming of the prophesized Three who will turn the tide of patriarchy that continues to make women bleed and suffer. The story focuses mainly on two sisters, Brigid and Phoebe.  Their mother, Flora, was a wild one but died too young and the girls were separated; living with their respective fathers.  Due to a lack of communication, the two young women were estranged for years.  This made the Old One a bit disgruntled and after a number of years, She had finally had enough.  She sent messengers and then burned down both women’s homes; forcing them to return to the family mansion.  The Old One had a plan and the women’s personal issues were not a concern to Her. The two sisters had a part to play; including Phoebe’s daughter.  And they were needed on Wild Hill.

This was a great read.  The author did a superb job in bringing generations of witches to life; acquainting the reader with their time and obstacles they faced, hard choices they had to make.  All with the purpose of eventually bringing forth the most powerful witches ever known.  Most of the book immersed us into the witches’ lives and helped us understand the hard choices being forced upon the Three in the present-day.  Truthfully, I thought the author would do as I’ve seen done before; make the women’s crisis into a metaphor or show the effect just locally – like punishing just one man.  Oh no, this author took off the kid gloves and showed us just what she’d like to see done to the world of male billionaires; the patriarchy who think they have a right to say how the world’s affairs are conducted - men who truly believe they have a right to power due to the amount of money they have. Never have I read a book with such a timely message.

All the women had a voice in the book, almost equally whether they were corporeal or not.  The author did, pretty much, telegraph what she intended to do although I thought the earlier events were just cautionary.  Even when I could see what was coming, she surprised me a little.

While I obviously loved the plot; I do have to point out that much of the story was heavy-handed.  And not all the characters acted honestly; some actions were blatantly contrived and much confusion could have been averted had they been honest with each other. I was particularly frustrated when the author tried to make us believe that one of the characters was a ‘bad guy’ when it was obvious he simply wasn’t.

Overall, this book did what it was supposed to do:  entertain me while sending, perhaps, a message out to the world.  I do recommend it for what it is and I hope to see more from this author.  ~~  Catherine Book