To get the premise out of the way: three estranged sisters all find themselves in the city of New Salem in late-19th-century America. New Salem was built after the destruction of Old Salem, which had been razed when the witches of that city were burned some centuries prior to the start of this book. The protagonists are three estranged sisters who find each other again and set about trying to restore Witching to the world. Explicit parallels are drawn to the Suffrage, Labor, and Civil Rights movements.
It’s a standalone, it’s an easy 5 stars, it’s one of the best books I’ve read in recent years. Seriously, it’s a good one.
I wanted to get all that out of the way early. I want to sell people on this book, because it’s amazing, but it’s not what I want to talk about while reviewing it.
This is an exceedingly angry book, and I loved every bit of it.
All three of the Eastwood sisters have endured horrific abuse in their lives. Their mother died giving birth to the youngest of them, and their father was an abusive monster who presented a respectable face to the world. The oldest two left home (or were sent away, depending on who you ask) and went on to endure further abuse - the oldest at a school dedicated to reforming wicked girls, the middle one in a workhouse. The youngest got extra time with dear ol’ Daddy.
They’re angry that they had to endure their father. They’re angry they can’t love who and how they want. They’re angry that they aren’t allowed to vote. They’re angry that they’re always viewed as the property of one man or another. And most of all, they’re angry that the most effective tool women had to fight back against all these injustices - witching - has been all but wiped out by the very people it was fighting against.
This is a powerfully intersectional work. Intersectionality, for those who aren’t familiar with the term, is the notion that all bigotry and oppression is tied together. You can’t effectively fight racism if you are going to ignore misogyny. You can’t fight for women’s rights and ignore men’s issues - they’re all different sides of the same many-sided coin. The protagonists’ desire to restore witching to the world is connected to the Suffragists campaigning for the vote, the Freedmen living in the slums who want basic human dignity, the Unionists trying to rally the workers, the queer people who want to love and exist as they are.
There’s a lot to be angry about out there. “Angry feminist” is a perjorative; the implication is that a happy, polite feminist is better. Black Lives Matter gets criticized for being angry - Martin Luther King may have been a staunch advocate for nonviolence, but he was angry too. If you really look at what the people who like the status quo say in criticizing these movements, it boils down to “it’s fine to object, but not so strenuously that we have to notice or do anything about it.” Don’t get angry, in other words. Be polite and don’t make waves.
Real change only comes when people are pissed off. Get angry, and stay angry until things change.