A solid piece of historical fiction that centers on a female friendship. I was hoping for a bit more witchcraft, but still, the story drew me in

Fleetwood Shuttleworth! Just the name should be enough to make you want to read this book. This is a book with a great story focused on Fleetwood and her inability to carry a baby to term which impacts her relationship with her husband Richard. She meets Alice Gray who is a young midwife who provides herbs etc. that immediately help Fleetwood during her fourth pregnancy. But the story is also about the Pendle Hill Witch Trials and the men who prosecuted and killed innocent women because they were "witches". But they were really just trained healers who helped women, and men, by providing natural remedies for the myriad illnesses and "female issues" they faced. This is a good historical novel that illustrates how women were treated and especially those truly unfortunate ones who were poor.

Fleetwood and Alice are both strong women, and Fleetwood's mother is ultimately seen in a new light also. The book was well written and the author did a great job of using Fleetwood;s thoughts to carry the reader through the story. And of course the ending was perfection as well as the tying in the idea of the familiar.

Very cool book. Draws off actual situations and people while putting their own story into things. I love the vague hints at is Alice actually a witch? Did some of those sentenced actually practice witchcraft? While drawing me in on the happenings with Fleetwood's love life and precarious health situation. Very lovely book and the ending is delicious.

A fascinating look at a England in the 1600's. I found this book to be well-written but did feel like there were a few plot points that were never fully resolved. I enjoyed reading about this period of time and learning about how different life was for women. I have a lot of things pulling me away from reading right now, but when I picked this book it was very hard to put back down and it took priority - a sure sign of great book.

I love novels about interesting and intense female relationships, and I also love historical fiction that draws on its historical setting to inform the drama, rather than just using it as a backdrop. I was pleased to discover that The Familiars was both of these things, and more.

The witch trials in early 17th century England are the perfect topic for such a novel, given the involvement of so many diverse threads in this historical moment. The King himself is writing about the threat of witches working for the Devil (and don’t forget, Hell and the Devil were widely believed to be very real at this moment in time). Women are practically property to be transferred, and their power and status largely depends on who their husband is. And there’s a rigidly stratified class system where those at the bottom have practically no rights, especially single women who have to work for a living.

Halls’ novel is interesting because it isn’t strictly black and white. There is the figure of the ‘witchfinder’, a powerful man exploiting and murdering ‘witches’ for their own personal gain, using the cover of a righteous crusade against the Devil, but there’s also plenty of people who are just going along with the status-quo.

For instance, Fleetwood’s husband isn’t the stereotypical brutish and uncaring husband figure. Also, there’s no rose-tinted view of women always supporting other women; female solidarity is a luxury of sorts.

This is what makes the central friendship so special, that both Alice and Fleetwood are both willing to go above and beyond what is realistically expected for each other, even jeopardising their lives. It’s a tender and realistically fumbling depiction of a friendship between two women from very different backgrounds, reminiscent of Jessie Burton.

They are also tied together by brutal necessity; Fleetwood needs Alice’s skills as a midwife to ensure the survival of her and her baby, and Alice needs Fleetwood’s help to save her from the gallows.

The Familiars is also a moving account of the trials surrounding pregnancy, most of which are eternal; the actual physical labour and pain involved, the emotional difficulty of miscarrying, and the social pressure of feeling ‘inadequate’ and ‘useless’ for not producing a child.

This is not only a vivid evocation of an experience that applies to billions of people worldwide in some form, but also centres around subjects- marriage, domestic life, pregnancy- that have been historically dismissed as lesser than more ‘masculine’ topics like war and politics. The traditional coding is that war and politics are complex and interesting subjects to read about, whereas the former are inherently light and fluffy.

In my opinion, this novel highlights exactly how wrong this assumption is.

I found the ending of the novel perhaps slightly too neat and tidy, but I also appreciated the fact that it wasn’t totally grim (perhaps unrealistically given the bleak historical context, but I don’t care).

I would highly recommend this gripping and evocative novel, and as a bonus, the cover art is pretty too.

Oddly satisfying, is how I would describe this novel. Set in 1612, 17 year old Fleetwood is facing numerous obstacles. We see a wrongly accused Alice, and a cast of characters you love and hate! I would love to see a continuation of these characters. Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin-Mira for the opportunity to review for an honest review.

Long before women had any rights in life, this story details the frustration of a young woman who has to deal with overbearing men and the real horror of being accused as a witch. Great characters all around! A must-read!

We are taken back to 1612, Pendle, England, a time where one of the most famous trials took place - the Pendle Witch Trials. Those who believed to be practicing witchcraft were to be prosecuted.

Fleetwood, a 17 year old girl who is pregnant for the fourth time, befriends a local poor woman named Alice. After 3 miscarriages, Fleetwood is desperate to have her 4th time a successful one. She turns to Alice who claims to be a midwife, and begs her to help her deliver a full term baby. Under Alice's administration and supervision, Fleetwood begins to feel better during her pregnancy, hence gives Alice her full trust.

But chaos ensues when women healers who are believed to be witches, are hunted down and hanged and Alice is believed to be one of them. Fleetwood who believes in her innocence tries all ways to save her from her impending fate.

Is Fleetwood right about Alice's innocence? Is Alice really who she claims to be? If not, what to make of the sudden disappearance of blood and hair that Fleetwood noticed when Alice was administering her? And what about the red fox whose eyes resemble Alice's? Is it just a fox or is it Alice's familiar? Fleetwood is putting 2 lives in Alice's hands. Can Alice really be trusted?

This was a swift and easy read for me. The story flowed quite seamlessly. The novel had me guessing if Alice was a witch or not. Was she really going to save Fleetwood or was she serving her own agenda? It was Alice whom I was more drawn to. Her mysterious character had me intrigued. Fleetwood was quite an interesting character too - wise and intelligent beyond her age. I also enjoyed watching their friendship grow, although it was Fleetwood who was making most of the effort.

The plot definitely drove the story. I was intrigued by Alice's story. She seemed to be hiding a thousand secrets. And what was Fleetwood's husband hiding? He and Roger looked like they were in cahoots. And I itched to find out if I were right.

There weren't any character that I was particularly fond of, except maybe Alice, but hers was more of her story that I was interested in. Roger and Richard were so similar I found it difficult sometimes to differentiate them when they were both present. As for Fleetwood, the author managed to capture her voice and thoughts perfectly, as she matures in a short span of time.

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin for providing me a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The Familiars made me use the highlight function on my Kindle. A function I’d never seen the point in using before because surely nothing would resonate with me as a few silly words in a book, right? But there’s something quite poignant about realising how shit life once was (or still is in some cases) for a lot of women. Case and point:

Fleetwood, your head is full of fancies. You speak as if we are in a play, all with a part to act. You and I have no role in the King’s justice, we support our husbands.

It’s 1612. You’re 17 and on your third(!) pregnancy after failing to carry to term every other time. People are convinced every woman who is a little strange or doesn’t follow the norms is practising witchcraft . You are rich AF (servants, cooks etc) with privilege oozing out of every pore, but you befriend an unlikely character and put the life of your unborn child into Alice Grey’s hands; a young midwife with a herbal track record. Scene set, yeah?

I have a lot of love for this book. I didn’t want to put it down, but the allotted 45 min bus journey to work dictated that I had to otherwise I’d have attempted to keep reading this whilst walking (not something I recommend – people get pissy when you walk into them 🤷). It’s captivating as it entwines with your life, yet infuriating as you realise how few rights women had.

Fleetwood’s character is detailed and lovable with as much screw-the-patriarchy as she could probably muster during that time period without being hung. Pushing what I guess would be ‘boundaries’ back in’t day, Fleetwood didn’t resign to what was expected – she rode in hunts and had an air of independence about her. I guess you could potentially say she was adventurous for a lady of her class in the 17th century. Alice, on the other hand, lived a life of poverty, abuse and continued to be mysterious throughout. As an ‘untraditional’ midwife with a lot of survivals under her belt at a young age, suspicion was quickly cast her way.

Hall doesn’t go down the whole pointy hats and bubbling cauldrons for her witches. Oh, no no no. And to say I’m glad is a massive understatement. The witches in this book are a little more true to ye olde times – peaceful yet curious and (in some cases) a little unnerving. They were after all just women helping other women to bring children into this world.

Now that I’ve had a slight gushing session over the book, it did have a few flaws:

- Given that the title is The Familiars, you hear very little about them. If you start reading this book and don’t have a clue what a familiar is, then don’t expect it to ever be explained. You’ll probably figure it out but I just wish a little more time had been spent on that.
- Some characters felt a little weak. Perhaps this was just me being an eejit but I kept forgetting which way around Richard/Roger was meant to be and which one I should hate the most. FYI – it’s Roger. He’s a colossal prick.
- This is probably the only time you’ll ever hear me say WHY ISN’T THIS BOOK LONNNNNGER?! The ending is abrupt. I get why, but I just wanted a little more.

That being said, it's an excellent little read and the perfect curl-up-on-the-sofa-during-the-winter-and-binge-the-heck-out-of read.

I am firmly at 4.5 stars on this one. I really loved it. The piece really depicted the insanity of the witch trials and really drives home that saying 'good men need do nothing to let evil triumph' (forgive the completely mangled quote - but you get my point). I so appreciated the MC Fleetwood. She stood up for what she believed in, while living in an insufferable time period for women, never questioning herself or wavering in her conviction. I thought the story line was tight and kept me very interested, so much so I was surprised to see this was a debut author. I am only holding back the last half star because I thought a bit more was needed to really keep the story and the reader in the time period. I would have liked to have known more about the rigors of day to day life in that time period.

I’m a sucker for books about witches, and this one definitely appealed to me. The novel follows Fleetwood, a 17 year old girl who is pregnant for the fourth time, as she befriends a local poor woman named Alice amidst the Pendle Witch Trials of the early 1600s. We’re mostly familiar with the Salem Witch Trials, but this real life event predates the horrors of Salem. Even before the witchcraft craze hit America, these trials were every bit as terrifying and claimed more people than the trials in Salem.

Stacey Halls does an adequate job telling Fleetwood’s story. Anachronisms are peppered throughout the novel through Fleetwood’s speech and in certain descriptors. I don’t expect every aspect of a historical novel to be 100% accurate, but some of the phrasing sounded far too 2018. Nonetheless, Halls does a nice job capturing Fleetwood’s voice and showing her develop as a person and a woman living in a time when women weren’t allowed voices of their own.

Thank you NetGalley and Mira for the eARC.
The mistress of Gawthorpe Hall, 17-year Fleetwood Shuttleworth is pregnant. She has already had 3 miscarriages (!) and is frantic to give her husband Richard an heir. She meets a young woman, Alice, a healer, who she begs to help her carry her baby to full term. Alice comes to the Hall with natural remedies and Fleetwood slowly feels better and comes to rely heavily on her ministrations. But trouble looms as women healers are hunted down as witches and eventually Alice is in danger of being arrested and possibly hanged. When Fleetwood discovers her husband is not the man she believed him to be, heartbroken, she and Alice flee to Fleetwood's cold and emotionally distant mother's home. They're not particularly welcome and are eventually forced to go back to Gawthorpe Hall. Alice is arrested and thrown into jail, suffering abominable
conditions. Heavily pregnant Fleetwood is determined to save her friend as the 2 young women have become very close, thereby risking her life and reputation.
I really enjoyed this book, although it made me shudder when reading about the misery of being a young girl or woman in those days, totally dependent on men and having no freedom of choice whatsoever. All those poor women who were tortured and killed as witches, it doesn't best thinking about...
This is a gripping read, I recommend it, it's a real page turner.

Riveting read based around the Pendle witchcraft trial of 1612. The author creates a gripping page turner which examines the role of women in society, different kinds of knowledge and the ways in which power creates fear. The central plot surrounding the young pregnant wife of a wealthy man and her relationship with a young village woman was interesting. A lot of the interactions between the female characters were perhaps the more strongly realised moments in the novel. That said I felt the novel's treatment of some of the women accused of witchcraft felt a bit ambivalent. It made me want to go read a non fiction account of this witchcraft trial. That said, I enjoyed the story and reading about the best named heroine that I've come across in a long time.