Loved the atmospheric setting around Boston and descriptions of old houses/museums. The characters really seemed to be aimed at a YA aged audience because of light treatment of issues like eating disorders and partner abuse. There also seemed to be some omissions in the storyline and one grievous mistake: how could an only child who never had children have a direct descendant? Still It was an easy and entertaining, if predictable, read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/Grayson House for the ARC to read and review.

This was the first title I have read from Hester Fox. The characters were brilliantly depicted and I was unable to put it down.

“A Lullaby for Witches” by Hester Cox 320 pages

Wow! Somebody is as bad as math as I am. This is a dual-timeline story (one of my favorite plot structure!): 1876 and 150 years later. Well, 150 + 1876 = 2026. I don’t think it was meant to be futuristic. The story doesn’t give any indication of that.

In 1876, Margaret Harlow is the daughter of a wealthy New England family in Tynemouth, Massachusetts, a town not terribly far from Salem. It is time for Margaret to marry. Her father has picked her husband, but Margaret has other ideas. Margaret isn’t like all the other girls. She does not want to do needlework all day and raise a passel of children.

Margaret likes to roam the cliffs and the nearby woods. She learns about plants and their natural healing powers...both positive and negative. It isn’t too long before the word “witch” becomes synonymous with her. Women with a variety of aches and problems seek out Margaret, meeting her in her little cabin in the woods in the late evening/early morning hours.

Fast forward to what I will call contemporary times. Augusta Podos has a job as a tour guide at the Old City Jail, in Salem. She hates giving the same tour day after day after day. When a dream job as a curator at Harlow House (Margaret’s ancestral home), Augusta jumps at the chance to work there.

As she is getting the grand tour, Augusta sees a painting that is Margaret. Little is known about Margaret as she had fallen off the family tree. Augusta takes on the challenge of uncovering Margaret’s story. Along the way, Augusta dumps her fiancé and falls for one of her co-workers.

Augusta feels Margaret’s. When she enters certain rooms, she is transported back to 1876 and sees what is happening through Margaret’s eyes. As time goes by, the hallucinations become stronger and stronger

I really enjoyed the sense of the paranormal and Augusta’s hunt for Margaret through the paper trail. However, in the last fourth of the book, the story took an evil and twisted spin that came from nowhere. It was a three-hundred-sixty degree turnaround that was not smooth. “A Lullaby for Witches” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Reviewed for Shelf Awareness. Review will be posted around publication date.
***
Hester Fox returns to historical New England in her fourth novel, A Lullaby for Witches, a haunting story full of long-buried secrets and narrated by two determined women. Told in two timelines, the novel follows Augusta Podos, a museum worker in the present, and Margaret Harlowe, a wealthy young woman in the 1870's.
Fox lets the reader know from the start that Margaret fell in love with a young man, became pregnant out of wedlock and was ultimately murdered, but the circumstances of her death are unclear. When Augusta takes a position at historic Harlowe House in Tynemouth, Massachusetts, she's drawn to a portrait of a woman who can only be Margaret, a woman seemingly lost to time and record. While Augusta slowly pieces together Margaret's past, Margaret describes her life as an independent, wealthy outcast, pregnant and trying to find a path forward for herself and her unborn child.
A Lullaby for Witches is still a gothic mystery at its heart, but Fox cleverly weaves in elements of class difference, prejudice, disordered eating, grief and even a romance. Margaret is a complicated character and the magic at work is decidedly unfriendly, but the decisions and obstacles both women face are relatable. Readers of Louisa Morgan and Susanna Kearsley will want to pick this up.

I've recommended it to several students and purchased it for the library. I'm currently clearing out all of the books that were published in 2019-21 from my title feedback view!

I read this book in less than a day! I was drawn in my the story from the first page. It begins with Margaret who is a healer in the 1800’s. She attempts to keep her secrets as she whips up tinctures and potions to help women within the town of Tynemouth with a myriad of troubles they found themselves in. Unfortunately, Margaret also found herself in a bit of trouble and finds that many secrets are buried.

The story also includes Augusta, who is currently unsure of her life path, currently working at a job she does not enjoy, and is in a relationship that has gotten a bit too comfortable and stale. Her excitement grows when she obtains a job where she can put her degree to work managing collections and galleries, and doing research for the Harlowe House. This is where her life melds with Margaret’s as she does research and finds out about Margaret and wonders why there isn’t more information to be found about her.

As Augusta continues to research Margaret and her secrets, she finds out that maybe there’s a link between herself and Margaret, as she unearths artifacts and information from her ancestors.

This book was filled with witchiness, magic, love, heartbreak, and finding one’s own path. I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to more from Hester Fox!

Oh man, if there's one thing Hester Fox is good at, it's making you want to pack your bags and book a getaway to a quaint New England village right this minute. The descriptions are so vivid and crisp that I could feel and see them coming through the pages. I wanted so badly to be there right alongside Augusta as she moved through this adventure!

Hester also knows how to weave an excellent, witchy tale which steeps itself in a beautiful lore that drags you in and makes you feel for the characters and their stories. Here, we have two unique and smart heroines who have found themselves fallen into something that's much bigger than them. That's one of the things that connects them through time - and that connection is a powerful, somewhat scary thing that reveals an even more harrowing story.

I don't want to give away too much here, but this book has everything you could want from a magical, mystical book: atmosphere, strong characters and enough supernatural elements to make you shiver, but be believable. Hester Fox remains the preeminent writer in the witch story genre.

This was a spooky good book! It’s a perfect book for your Halloween reading list. It has things that go bump in the night, possession and some romance to soften it up. It was probably a bit predictable but it was still an enjoyable book.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

I was not sure how I was going to feel about this book as it is quite out of my normal reading genre. However, I’m in love. This was a fantastic story with great characters and setting. Written beautifully. It has a little of everything for everyone. I’ll definitely be looking for more of Hester Fox’s novels after this one!

Let's get it out of the way - I'm very likely Hester Fox's #1 fangirl. When the opportunity to read an advanced copy of A Lullaby for Witches came up, I could not have said yes fast enough.

Set primarily in Tynemouth, Massachusetts in two different timeline, we follow two women. One, Margaret Harlowe, a wealthy young woman who doesn't quite fit in with society. She feels the call of the woods and has a dark power and ability to create and heal those who find themselves in 'trouble'.

The other, Augusta, another young woman who is struggling to find her place, takes a job at the Harlow House, 150 years after Margaret existed. She's bored in her life, in her relationship and this new job is exactly the jump start into the life she's always hope she would have. When she happens to find the stumble into the mystery of Margaret...it's too good to let go.

Hester knows exactly what she's doing when she writes books like this. She is a master at creating tension and atmosphere. I could smell the woods and feel the spray of the sea on my face. The last few chapters are so....action packed and exciting that I ended up staying up WAYYYYYY too late to finish the book because I could NOT put it down. I had to know what happened and I could just leave it to finish another day.

All in all, this is another hit for me from my girl, Hester.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book. Thanks to Hester Fox for being the best dark witchy writer I could have ever hoped.

I was sent a free book and am voluntarily leaving this honest review.

I admit this book had me from the title anything dealing with witches, vampires, or paranormal I'm all in. As I began to read I really liked the dual viewpoints.

I find reading books with dual viewpoints fun and as this story progressed I felt the author did a great job of weaving the two stories together so you saw how they entwined. The story had dark shadowy moments that lent to the feel of it being steeped in darkness. It flowed naturally for me and I felt pulled in.

The setting felt natural as we all know the history of Salem and the New England town. I enjoyed the depth of the characters and the writer did a great job telling their story.

Overall a wonderful read for me. I would definitely read more books by this

This one took me a bit to get into. The narrator switching back and forth between Margaret & Augusta was awkward and sometimes confusing. Soon my mind fell into the ebb & flow of the narrative and I was hooked. I will definitely be recommending this book to friends who enjoy historical fiction - especially regarding witchcraft, wisewomen & the northeast.

There is mystery surrounding Margaret Harlowe. A mystery that continues 150 years passed her death, a mystery that pulls Augusta Podos in so deep, she may not escape it.

Well written, and spooky.
I love alternating view chapters. And I LOVE alternating timeline chapters.
A fast read, but was left with some unanswered questions.

I haven't read Hester Fox before although I had obviously seen her books. I was intrigued by the concept of this one, and really enjoyed the way it started. I found the curatorial aspects of Augusta's job fascinating, although her personal life was a hot mess and I quickly became irritated with her and everyone around her.

Margaret's story was more interesting to me, but still waxed and waned in ways that I found uneven and that disrupted the pacing of my read. This characteristic definitely carried through with the Augusta sections of the book also. I would read furiously for a while, thoroughly engaged in the story, then find myself floundering and irritated and not really sure why the story was going in the direction it was. It made staying with the book difficult and I stopped and started it a number of times.

Overall it was fine, but not really for me. There was a little more romance and light fluffiness than I expected, and less focus on the fantasy and witchcraft angles...

I was mot expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did, but found it perfect to break away from my normal genre! Beautifully written, with amazing character development and exquisite world building! Felt like it had a bit of everything; love, magic, and much more! Will definitely keep those whom live fantasy and historical fiction reading through this exciting world! Cannot recommend enough!

<b> Thanks to Netgalley and HARLEQUIN Trade Publishing for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.</b>

Hester Fox and her witchy tales are not to be overlooked or missed. In <i>The Lullaby of Witches</i>, she gives her readers two strong willed protagonists- Margaret and Augusta. Augusta is living with a boyfriend that she is struggling to maintain a relationship with but finds herself with an interesting new job. Exploring the mysterious Margaret and her connection to the historical house where Augusta works. But what Augusta does not realize is that Margaret is an unsettled spirit and she has her eyes on Augusta.
Although not on bookstore shelves until February, I was eager to get reading my ARC as soon as I could. Once you open a Hester Fox novel, you cannot help but feel that the spirit world is all around. That’s certainly the atmosphere that I find time and time again and I cannot wait until the next read!

Publication Date 01/02/22
Goodreads review published 08/01/22

This book was simply excellent! I'm so happy I got to read a copy through NetGalley- this story was exactly what I needed. It had romance, a gorgeous storytelling style, magic, and historical fiction woven into an adventurous tale. Definitely a must-read for someone who likes all those things, especially all together!!

This novel has a tale of two women from different timelines one present-day one in the 1870s. Margaret Harlowe is the daughter of a wealthy family who secretly uses magic to service the women in the town when they need help. Then the same women snub her when they see her in town, She is an outcast in her town. The other woman is Augusta Podos is unhappy in her life when she comes across her dream job to work in the Harlowe House which is a museum in the present-day timeline. This is where the stories start to connect and we get to know these women better and learn more about the town. Some great mysteries are discovered in this book and it is definitely hard to put down.

Told in dual timelines with Augusta in the current time period, and Margaret in the late 1800s, A Lullaby for Witches uses a loose genetic connection to explain what happened to the daughter of Harlowe House. I love a good ghost story, but this one didn’t keep me thrilled on the edge of my seat (I leave that to Simone St. James’ books). Other reviewers have referred to this as a cozy, and I’d have to agree. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it! Because I absolutely did! I love that Augusta found her confidence and inner strength and went after what she wanted. It didn’t happen over night, so it was all the more satisfying when she asserted herself. And Leo was an absolute delight (as was his mother, Ellen). But I hope that Hester Fox can bring a touch more of the creeps/chills into her next book.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

"Something sinister unfurls from its sleep, a dark power that binds one woman to the other across lines of blood and time."

Hints of creepy and sinister, right? It has the layout for a great gothic story but disappointingly didn't come to fruition and felt more of a quick YA romance cosy. Not much depth to the story and characters. I liked debut book The Witch of Willow Hall but this one missed its mark.

2.25☆