The blurb and the gorgeous cover made me request this ARC, the brilliant plot kept me hooked.
I think that women are bringing back South American literature and Brenda Lozano did an excellent job in delivering this fascinating story that mixes tradition, magic realism, politics, and a pinch of paranormal.
It’s a story of different women: a curandera, a Muxe, a journalist and their voices tells their story letting us know how they face the pros and cons of their position in a society that can love or despise them.
Feliciana was my favorite character and I learned something new about an ancient tradition. Ms Lozano did an excellent job in developing these women and giving them a distinct voice.
It was a fascinating and riveting read, strongly recommended.
Many thanks to MacLehose Press and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Set in Mexico this book speaks of the differing experiences of Feliciana a traditional healer, and Zoe a journalist. Paloma was the one who taught Feliciana the art of healing and when Paloma is murdered, the two women come together to tell their stories of how things came to be.

Although this book was an interesting read culturally, I found that it became confusing as the two women's dialogue went back and forth, perhaps also due to the the translation.

Paloma was unique. She fought against the grain. Paloma she was both revered and despised because she refused to conform to Mexican cultural ideals and the expectations of the identify of her gender. Paloma was referred to as a Muxe, a third gender: male at birth and dress and living as a woman, and practicing the role of a curandero, a male healer. Before she died, Paloma taught Feliciana everything she knew about healing, and Feliciana was devastated by Paloma’s death. Feliciana was also a very strong woman and sure of her identity as a healer. Feliciana tells Zoe, a reporter, about her life and the struggles she faced in becoming a healer, where traditionally all healers were men. We are also given a glimpse into Zoe’s story as well. Zoe is a young journalist from Mexico City, who grew up in the shadows of her sister Leandra. It is her meeting and interviewing Feliciana that sparks the moment where Zoe began to question and reflect on her own life and how the social expectations shaped her values and life decisions.
Initially I thought that this book was narrated by one person, when in fact it is narrated by two women: Feliciana and Zoe. I wonder that if the note found at the end by the translator would have been better placed at the start of the book? It did not spoil the story buy provided great context to the Oaxaca and Muxe culture. Sometimes translations of books can put parts of a book into a different context. This is what could have made that differentiation between Feliciana's story and Zoe’s story more discrete, especially when they spoke about Paloma and having more of an explanation of Mexican and Oaxacan culture would have strengthen the story.
The book feels like diary entries, more than a story, of someone recollecting key moments in a life history. There are staggered sentences, so every short and abrupt. The dialogue is not written as conversation. And some lines and thoughts are repeated over again in the same paragraph - is this the laying of a foundation for the story Feliciana is telling Zoe? Are we slowly given more details as the story is repeated? Is this more about the oral history and the life work of a healer, a curnandera? That in itself is a captivating topic to read about.

This book is narrated by two women. It’s told from the perspective of Feliciana and Zoe. Feliciana is a traditional healer who has been advised by Paloma whose death devestates her. Prior to being Paloma she used to be a man named Gasper who was a traditional healer. Prior to being murdered Paloma taught Feliciana everything she knew about ceremonies and healing with the language and the book that unlocks their secrets. Zoe is a reporter sent to report on Paloma’s murder. Feliciana tells Zoe her story and how she struggled to become a traditional healer when before her all the traditional healers had been male. Zoe also tells her own story. This book has been translated into English from the language it was written in which at times made it hard to read as it didn’t always make perfect sense. However I would recommend it. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in advance in exchange for my honest review and opinions.

Curanderas heal people’s present and future by treating what they have gone through in the past. It was not always accepted for women to perform these healing tasks as the curanderos (note the male ending) of old did. There are many rules and traditions to observe. Paloma – the one who was reportedly murdered – stopped being a curandera when she chose to spend time with men over performing healing ceremonies. Moreover, Paloma is a Muxe, a third gender recognized among the Zapotec peoples of Oaxaca that is used for people who are assigned male at birth but who dress and behave as women. The gender distinction and assumptions have been retained as much as possible in the translation.

Witch / Bruja / Curandera

The whole concept of what a curandera is and does is explained in sufficient detail so that you can easily understand the story. You read about the use of mushrooms and herbs for healing, about people coming from far away to seek out a curandera for healing, and how the curandera in question is not interested in things outside her world. She doesn’t speak Spanish or English, nor is she interested in luxury. She is confident in the way she lives her life.

Two writing styles

The writing style of Feliciana’s section takes some getting used to because it is written in a way that makes it seem as if she has been interviewed. Shorter sentences are combined into longer ones and there is no formatted dialogue. Thoughts and events are repeated many times. To a reader, it feels as if she is rambling. The story goes back and forth as the same events are told multiple times, each time adding a new detail to the story. Brenda Lozana takes her inspiration from the life of a healer who lived in the late 19th century. Zoe’s story is more conventional and easier to read. It doesn’t take long before you see similarities between the people in their lives.

This is not an easy book for me to review. On the one hand, I am interested in the lives of the people involved and the parallels that are drawn. On the other hand, the writing style used for Feliciana’s chapters never appeals to me in books. As a result, the first half of the book took me quite a while to get through. Once I had a clear picture of the setting, including family ties and timeline, I began to look more closely at the story and the comparison between the two narratives.

There’s power in the present

Feliciana’s strong sense of identity is evident in the way she tells her story. She seems to be a pillar of strength; this makes her account interesting. The strength she shows sticks with you. Her story continues and she matures. Zoe’s journey lingers more in the past: her dreams don’t evolve as much and her sister’s life seems to concern her more than her own. This is only natural because she is younger at the end of the book.

In the first half of the book, you feel like you are still in the part where the author sets the scene, but then you find out that this is the actual story. There is no linear progress between the past, present and future. After reading the synopsis, you can just forget about Paloma’s murder and concentrate on the strengths and weaknesses of the narrators. It is also worth noting the cultural contrasts and how gender is embedded in the culture. The contrasts between the characters, from their communication styles to the way they live their lives, are as prominent as the parallels that can be drawn between certain characters and events.

At the end you will find a note from the translator that I would have liked to read before the book itself. Quoting translator Heather Cleary: “Witches is an exploration of the many ways that women and gender non-comforming individuals are marginalised in our hetero-normative patriarchy.”

Loved this! So memorable and unique.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

The novel is set in Mexico and we have two points of view. That of Feliciana, a curandera or healer, who lives in a rural area and speaks the indigineous language of her ancestors, and that of Zoe, a young journalist. The two come together when Zoe goes to interview Feliciana after the murder of her cousin Paloma.

At first glimpse, a reader might imagine that this is just going to be an interview, but it is a lot more than that. Feliciana talks of her life, her struggle to be accepted as her community's curandera as this is traditionally a male role. She talks of her cousin Paloma, a healer also, but also a Muxe, or transgender - one of Oaxaca's accepted third gender. Zoe describes her life, her childhood and her relationship with her sister Leandra as well as her struggle to be journalist in a male dominated workplace. And, as each tells their story you begin to see parallels between the two women.

This is a novel that explores the questions of growing up in a patriarchal society, the question of belonging, gender and identity but the exploration is delicate. No forceful statements, but almost silently revealed, like Feliciana's visions.

Personally, I preferred reading Feliciana's sections more than Zoe's and Feliciana's voice, her way of telling her story with its repetitions and its switching backwards and forwards in time is lyrical. The descriptions of the ceremonies had me wanting more. Although I could see that Zoe's story was just a relevant to the whole, I found her almost two dimensional. Feliciana leapt off the page.

A side-note. At the back the translator writes about how and why she kept some of the author's terms in their original form and - as there are no spoilers - it might be worth reading this before starting the novel.

A fascinating read. Thank you Netgalley and Quercus Books for allowing me to read this.

If I was to describe Brenda Lozano’s “Witches” I’d say it’s a social commentary on Mexican society as well as a sort of family chronicle. I don’t know much about Mexico and I thought the insights in another culture was interesting and refreshing and something I enjoyed. I also think you could perhaps put this in a sort of folklore-ish genre, as elements of traditional healing – curandera/o – is a big part of the plot.

I wanted to like this more than I ended up doing. However. The switch of narrative between Feliciana and Zoe was very confusing. It took me maybe five chapters to realise that the story was told from two different perspectives. There are too many characters are being dropped throughout the story. If I have to draw a family tree and constantly look back at my notes to get the plot something is lacking. A lot of time of me reading was put into trying to connect the characters and their relation to one another rather than reading the story and grasping the smaller details and really unlocking the story.

I enjoyed this book, I thought it was well written with a good storyline that was infused with subtle themes and well developed characters that I liked for different reasons. This wasnt a gripping, I can't put it down novel but in some ways it wouldnt have worked if it had been written like that. An enjoyable read overall.

The subject matter is interesting, I wis I could have gotten through it – but the way it was written made me feel like I was forcing myself through.

Which isn't a feeling I particularly enjoy when reading.

Many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC.

Witches is a novel about two very different women in Mexico, when a murder brings them together. Feliciana lives in a small village with her family, where she's fought to be accepted as a healer, whilst Zoe lives in Mexico City, where she ended up a journalist. When Feliciana's cousin Paloma, who is Muxe (trans), is murdered, Feliciana and Zoe end up telling each other their stories, describing their lives and how they got to where they are.

This book paints an interesting picture of different perspectives on Mexico, gender, and tradition, using the two different narrative voices to counterpoint each other. I found Feliciana's chapters more compelling, which can be the issue with books split between two points of view if they're not evenly balanced, and I would've read more about her world and Paloma's. Zoe's story was fine, but didn't stand out as much (her sister was perhaps a more interesting character). I also found that the way both narratives jumped in time sometimes wasn't clear, but it did add to the sense of them telling their stories.

There's an interesting note from the translator at the end, but I would've perhaps preferred it at the start of the book, as it can be really useful when reading a book in translation to know about some of the translation choices first. I did wonder at times if I was missing things by not reading it in Spanish, especially around some of the style of Feliciana's story (which, in the book, is already meant to have gone through an interpreter) and the ways she referred to Paloma.

I liked this book and its concept and characters, though the split narrative didn't always work for me, as I wanted to know more about Paloma and Muxe, and about Feliciana's life.

Award-winning writer Brenda Lozano here juxtaposes the experiences of two Mexican women born in different centuries, brought together by a murder, Zoe and Feliciana. Feliciana’s character’s rooted in the actual life of Maria Sabina Magdalena Garcia a Oaxacan curandera (healer) born at the end of the nineteenth century, who lived through revolution and periods of enormous social upheaval yet remained true to the traditions of her ancestors. Her ritualistic use of hallucinogenic mushrooms drawn from the local hillsides brought her international fame, profiled in Time magazine and visited by academics and celebrities including Prince and, reputedly, Bob Dylan. Like Maria Sabina, Feliciana’s a curandera who’s both embraced and rejected her heritage, taking on the role of healer to perform ceremonies usually reserved for the curandero i.e. men. She tells her story to Zoe, a young journalist from Mexico City, a woman whose inability to break free of social expectations has caused her to live vicariously through the actions of her more rebellious sister Leandra, but whose encounter with Feliciana causes her to reflect on her own attitudes and values.

The women’s voices alternate throughout but setting’s as significant as people here. Feliciana lives in rural Oaxaca, a region whose relative isolation and rugged geography has contributed to the survival of pre-colonial beliefs, customs, and languages. There’s a timelessness to her sections, a sense that the contemporary world is a distraction at best. Zoe has grown up steeped in outside forms of cultural expression drawn from American media, from The Simpsons onwards. Feliciana who can neither read or write, has rejected Spanish, the ” government’s tongue,” speaking instead through the indigenous language forms of her family and community, using interpreters to communicate with outside visitors. This is highlighted in Lozanos’s rendering of Feliciana’s chapters which are marked by an emphasis on orality, the rhythms of her speech both lyrical and elliptical, in contrast to Zoe’s more direct, conventional voice.

Feliciana’s narrative’s filled with references to her cousin Paloma, whose brutal death’s the catalyst for her encounter with Zoe. Paloma was Muxe, the third gender recognised by Oaxaca’s indigenous Zapotec population. Like many other Muxe Paloma’s status was liminal, although not strictly ostracised, she was celebrated by some, reviled by others, for her refusal to conform to rigid notions of gender identity or heteronormativity. Once a curandera, Paloma declared herself a bruja, a witch who revelled in her growing notoriety. She’s paralleled in Lozano’s plot by Zoe’s sister Leandra, queer, iconoclastic and politically radical, she’s everything Zoe’s not.

Through Zoe and Feliciano, Lozano’s novel explores key aspects of Mexican culture and society: issues of belonging and gender identity, forms of patriarchal oppression and the violent legacy of colonialism. But she does so in a remarkably understated fashion, her book unfolds at an exceptionally leisurely pace, and although it opens with Paloma’s murder there’s no sense of narrative tension connected to exploring and solving the nature of this crime. If anything, this is more a feminist study in character, place and ways of living. Feliciana’s sections are suffused with mystical elements, that I sometimes found hard to relate to, but even so were more compelling and convincing than Zoe’s contributions. This lack of balance was a problem for me overall, Feliciana words had a strength and power lacking in Zoe’s, who seemed almost extraneous for much of the time. I was fascinated though by Lozano’s depiction of Oaxaca’s traditional communities, although I wished she’d delved into Muxe culture in greater depth. However, translator Heather Cleary’s afterword was incredibly useful for filling in aspects of the social and cultural background of Lozano’s text, and sufficiently spoiler free to make it worth reading first.