The Women Could Fly was a difficult read for me. I started reading it right on the heels of the overturning of Roe V. Wade. At the time I didn't realize how difficult that historic event would make this book feel. I was not in the right head space.

Needless to say I finally finished it and I am very conflicted. I really loved the open-ended nature in which the book finished and for the most part the second part of the book was the stronger section for me.

The Women Could Fly centers on our main character Josephine. When she was younger her mom went missing. Now years later in order to fulfill the wishes of her mother's will she embarks on a journey to a remote island.
The setting of the Women Could Fly is largely and sadly reminiscent of our current times or at least our near future. As women approach the age of thirty they must self identify as witches and lose all right or be under the care of a man, preferably a husband who will make all decisions for you.

Giddings masterfully uses the persecution of witches as a parallel and commentary of the oppression of women, people of color, and the LGBTQIA+ community

It is a heavy book dealing with heavy topics akin to the Handmaid's tale if the Handmaid's tale actually acknowledged the LGBTQIA+ community and people of color.

This book will not be for everyone. The narrative has a disjointed nature and the plot moves at a snail pace.
Great book for lovers of literary fiction.

In this world, witches are real and that of course terrifies men who legislate everything they can to control and stifle their power.

In a life defining moment, Jo's mom went missing when she was a young teen. She's spent most of her life wondering where she could be, what happened to her. Jo is left questioning whether many experiences really ever happened or were just her imaginings with no one left to confirm the details.

Finally she and her dad decided enough was enough and decided to declare her officially dead and move on with their lives, but then her will set's Jo on a quest that will flip and twist her world even further.

Spoilery spoilery after this.

I was loving the intrigue and magic of this until about halfway through. I don't know if it's just because Jo's mom is hitting me personally as a terrible person or the bizarre things on the island but the magic (ironically) fell out for me from that point.

I feel the same way about this book as I did the authors previous novel 'Lakewood"... the premise is so promising and there's nothing WRONG with the writing, but something about the execution doesn't transfer to me. I feel like the author has such strong ideas but I finish the novels thinking... "that's it?" I never felt connected to the characters despite spending so much time with them and the plot itself just never kept me engaged. I do think this book will find it's audience, just wasn't a hit for me.

This one has left me feeling a bit melancholy because so much of it is rooted in problems that exist in our real life. While Giddings uses the persecution of witches as a way in it is commentary of the oppression of women, people of color, and people in the LGBTQ community. And this isn't hidden it is showcased right along with the persecution of Witches, which is the the persecution of everyone who isn't a straight white male.

This is a labeled as a dystopian novel but it is our current reality.

I absolutely love stories about witches and this was no exception. But it is literary fiction. And the writing is choppy like in a lot of literary works. So, I don't think this book will be for everyone. But if you like literary works and slow burns then I think you'll love this book. Especially, if you love dissecting books.

It is heavy and magical. It will anger you and make you laugh. It will make you nod your head in understanding and shake your head at the absurdity.

Don't sleep on this one.

The premise intrigued me, but I found the story too slow. It just didn’t pull me in, so I decided to DNF at 39%

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

The Women Could Fly is a unique story and one that is hard for me to review and get a grasp on for some reason that I don’t yet understand. On the surface, it is about Josephine whose mother left them years ago and Josephine often wonders what happened to her. Rumors persist and swirl that her mother was a witch, which is illegal in the world in which they live. The State also demands that women marry by 30 or submit to ongoing monitoring. Josephine is nearing 30 and is not ready to marry or lose her freedoms, so she tries to piece her past together and find out what happened to her mother.
The story shifts in time between past and present and at times it may be slightly confusing on what timeline the reader is in, but even in those moments, the timelines become clear quickly. I am a fan of dystopian fiction so that element of the plot lured me in, but I found it wasn’t quite as dystopian as maybe I would have thought upfront. The characterization is compelling and you do feel for Josephine as the story develops. Interwoven throughout is social commentary on many issues facing our society, including, racism, misogyny, homophobia, etc. the social commentary never become too pedantic however and did not distract from the plot.
I wanted to like this book more, but something didn’t quite click for me. The plot was engaging, the characters compelling, and the writing sharp and tight, I just didn’t love it the way I wanted to. However, there is definitely an audience that will devour this book and will rave about it. I can appreciate all the positive qualities this book has to offer, even if I was left feeling underwhelmed!

Thank you to NetGalley for an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Giddings’ novel, “The Women Could Fly” launches readers into the perspective of 28 year old protagonist, Josephine who grapples with her mother’s mysterious disappearance. Josephine lives in a reality where witches are burned, magic is evil, and being single at 30 is punishable by the government. She must come to terms with the loss of her mother, but in the will is one remaining quest for her. Josephine’s life is turned upside down on an adventure to an unknown island to fulfill her mother’s requests. Giddings flaunts her meticulous craftsmanship with her expansive and eloquent prose. Her diction is laced with unapologetic social commentary, quick-witted punch lines, and quotable passages that demand the reader to think outside the box. This novel features bisexual, lesbian, and POC representation. Giddings’ words are especially topical when she details topics such as race, sexuality, women’s rights, and more. She is shameless in calling out men for their privilege and the text seamlessly transitions into today’s political occurrences. Many readers will be able to relate to Josephine’s inner turmoil with her parental relationships and her coinciding feelings of abandonment throughout the storyline. I disliked some of the side characters, but I did enjoy looking through the lens of Josephine and her grief. I found some of the plot to be slightly predictable, but I don’t think that it tarnishes the work’s structural integrity as a whole to the point of distraction. If you like anything witchy, with LGBTQ+ representation, fantastical storylines, or dystopian world-building then this is definitely the book for you!

HIGHLIGHTS
~one of the best takes on magic I have ever seen
~these spirits slap
~what if it was the law for women to marry by 30?
~absolutely ALL the Feels
~The Handmaid’s Tale < THIS BOOK

Writing this review is going to be difficult for a number of reasons – I have a lot of Feels that are going to be hard to put into words; The Women Could Fly deals with a number of difficult themes that deserve to be commented upon thoughtfully; and of course, it’s a book about a Black queer woman experiencing that combination of racism and misogyny and queerphobia that I, the whitest of white snowflakes, have only an academic understanding of.

But also, I have almost no notes for this review. Because after the first chapter, I couldn’t put the book down long enough to write any!

That should give you an immediate idea of how compulsively readable The Women Could Fly is.

Jo lives in a USA where witches exist, and to be convicted of witchcraft often still means being burnt at the stake. Witches are evil; witches are powerful; and witches are women. Witches are especially often BIPOC women, because the ‘baser natures’ of non-whites makes them more susceptible to the call of the Devil. Or something.

(I don’t say ‘or something’ with the implication that Giddings hasn’t done her worldbuilding; I mean that it’s the kind of crap that racists and misogynists always spout, the kind of thing that is full of holes and falls apart the moment you apply critical thinking to it. It’s baseless and awful and rage-inducing, and hi, no, this book is not going to be good for your blood pressure.)

This is a USA in which sex ed consists of young men being told it’s their holy duty to keep the women in their lives away from the path of evil, and where young women are encouraged to spy on each other, to keep a watchful eye out for any signs that one of their peers might be a witch. It’s a USA in which women must be married by 30 to retain any form of independence – which, of course, isn’t real independence, because it all hinges on a (cishet) man who could take it away from you in an instant. And if you’re not married by the big three-oh, the government very much wants to know why, and you will be registered, and it just gets uglier from there.

Jo is 28, the point at which unmarried women have to start doing quarterly check-ins with the Bureau of Witchcraft. Coworkers are starting to give her weird looks; her family keeps dropping heavy-handed hints. Sure, she has Preston, but that’s really more a friends-with-benefits relationship – and anyway, how the hell is she supposed to love anybody enough to marry them when she has to? Doesn’t that kind of pressure make it impossible? If you need to marry someone to retain your basic human rights, how can you tell if you love them at all – or if you’re just giving in because you need them? How can you love someone you need that badly, for those reasons? And even if you do – how can that love not turn into seriously toxic resentment?

Jo is struggling with all of this when the most up-to-date version of her missing – presumed dead – mother’s will is finally found. It turns out that she left Jo a lot of money. But to claim it, Jo needs to visit a small island in Lake Superior on a specific date – and if she misses it, she’ll have to wait seven years for another chance.

Also, she needs to take a specific old doll with her when she goes.

It’s extremely weird, but Jo’s mom was known for being ‘different’ – which here just means, having her own interests and being passionate and outspoken about them. Being her own person within herself, rather than defining herself in relation to her husband and daughter.

But all of that made it very easy, when she then disappeared, for people to accuse her of being a witch. As her daughter (and, let’s be real, as a Black girl) kid!Jo was dragged into the Bureau and interrogated for days with questions that would be hilarious if they weren’t so sickening: did your mother eat babies, did she make you eat a baby, did she lead you to make a pact with the Devil? It’s kind of ironic – Jo’s mom thought witches were a hoax, that the whole system was just set up to control women – but reading the scenes were Jo remembers those days of interrogation was viscerally horrifying.

And then there’s the island.

But we can’t talk about the island. You’re going to have to read the book yourself, to learn about the island.

The Women Could Fly was an interesting book in so many ways for me, but the most immediately obvious one was: this doesn’t read like a fantasy novel. It has witches and witchcraft, sure, and it’s set in a lookalike of our modern world, but there’s no way you could shelve it under Urban Fantasy. It reads like literary fiction – when I requested it on Netgalley, it was categorised as General Fiction (Adult) and Multicultural Interest, not Sci Fi & Fantasy like the rest of my reads. And I admit, I was worried about that – I’m a SFF not-girl all the way; General Fiction is not my wheelhouse.

But this would not have worked – not as well, not in the ways that it did, not nearly so powerfully – had it been written like a SFF novel. The Women Could Fly needed to be General Fiction, and folx, I have never said that before and do not expect to ever say it again. I am not nearly well-versed enough in general/literary fiction to be able to put this into words, to explain it in technical terms, but the gen-fic style was exactly what this story needed, and the execution is – pun fully intended – magical.

I LOVED this book. Loved it. Loved it loved it LOVED IT. It’s clever and incisive and demands answers, it’s frank and open and surprising, it is inherently curious and angry and passionate, gods is it passionate. The Women Could Fly is one of those books that makes you FEEL things – so much frustration and outright rage on behalf of the protagonist and people like her; delight and awe and wonder at what her mother’s will leads her to. It definitely deserves its comparisons to Handmaid’s Tale, but personally, I think The Women Could Fly is not just more interesting, it’s objectively better than Handmaid’s Tale. #sorrynotsorry. It’s definitely more relevant, more up-to-date on the ongoing conversations about race and sex, privilege and prejudice.

And it’s queer as fuck, which is always better than not.

I can already predict that this book will not be everyone’s cup of tea. Some people are going to accuse it of being too social-justice-y. To which I say: fuck off. I’m not going to pretend I know what being Black is like, but Jo’s feelings and experiences on being a woman (or perceived as one, in my case) and queer? Are absolutely on-point. This book does not preach and it does not whine; it’s just honest about what it’s like to live in a society that still won’t accept those things as normal, that is still suspicious of them. The confusion, the contradictions, the anger, the fear, the worry, the joy: all of it is just…true.

That’s why it hits so hard.

And lest Giddings be accused of conflating sex and gender in the case of witches are women; no, my friends. No. Pretty much the first thing The Women Could Fly does is ask why witchcraft is tied to cis women; to point out that gender is a spectrum and, in Jo’s world, witchcraft is used as a stick with which to beat queer cis men and nonbinary people too. Witchcraft is tied to cis womanhood only because The Man refuses to acknowledge that the rest of us even exist, but woe betide us if we do come to his attention. Many states in Jo’s America have laws that tie gay men to witchcraft too…even while insisting that only women can do magic.

It’s the kind of nonsense that we’re all used to hearing from the fundamentalist Right, are we not?

I don’t know if Giddings intended it, but this aspect of The Women Could Fly reads – to me, at least – as a much-needed critique of real-world witchcraft, which to this day still puts cis women on a plinth in way too many spaces that, coincidentally I’m sure, have no room for nonbinary folx. (Wicca, I am looking at you.) Making it clear that magic does not belong solely to cis women is majorly important to me, and I’m massively grateful that Giddings made it extra-clear that anyone who wants to be a witch can – although I’ll grant you, with the Bureau of Witchcraft to deal with, you’d have to want it very badly.

Speaking of: I absolutely adored the magic in this book, the way Giddings conceived of it and the way in which it works. I love that magic is fundamentally tied to community, that it needs to be worked collectively rather than by the individual. Honestly, I’d really love to write an essay about all the ways in which that single fact – magic means people working together – can be interpreted; the meaning in it, the symbolism, the metaphor of it. Working together, we can change worlds: YES! Hells yes, that is so much cooler than one single badass sorceress character; that is so much more meaningful, so much more beautiful.

Gah, I have so many FEELS!

But yes: even aside from the communal aspect, the magic Giddings has created is simply perfect. I cannot stand ‘hard’ magic systems, where magic is more like Maths; I want magic that feels magical, strange and breathtaking and gorgeous, weird and wonderful, and Giddings more than delivers. Everything about the witches, witchcraft, and magic sent me into paroxysms of delight, okay?

Okay.

I will reiterate: I loved this book. No: I LOVE this book, present-tense.

And you absolutely, positively, simply MUST read it for yourself.

As difficult as this book was to read given everything that is currently going on regarding women's rights in the US, I highly recommend it. Everyone who thinks Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is the end-all, be-all of dystopian women's fiction, should read this book immediately. Giddings has built a world that feels fantastical, yet disturbingly realistic at the same time. She is a master and I can't wait to pick up whatever she writes next.

"Anything can make sense to a person as long as it helps them feel as powerful as they want to feel."

The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings is a speculative fiction novel that focuses on the life of a young woman named Josephine Thomas whose mother disappeared when she was a teenager. In Josephine's world, women must be careful not to exhibit behavior withat would get them accused of witchcraft and are expected to be married by the age of 30. If they do not marry by 30 they are required to register with their city so they can be tracked and monitored everywhere they go. Once Josephine's mother is declared deceased, she discovers instructions in her will that takes her on a journey full of new revelations and self-discovery.

As a fan of the dystopian fiction genre, I enjoyed this story overall and found it very relevant to the real-world experiences of women today, especially with the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade. In one part of the book when the main character attends a protest, it's mentioned that activists held signs that read "Why are women more regulated than guns?", which is something that many Americans have been asking recently as we continue to watch news stories about mass shootings that seem to occur every week.

In addition to the pertinency of this novel's subject matter, I thought it was very well-written with dynamic, believable characters and an easy to follow plot. I did feel that the pacing slowed down significantly after Jo's return home from her time away. but I still felt engaged and eager to know how her situation would unfold. I was very satisifed with the ending and was left feeling satisfied and hopeful.

Thank you NetGalley and Amidstad Books for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up. Would recommend to people who enjoy surrealism and don't mind sort of loose worldbuilding, also people who enjoyed Lakewood, Giddings' first novel. This book is also VERY similar to WHEN WOMEN WERE DRAGONS, if you enjoyed that one and want more like it.

This book is really unique and I really liked that concept of the book. I think I would of liked the book more as an audio book but I really liked the main character Jo.

Source: DRC via NetGalley (Amistad)
Pub. Date: August 9, 2022
Synopsis: Goodreads

Why did I choose to read this book?

WITCHES!!!!! No seriously, this book is commentary about how single women are monitored and judged and I can’t wait to see all the ways this book rips.

What is this book about?

If you have an irritating friend who can only think to reference Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale when they are talking about how society imprisons and controls women, please tell them to shut up and read this book to broaden their horizons. This book is about how society, through policy and peer pressure, forces women into marriage and into having children and making it impossible for them to do anything from travel alone to have a credit card without the backing of some kind of male sponsor.

Also there are witches.

What is notable about the story?

The way women are controlled in this book is so…I’m not even sure how I want to say this…sneaky? It’s like, you can live single until you are thirty, but if you aren’t married by then you have to register as a single woman and prove that you have a male figure who can sponsor you and vouch for you and you have to check in with your case handler once a week like you’re on parole or something AND on top of all of that you have to behave perfectly to everyone or else you could be accused of being a witch, and once that happens well…I mean we all know what happens.

You can feel the noose closing around your throat as you read this book. Society makes marriage seem appealing as an alternative to being single, but then are you married because you want to be or are you married because it’s easier, and is it a partnership when all your decisions have to be cosigned by your husband? Is it love of was it just the lesser of two evils? This book was legit scary, but in the most banal way possible.

Also there are witches. I mean, I keep saying this, but honestly the heart of the story is escaping this nightmare and less about being an honest to goodness witch. But they’re in there, and they are captivating, but that’s not the central feeling/theme you’ll walk away with after reading this one.

Was anything not so great?

The Women Could Fly did not have the greatest ending. It was so awesome the whole time and then it was like it disappeared in a puff of smoke. I was left hoping that this was one in a duology or trilogy, that maybe I had missed something. You don’t get to find out what happens next, and I needed to see what happened next to feel closure.

What’s the verdict?

It was so good the entire way that it earned 4 stars on Goodreads, if only for the lack of a satisfying ending. The day Goodreads allows for half stars will be epic, because then I can come back here and rate it 3.5/5.

I’m serious though, if you need a different way of saying “THIS IS HOW IT COULD BE” other than simply saying “A Handmaid’s Tale” over and over again, check this book out. It’s more recent and more likely. A worthy library borrow.

It's not a good time to be a woman in a place where women's lives are controlled by the possibility of being accused of being a witch. It doesn't take much; a disgruntled husband, neighbor, or boss, a jealous co-worker and then the nightmare begins.

Josephine is nearing 30, the age where unmarried women must register with the State and begin intrusive monitoring. She has been on the State's radar since her odd mother disappeared 14 years earlier and assumed to be a witch. Her mother's will makes an unusual request, setting Josephine on a life changing journey. This is where things really get interesting. The Women Could Fly was an interesting 3* read for me up until that glorious ending! I am now a Megan Giddings fan.

I received a drc from the publisher via Netgalley.
Expected publication date is 8-9-22.

Interesting and well written I just personally couldn’t get into the story. Just a little slow and unbelievable at some points. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A present day dystopia where women can be tried and convicted as witches that focuses on a woman and her complicated relationship with her missing mother.

Imagine if the Salem Witch Trials never ended and instead just transitioned and morphed with time to create a modern society that still aims to control and harm women. Welp! That’s this book.

The Women Could Fly takes place in a dystopian world that is eerily familiar except for the fact that witches are real and of course the government seeks to regulate them as harshly as they do in real current times with women’s bodies.

In this story, no woman is truly free. Or are there some who have escaped and found a way to be their true magical selves, away from the society that seeks to confine and control them?

The way this strange fictional book mirrors our world and was able to reflect our current times gave me chills. In this version of our reality, women are expected to be married to a man by the time they are 30 or face the consequences. They must conform to societal standards that the government has set for them, or else.
*fuuuuck, right?*

The witch and magic aspect added some needed intrigue and interest to the storyline as the main character, Josephine, seeks to find her mother who disappeared years ago and gain closure as well as come to terms with her future and what she is willing to accept.

I enjoyed the fantasy element that is at play all while deeper messages about womanhood and our country are explored along with topics of race and sexuality.

I want to give this a 4 star for tackling some important topics and for having moments of pretty prose, but it was a book that was hard for me to want to pick up at times and the ending felt forced and needed something additional, so I think it’s more of a 3.5/5 rounded up to 4 for this review.

Make sure you check out this feminist fantasy book when it’s published August 9th! It would make for a great choice for book club discussions.

I absolutely loved this book. The story kept me interested and up all night. Looking forward to more by this brilliant author.

Not for me. I felt they the writing style was too much lacking in emotion from the narrator and I guess it was just not what I was expecting from the description. I didn’t like any of the characters in the book, and there was just no point where it ever grabbed me. Had to muddle through this one and basically skimmed the last 2/3rds to get done with it. Underwhelming.

This book certainly has an agenda - but the fact that it was clearly written before Roe vs Wade was overturned shows just how prescient Megan Giddings was in writing this alternate reality where women have even fewer rights than they do in our current world.

Witches are real...just like during the Salem Witch Trials! Or, are they actually real? Society sure seems to think that Witches are real...and mostly Black or Brown. And it all happens prior to age 28 somehow....

Josephine lost her mother as a teenager when she disappeared into the night. Now as a Black woman who is also BI, she's butting up against the registration requirement of her 28th birthday. She's found a guy she's actually interested in, and the legal declaration of death of her mother has necessitated a trip to Michigan in order to claim her inheritance.

The story that follows is not what you expect, And it is utterly worth the read. There are so many questions and not enough answers. SO GOOD>