Weyward is not for the faint of heart. It is a story of brutality against women spanning across hundreds of years and affecting Weyward women. I’ve no doubt that Weyward is a play on words, for these women do not follow convention, thus making them wayward in the eyes of society. They are much more than that and everything they’re seen as simultaneously. The book is horrific and hypnotizing, the prose melodious, and the characters unique. It will, if readers can stand to muddle through the heartbreak of it, will leave an indelible mark.

I feel like Weyward is very similar to Practical Magic in that it tells of several generations of witches and their struggles, with a place to tie them all together and help them come into their power. They suffer trauma and violence at the hands of men, and use their innate magic and knowledge of the natural world to rid themselves of or torment their abusers. Weyward diverges from Practical Magic, however, in many things. If you come to this book expecting the sparkly, romcom, happy ever after of the latter, you will be disappointed. There is a dark cloud over the narrative. Each page builds a sense of foreboding and unease. It is not a comfortable novel to read.

Kate, Violet, and Altha all share a bloodline that comes with gifts that connect them to each other, the people they love, and the natural world surrounding them. Altha, in the 17th century, suffers abuse at the hands of the courts during a witch trial accusing her of bewitching cows that trampled a village man. Violet, a complete innocent must endure the apathy and disinterest of her father who seeks to marry her of to a horrible man. Kate, in the 21st century, must escape the prison of a relationship the may prove too harrowing for some readers. These women all converge on Weyward cottage, where they find their freedom and the strength to endure and pass their magic to the next generation.

I didn’t know what to expect from Weyward. I picked it up because the cover was beautiful and the synopsis cryptic and enticing. I did not expect to be enthralled by the storytelling despite the subject matter. The book deals very heavily with the abuse women suffer at the hands of terrible men, and in times when there was no legal support for them when they did. The violent encounters are very vividly described, and though I don’t usually issue content warnings, I will for this book. It may be disturbing for some. Read with discretion and caution.

I only had one drawback for this book. I feel Violet, as a sixteen-year-old in the 1940’s during World War II, would have been a bit more mature. Here, she’s written as though she were a small child. Her point of view read quite a bit like Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury.

I’ve been privileged to be reading some great books lately and Weyward is one of those books. In the story there are three timelines featuring women from the same family line. Set in England, the main part of the story takes place in a small village that is home to a grand family estate called Orton Hall and Weyward cottage, a small home nearby.

In 2019, Kate flees an abusive husband and finds refuge in Weyward cottage, a home that she inherited from her aunt Violet, whom she barely knew. Luckily Kate was wise enough to keep the inheritance from her husband, so he has no idea where she has gone.

In 1942, Violet is living in the family estate of Orton Hall, with a domineering father and a household staff that is secretive about her late mother. Violet is let to believe she died in childbirth, but no one will talk about her mother, which arouses Violet’s curiosity even more.

In 1619, Altha, a young woman with the gift of healing is put on trial for witchcraft. Altha keeps a record of her life and her healing methods and these records have been handed down through the generations of Weyward women.

When a tragedy occurs and Violet is cast out of Orton Hall, she is send to live at Weyward cottage. She soon learns to love the cottage and it is there that she discovers the history of her mother and the generations of women that came before her.

Like Violet, Kate makes some discoveries as well. As the story builds, Kate faces her greatest fear and proves how strong the bloodline of the Wayward line of women has become.

I really enjoyed reading this. It was one book I looked forward to reading each day. Highly recommend for historical fiction readers, those who love witchy stories and those with a penchant for family history.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advance review copy. I am happy to recommend this to readers and give my honest review.

People have always looked at the Weyward women askance. It might be because of their independence. It might be because they have an affinity for creepy crawlies. Whatever the reason, the Weyward women have had to be very careful to keep their freedom from men who want to possess them…or burn them as witches. Weyward, by Emilia Hart, shows us the lives of three women from this curious family as, centuries apart, find themselves fighting for their lives.

The earliest Weyward woman we meet is Altha who, in the chilly winter of 1619, finds herself on trial for witchcraft. When her old friend’s husband dies an apparently unnatural death, she is snatched from her home in Crows Beck and taken to Lancaster Castle. While her trial progresses, she thinks back to her mother and their efforts to heal the injured, the sick, and the laboring—as well as to her friendship with the girl (later woman) who asks her for help dealing with an abusive husband. Three hundred years later, we find Violet Ayres, the daughter of a Weyward woman who made a bad marriage to a local lordling before dying in somewhat mysterious circumstances. Violet fears her father and his efforts to mold her into a perfect (and mostly silent) young lady. At the age of 16, her father decides to matchmake for her, with disastrous results.

Another eighty-odd years after Violet, we see Kate Ayres as she flees an abusive boyfriend to the possibly safe harbor of her great-aunt Violet’s cottage in Crows Beck. Most of Weyward is told from Kate’s perspective as she settles into Weyward House, investigates her family’s past, and tries to come to terms with how that terrible boyfriend manipulated and beat her into his idea of a perfect woman. Plus, there’s the fact that Kate is pregnant. Kate is perhaps the most damaged of the Weyward women we meet. Unlike her ancestor, Altha, Kate doesn’t know what abilities she can draw on and lacks the knowledge the family had gathered. She doesn’t even have the social status or money of her great-aunt. Thankfully, she finds a well of inner strength that kick-starts her healing.

There are few good men in Weyward. Readers should be prepared to encounter a lot of belligerent, arrogant, and misogynistic men here. And much of Violet and Kate’s stories cover what happens after being hurt by men, which can be very hard to read. If readers can stomach this, they’ll find three stories with a unique spin on witchiness and independence.

Spellbinding novel of generational connections and female empowerment. Weyward brings us the stories of three women touched by an uncanny pull to the natural and a fierce longing for independence. Each journey is fraught with pain and hardship that over time brings growth and happiness, even where it’s least expected. Beautifully written and flawlessly executed, this novel is a testament to the true power of womanhood when it is celebrated and nurtured.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.

Spanning over 70 years, this story tells of three different women who have once inhabited Weyward Cottage. And all of them have a unique magical ability, that spans centuries.

This story combines history with magical realism. It also boasts femininity at its core. Each women has their own unique tale that weaves into the story as a whole. I loved the whole tale on witches and magic. I also loved the take on herbalism used… because let’s be honest, herbs are used for medicine and healing, and I loved the portrayal. It made the story more magical for me, because I also joke that if I could be a witch it be one of nature.

All in all, if you love multiple perspectives of strong women, with a touch o magic, than this story is for you.

4.5

“We never thought of ourselves as witches, my mother and I. For this was a word invented by men, a word that brings power to those who speak it, not those it describes. A word that builds gallows and pyres, turns breathing women into corpses.”

Ideas on witchcraft and patriarchal expectations often go hand-in-hand, and I love when novels explore different aspects of these concepts and their impacts on society. Weyward does so by weaving together the stories of three generations of women in a beautiful and heartbreaking and hopeful tapestry. This book dives into female resilience, the power of the natural world, familial bonds, and the passing of family stories.

There are many dark moments (I’ll list some of the trigger warnings at the end of this), but I found that there was also much hope and beauty throughout. I definitely see myself picking this book up again in the future, and as far as witchy books go, I may go as far as to say it ranks up there with the Practical Magic series (which is one of my favorites)!

TW: domestic abuse, sexual assault, suicidal ideation, termination of pregnancy

I will be thinking about Altha, Violet and Kate for a while. Emilia Hart has penned a compelling, thought-provoking, and magical story of women supporting women, embracing their power, and bringing the men who harmed them to justice.

When I tell you I was gripped by these stories, it is no exaggeration. I could not put this book down and needed to know their fates. I was so invested in each of the women’s stories and their collective fight against the men who wanted to shackle and bind them into submission, control them with fear, and extinguish their magic.

Sometimes with multiple POVs I feel like there might be one that isn’t as impactful as the others, but that was not the case here. I found all three of these women’s stories so compelling. And I liked how as the end drew nearer, the chapters became shorter which propelled the story forward.

Hart brought the three storylines together beautifully and seamlessly, and I loved how these women, much like the natural world and the creatures around them, ultimately embraced their wildness within and transformed.

This was such a good read! It follows 3 generations of Weyward women, who all have a unique relationship with nature/animals. I really enjoyed the emphasis on the power of and importance of connection between women. The book did contain descriptions of sexual and physical assault, which I was not anticipating! After reading this, I would definitely pick up another book by this author. (ARC of this book provided by Netgalley)

I am rounding up from a 3.5 on this book. It was good, I was invested in the characters, and towards the end I didn't want to put it down, but I found myself dissatisfied when I finished it.
This is the story of the Weyward women, who have for centuries lived as "wise women" in a small cottage in the remote English countryside. The prologue of the book hinted at a connection with Macbeth/Shakespeare/ancient magic that was widely known to those in Elizabethan England and our titular women, so I kept waiting for this tantalizing hint to be addressed. But it never was. The book went in a completely different direction--these women who seem to have a preternatural connection to nature live in fear of being discovered or "seen" by those they see as a threat. And the biggest group of people that they seem to see as a threat is men. So Altha, who lives in the 1600s and is on trial for witchcraft, must endure the accusations of those who seem to resent her and feel threatened by her. Violet, living in a manor house during WWII, is 16, loves to climb trees and laze about the small beck near her home, and longs to be allowed to study science, or even visit the nearby village! And Kate is living in the present day, on the run from her physically and mentally abusive boyfriend. The reader comes to realize that each of these women is connected, and the book unfolds to detail how each of them--through challenges, heartbreak, and tragedy--comes into their full understanding of their womanhood and their power as Wayward women.
The reason I am giving this book 3.5 stars instead of 4 is that, as I stated, there were a few things that gave me a nagging feeling of unfulfillment or wanting more. The first is that the book was a bit slow in the beginning and, aside from Violet's storyline, it really took a while for anything to HAPPEN. Altha just seemed to relate the facts of her trial. It could have been powerful and given some poignancy to what women in similar situations went through during that time. But I just had a hard time connecting with Altha. And it seemed like Kate just sat around a hovel of a cottage and jumped every time a bird flapped its wings (I kept having to remind myself that Kate had survived some terrible traumas and was coming out of a horrific situation, because her attitude kept getting on my nerves). The other issue I had with the book was the almost dogmatic view of Altha's mother--which she passed on to her daughter and seemingly all her descendants--that all men are power-hungry, dangerous, ignorant, and useless (except for procreation). There certainly are some terrible men in this book, but there are also some very gentle and understanding men who help the Weyward women quite a bit. It would have felt like a more complete story if Altha had been more appreciative of the man who helped her on the jury, or the man who brought her food and supplies. If Violet had come to the understanding that her brother was pivotal in her survival and helping her through her trauma, her story would have been much more powerful, especially seeing how that led straight to Kate's journey. There were a few loose ends that I wondered about, like what was going on with the crow. And the question of were these women REALLY magical, or did they just believe that they might be could be addressed a bit more. I mean, other than making worms wiggle around and not being stung by bees, there was no real EVIDENCE of anything truly magical occurring because of them. And finally at the end when Kate's story really picked up in tension and action, her decisions seemed REALLY dumb. I got annoyed at her.
As I said, this was a good book. But I am giving it 3.5 stars because it wasn't a great book. I had some issues with it, but if you enjoy magical realism this may be the book for you. I will probably read another book by this author because for the most part I did enjoy reading this story.

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of Weyward

I LOVED this novel. This story presents three women’s, perspectives, trials, and tribulations through different eras. The three Weyward women will eventually find out how their lives are connected to each other. Beautifully written and evocative, which had me reading long into the night to find out what will happen.

I enjoyed the “witch” connection, which can sometimes be a hard sell for me to feel connected to. Though this story was delivered so well, I felt connected to Kate, Violet and Altha equally. Pick this one up, it is well done. I will be sure to read any new novels of Emilia Hart. A true magical gem, hands down 5 stars.

A beautifulmulti generational story of the women in the Weyward line. Told in three POVs, is speaks to the strength you can find in yourself no matter the brutal circumstances. Definitely reminded me of books in the Practical Magic series. The writing was lovely even if the story was heartbreaking at points.

Honestly I love anything this author puts out! I had such a good time reading this. Super spooky and great vibes. It’s perfectly paced and I would highly
Recommend it to anyone :)

Three generations of women who can commune with nature and make mystical,things occur.
I didn’t quite grasp the gist of the crow since I feel it was a bit obscured, especially on Kate’s story.
I liked the herbal knowledge of the 17th century. I wasn’t as captivated with either Violet or Kate’s story.

Emilia Hart knows how to set a stage. Right away I was impressed by the flow of the writing and the tone evoked by it through the setting and characters. Big snaps for that because I don’t think I’ve been so easily drawn into a debut novel for quite a while. I felt immediately and naturally curious about the MCs and felt at ease getting to know them and their stories, each character and their time periods being so distinctly laid out. 1619 was probably my favorite time, especially because of the queer representation that was deftly and beautifully done.
Now. For women to overcome obstacles there must be obstacles. And they were hard. (Content warnings below.) Seeing these women connect through their shared history was both difficult and triumphant. Another reviewer commented that real abused women don’t get rescued by magical realism, but on the whole I feel that these women largely saved themselves, took their fates into their own hands where possible, and were graced by the helping hands of family and friends, which is and/or can be true to life. Also, the blurb mentions their affinity to nature as part of the setup, so it’s not like it’s a surprise or an easy fix - all of these women suffered tremendously regardless.
I look forward to seeing this author’s future offerings, to see their work grow hopefully in subtlety and complexity.

<b>CW:</b> domestic abuse, emotional and physical; rape; abortion; miscarriage; blood and gore

<i>Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an eARC of this book!</i>

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ohhh! This was such a fantastic story. The characters came to life with each sentence. Altha, Violet, and Kate are ancestors across the centuries. These three women have a powerful heritage line.
Altha story takes place in early 1600’s. She on trial for witchery acts. Violet’s story takes place in the 1940’s. She is disowned by her father for dishonoring the family name. Kates story is present day. Kate is in an abusive relationship and seeks refuge when she receives a deed from her great aunt Violets estate. Each chapter is a POV from one of the three women. I get wrapped up in reading about Altha’s trial and her life before the trial and next chapter is Kates or Violet story. I say ugh but within a few short words I’m anticipating and on the edge of my seat reading about the other characters. The pace at which the characters develop and intertwine made this an enjoyable pager turner. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for ARC read. Very very enjoyable!

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley. This is my honest review.

This story cycles through the POV of the three main characters, which was both compelling and super frustrating for me. It used the classic soap opera strategy of leaving each character at a pivotal point of their story to take us back to someone else for a bit. That's exactly the kind of thing that makes it so hard to put the book down, because you need to keep reading to get back to Person A to find out what the hell happened! I both loved and hated that aspect of the story.

I would have loved to have a story that focused entirely on Altha. Like I think there's so much depth left in her story to be explored, probably because she is the furthest removed from the present so there's more blank spaces that my mind can't just fill in. But I also felt like in spite of being arrested and tried as a witch, her life as a whole was less awful than Violet and Kate's lives were. I wanted to get back to her story because it felt more happy and less repressive, and the things that were happening to Violet and Kate needed to be broken up with that levity. When Violet and Kate found their power though, everything became right with the world.

A part of me also already wants to reread this book to see if I pick up on any details that I may have missed as significant the first time around knowing how things end for each of the characters, and I'm not normally inspired to read a book a second time anymore because there are already so many other books I want to read and there's just not enough time for that as it is, but this book I really do want to read again.

Overall I give Weyward 4.86 out of 5 stars.

Really enjoyed this read, about three women from the same family, decades and hundreds of years apart. Their lives mirror each other in that because of the patriarchy, they had their agency ripped away from them, but they persevered.
Although, Violet and Kate are the women of the Weyward line, and though they lived in different centuries, they each find themselves victims of the patriarchy in various ways, but they do not take these attacks against them lying down. Each finds a way to overcome the trials that come their way.

<i>Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!</i>

Kate. Violet. Altha. Three women, three centuries, one family legacy.

Altha is a healer on trial for witchcraft for the death of her childhood friend's husband in the early 17th Century. Violet is a nature-obsessed teen at a time (World War II) when girls were expected to be ladylike and not climb trees in search of interesting bugs to collect. And Kate, trapped by an abusive boyfriend in present-day London, flees to the safety of the cottage her great aunt left her.

In [author:Emilia Hart]'s shimmering debut, these three women share so much more than family ties and a deep connection to the natural world. Each longs for safety and freedom from repressive circumstances, and in discovering their familial inheritance – knowledge passed from Weyward mother to daughter over the generations – is so much more.

Hart intertwines the three women's stories in clear and emotional prose, rotating POV chapters. She expertly juggles the mounting tension in the narratives, but never crowds out her characters' awe at the gentle clicking of a spider's pincers, the mottled feathers of the ever-present crows, the richness of the soil. She gives the three women at the center of the story both bravery and fear, bodily desires and personal ambitions. Kate, Violet and Altha are richly drawn. They might have magic, but they feel completely real.

[book:Weyward] by [author:Emilia Hart]
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 stars rounded up
CW: Sexual assault, domestic violence and abusive relationships, death of a parent, abortion
🧙🏻‍♀️🧙🏻‍♀️🧙🏻‍♀️ witchy vibes
👩🏻‍🔬👨🏼‍💼 Adventurous sisters and kind brothers
🐝🐛🕷️🕸️🦋 Bugs are beautiful

Three stories. Three women. Three generations of misogyny. The stories themselves were good. I left them feeling like I had done all of this before. Women who don’t conform. Women who are controlled. Women who are called witches. I was hoping for something to come as the stories weaved past and present, but I just didn’t find it. A good story, if not a bit familiar. Maybe even dated.

Thanks to netgalley for making me opt for this book, for it truly had an amazing premise! It focussed on three women across three different generations and their lives intricately woven together by a magical connection. There are three POVs and their struggles in life to protect both their families and themselves! I personally enjoyed the life stories of all the three women but the older generations being set in a completely different period was very fascinating. It is magical realism based but it is a slightly different kind of magic!