As soon as I read the description for The Witching Tide, I knew it was a must-read. Margaret Meyer certainly didn't leave me disappointed.

Meyer's prose is so powerful it'll crack you in half (in a good way). I repeatedly found myself awed by the subtle ways she worded things, lending a poetry to an otherwise terrifying tale.

What struck me most about The Witching Tide was this impossibility of it all. The witch trials offered virtually no happy outcomes. You're a woman who keeps to herself? Witch. In everyone's business? Witch. Never married? Witch. Rejected a marriage proposal from a drunk man? Witch. Married to a prominent public figure in the community? Witch. Meyer has encapsulated the aggravating lack of critical thinking with finesse, imbuing her characters with an intensely understandable frustration.

The Witching Tide also feels like an allegory for the power of generational knowledge as well as generational trauma. Martha's agony over her mother's fate decades on is a true testament to the immovability of grief, but the taking up of knowledge passed on to her in turn is empowering.

All told, The Witching Tide is an exquisite yet harrowing debut novel.

I really like this book. I thought that it was beautifully done.
I just reviewed The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer. #NetGalley
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The author's use of imagery is so powerful in this book. The story is well written and does an excellent job of capturing the time period. As I read this novel I felt sorry for all the women that were accused of witches and had to go through similar ordeals.

I think The Witching Tide would be a wonderful novel for any book club. I highly recommend it.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book! I love all things witchy and this book was exactly what I needed in my life. I love historical fiction on the witch trials and witches and this book just fit everything I love in one. This is such a tragic story, but all historical witch stories are. I love the power of women shown in this book and the story. Margaret Meyer used amazing writing and details to really make you feel like you were from this time and in the book while reading.

The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer is an excellent historical fiction that takes a look into a witch hunt during 17th century England.

I have always been fascinated by the culture, superstitions, religious associations, and societal attitudes concerning “witches” and sadly their persecutions and endings. Looking back at the storms, one can see it all coming to the surface from a multitude of avenues, and this complex web is spun…leaving us with this end result. This example is of no exception.

It was fascinating to go back to East Anglia during the 1600s when under the rule of James I of England/IV of Scotland, a lot of investigations, fears, trials, punishments, deaths, and internal/external changes were taking place in England were reignited. Those fears continued with his successors for a time as well during this century, and the cultural implications that this creates is massive.

The author does a great job bringing this example to us in her novel.

Very impressive.

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Scribner for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR, Bookbub, Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 9/5/23 per publisher request.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

I love history fiction that regards witches and feminism. This was interesting and held my attention, I can't believe I finished it as fast as I did.

The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer is a historical fiction book set in the 1600s in a fictitious town on the coast of England near the water. It is about women who were killed for being able to out-think men, who were stronger and more able to achieve. It was an age when men were afraid and caused entire villages to become stifled with panic, and unable to stop the "tide" of searching out those who were considered "dangerous" to others. The thinking was to stop the "tide" of witches before they were able to teach others their tricks and spells. In that way, there were also women who were afraid of other women.

Meyer also creates a male character who is accused of witchcraft because he supported women. I am sure there is historical support for that, the book seems very well-researched from the facts that I know, so I assume it happened at times although rare.

Martha is a midwife and is also skilled in all types of healing. She is unable to talk so she uses signals and gestures to make herself understood. She finds herself in the middle of the search of her town for witches. Things unfold in expected and unexpected ways.

The book is un-put-downable, and a fresh telling of an old story that bears repeating. If this is a debut novel by Margaret Meyer, I will be keeping my eyes open for more,