This resonant novel is about sisterhood, both the familiar bonds and the ones forged with other women fighting for the same cause. It’s mostly about the three sisters of Juniper, Agnes, and Bella as they work towards the rights of women and witches in 1893. I loved all of these characters in different ways and for different reasons and felt that had each had a distinctive voice: Agnes is prickly and wary, Juniper is headstrong and willful, Bella is cautious and nerdy (I mean that in the best way possible, I love nerds).
The sisters were separated years before the novel starts but find themselves finding each other after they individually arrived at a public square in the fictional town of New Salem during a particularly witchy even. While it takes place in a mostly historically accurate United States, it’s a world in which witches were “purged” multiple times over the centuries, and notable male figures from history are now notable female figures (e.g., the Sisters Grimm). There is a suffrage movement that the sisters unite with a movement to restore the rights of women to practice witchcraft. Sexism, misogyny, and a desire by men to maintain power underlie both forms of oppression, and I appreciated Harrow’s clever take in combining them.
Harrow’s lyrical writing stands out, generally in beautiful or evocative phrases such as “”now she’s just hate with a heartbeat” and “river the color of day-old gravy” (gross, but paints a picture), though there are times when this stood out in an off-putting way: someone’s accent “rolls and purls.” Like, what? Mostly, though, she has a wonderful grasp on how to use language most effectively. There was also a line that was almost a throwaway that stuck with me: “Bella informs her that this is the precise reason why women’s dresses no longer have pockets, to show they bear no [means of doing witchcraft].” I thought that was just so creative.
I suspect Harrow is on her way to becoming an auto-buy (or at least auto-get-from-library) author for me, given how much I enjoyed this book and The Ten Thousand Doors of January. I’ll wait til I read Starling House before making that decision, but she’s starting to develop a great track record and I’m looking forward to reading more of her work. 4.5 stars rounded to 5.