In Defense of Witches

 

I received a copy of this release from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial 

Author: Mona Chollet, Sophie R. Lewis (Translation)
Publisher: St Martin's Press
Release Date: 3.8.22

Publisher’s Summary
Mona Chollet's In Defense of Witches is a “brilliant, well-documented” celebration (Le Monde) by an acclaimed French feminist of the witch as a symbol of female rebellion and independence in the face of misogyny and persecution.

Centuries after the infamous witch hunts that swept through Europe and America, witches continue to hold a unique fascination for many: as fairy tale villains, practitioners of pagan religion, as well as feminist icons. Witches are both the ultimate victim and the stubborn, elusive rebel. But who were the women who were accused and often killed for witchcraft? What types of women have centuries of terror censored, eliminated, and repressed?

Celebrated feminist writer Mona Chollet explores three types of women who were accused of witchcraft and persecuted: the independent woman, since widows and celibates were particularly targeted; the childless woman, since the time of the hunts marked the end of tolerance for those who claimed to control their fertility; and the elderly woman, who has always been an object of at best, pity, and at worst, horror. Examining modern society, Chollet concludes that these women continue to be harrassed and oppressed. Rather than being a brief moment in history, the persecution of witches is an example of society’s seemingly eternal misogyny, while women today are direct heirs to those who were hunted down and killed for their thoughts and actions.

With fiery prose and arguments that range from the scholarly to the cultural, In Defense of Witches seeks to unite the mythic image of the witch with modern women who seek to live their lives on their own terms.


My Review

It is easy to see why and how the symbol of the witch is embraced and celebrated by the modern female, for "the witch embodies woman free of all domination, all limitation; she is an ideal to aim for; she shows us the way." 

Recently, I have found myself turning up my nose at a lot of current witch/witchcraft "trends." Author Mona Chollet helped me figure out why this adoption by mainstream society bothered me so much. It is because "nowadays, witches have become a neo-liberal girlboss-style icon. That is to say, capitalism has gotten ahold of her; and, like so many things capitalism touches, she is in danger of dissociating from her radical roots." She elaborated on these trends, and absolutely blew my mind when she described its commercial cycle "whether a spiritual and/or a political practice, witchcraft is also an aesthetic, a fashion . . . and a lucrative money-spinner. It has its hashtags on Instagram and its virtual aisles on Etsy, its influencers and its indie entrepreneurs, selling their spells, candles, grimoires, superfoods, essential oils and crystals online. Witchcraft is a fashion inspiration; the big brands are adopting and adapting it. And there’s nothing surprising in this: after all, capitalism is always engaged in selling back to us in product form all that it has first destroyed." 🤯

I've studied how paganism's eco-conscious and spiritual aspects align with most modern witchcraft practices. I've also extensively studied how patriarchal laws and practices contributed to female oppression in the guise of "witchhunts." While I love reading books and watching shows and movies about fun women with magical powers, I'm also constantly craving the deeper analysis and theory provided by Chollet. Hollywood witches are fun, but read this if you want a deeper understanding of the witch as a symbol.

The Younger Wife

 

I received a copy of this release from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Title: The Younger Wife
Author: Sally Hepworth
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: 4.5.22


Publisher’s Summary

THE HUSBAND
A heart surgeon at the top of his field, Stephen Aston is getting married again. But first he must divorce his current wife, even though she can no longer speak for herself.

THE DAUGHTERS
Tully and Rachel Aston look upon their father’s fiancée, Heather, as nothing but an interloper. Heather is younger than both of them. Clearly, she’s after their father’s money.

THE FORMER WIFE
With their mother in a precarious position, Tully and Rachel are determined to get to the truth about their family’s secrets, the new wife closing in, and who their father really is.

THE YOUNGER WIFE
Heather has secrets of her own. Will getting to the truth unleash the most dangerous impulses in all of them?


My Review

I read Sally Hepworth's previous novel, The Good Sister, last March and thought it was "good, but not great." I really like that in that novel she included a character with a sensory perception disorder and in her newest novel she has two main characters with disorders (kleptomania and binge eating as a result of trauma.) She has written these characters (and all of her other characters) extremely well. Both novels were definite page-turners, but where The Good Sister was too light of a mystery for me, The Younger Wife let me down with its ending. So close...so much potential...just didn't stick the landing. 

The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare

 

I received a copy of this release from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Title: The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare
Author: Kimberly Brock
Publisher: Harper Muse
Release Date: 4.12.22


Publisher’s Summary

The fate of the world is often driven by the curiosity of a girl.

What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke remains a mystery, but the women who descended from Eleanor Dare have long known that the truth lies in what she left behind: a message carved onto a large stone and the contents of her treasured commonplace book. Brought from England on Eleanor’s fateful voyage to the New World, her book was passed down through the fifteen generations of daughters who followed as they came of age. Thirteen-year-old Alice had been next in line to receive it, but her mother’s tragic death fractured the unbroken legacy and the Dare Stone and the shadowy history recorded in the book faded into memory. Or so Alice hoped.

In the waning days of World War II, Alice is a young widow and a mother herself when she is unexpectedly presented with her birthright: the deed to Evertell, her abandoned family home and the history she thought forgotten. Determined to sell the property and step into a future free of the past, Alice returns to Savannah with her own thirteen-year-old daughter, Penn, in tow. But when Penn’s curiosity over the lineage she never knew begins to unveil secrets from beneath every stone and bone and shell of the old house and Eleanor’s book is finally found, Alice is forced to reckon with the sacrifices made for love and the realities of their true inheritance as daughters of Eleanor Dare.

In this sweeping tale from award-winning author Kimberly Brock, the answers to a real-life mystery may be found in the pages of a story that was always waiting to be written.




My Review
This is one of those books that I have to give you a backstory on before I get to my review. In 2012, I desperately wanted to leave my retail management job when a friend put me in contact with an Atlanta magazine editor to whom I pitched the idea of a book review for the magazine. I couldn't believe my luck that she said "yes" and my first published book review was Kimberly Brock's The River Witch. 

Now, 10 years later, Brock's continued commitment to her craft is apparent with a much more detailed story (at 464 pages TLBoED is almost twice as long as TRW). She has not strayed from her magical storytelling style as this wonderfully atmospheric imagining of a historic mystery is written in the same prose that entranced readers of The River Witch. I wrote that The River Witch was a perfect example of modern Southern gothic, full of "family, faith and resentment mix[ed] with love and loss, broken bodies and souls, and a stranger in a strange place." The same characteristics can also be applied to The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare with a strong emphasis on heritage and familial lines.

Another personal note: I am so happy to be able to support the wonderful author who helped to launch my book reviewing career. Upon meeting me in 2012, Kim insisted that I start a book blog ASAP. I took her advice and the rest is history!

Sleep Donation

 

I received a copy of this release from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Title: Sleep Donation
Author: Karen Russell
Publisher: Atavist Books
Release Date: 3.25.14

Publisher’s Summary

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Swamplandia!, and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, an imaginative and haunting novella about an insomnia epidemic set in the near future.

A crisis has swept America. Hundreds of thousands have lost the ability to sleep. Enter the Slumber Corps, an organization that urges healthy dreamers to donate sleep to an insomniac. Under the wealthy and enigmatic Storch brothers the Corps' reach has grown, with outposts in every major US city. Trish Edgewater, whose sister Dori was one of the first victims of the lethal insomnia, has spent the past seven years recruiting for the Corps. But Trish’s faith in the organization and in her own motives begins to falter when she is confronted by “Baby A,” the first universal sleep donor, and the mysterious "Donor Y."

Sleep Donation explores a world facing the end of sleep as we know it, where “Night Worlds” offer black market remedies to the desperate and sleep deprived, and where even the act of making a gift is not as simple as it appears.


My Review

Originally published in 2014, this novella has been on my "want to read" list for a while. I am very interested (and invested) in the personal and social constructs as well as the scientific process of sleep. Why do we do it? How much do we really need? How have our needs changed over the centuries? Why is it so hard to fall asleep sometimes and so easy other times? I could go on and on. 

This novella puts readers into an extremely believable near-future where a worldwide epidemic of insomnia is literally killing people. Sleep can be donated to the suffering insomniacs through the Slumber Corp program which makes the donation of sleep as easy as our current blood donation systems. Reliant on Trish to constantly relive her sister's death in order to convince sleepers to donate, Slumber Corp preys on their employees and their potential donors. They give lip service to their altruism (recipients and donors are never charged) but how are they really funding their national program? 

Written in the same style as her previous works, Sleep Donation features scenic descriptions, open-ended storytelling, and pushes readers to question the line between realism and speculative fiction. 

Suggested Reading:

• If you are a Gen-X woman like me and want to know more about the sleep epidemic hitting our generation, I strongly suggest you read Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis by Ada Calhoun (read my review HERE.) 
• Sarah Pinborough also has a thriller, Insomnia releasing 4.12.22 that looks like it will be both disturbing and relatable. 

✨April Anticipated Releases✨

✨April Anticipated Releases✨

Here are 9 April releases I’ve got on my radar. Which ones have you got your eyes on?

1. Cover Story by Susan Rigetti (William Morrow)
2. Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum (Grand Central) 
3. Easy Beauty by Chloé Cooper Jones (Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster)
4. Mutinous Women by Joan DeJean (Basic Books)
5. Dark Circles by Caite Dolan-Leach (Ballantine Books)
6. Search by Michelle Huneven (Penguin Press) 
7. Unmasked by Paul Holes (Celadon) 
8. The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon (Gallery / Scout Press)
9. Seven Steeples by Sara Baume (Mariner)

 

This Might Hurt

 

I received a copy of this release from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Title: This Might Hurt
Author: Stephanie Wrobel
Publisher: Berkley Books
Release Date: 2.22.22


Publisher’s Summary

From the USA Today bestselling and Edgar-nominated author of Darling Rose Gold comes a dark, thrilling novel about two sisters--one trapped in the clutches of a cult, the other in a web of her own lies.

Welcome to Wisewood. We'll keep your secrets if you keep ours.

Natalie Collins hasn't heard from her sister in more than half a year.

The last time they spoke, Kit was slogging from mundane workdays to obligatory happy hours to crying in the shower about their dead mother. She told Natalie she was sure there was something more out there.

And then she found Wisewood.

On a private island off the coast of Maine, Wisewood's guests commit to six-month stays. During this time, they're prohibited from contact with the rest of the world--no Internet, no phones, no exceptions. But the rules are for a good reason: to keep guests focused on achieving true fearlessness so they can become their Maximized Selves. Natalie thinks it's a bad idea, but Kit has had enough of her sister's cynicism and voluntarily disappears off the grid.

Six months later Natalie receives a menacing e-mail from a Wisewood account threatening to reveal the secret she's been keeping from Kit. Panicked, Natalie hurries north to come clean to her sister and bring her home. But she's about to learn that Wisewood won't let either of them go without a fight.




My Review

I was initially drawn to this story because I swear any summary that has "cult" in it is almost an auto-request for me. I liked that there were several strong female characters and multiple smaller, but fascinating storylines. The layers of psychology had me totally intrigued. This book kept me guessing about which direction the story was going, but as with any mysteries/thrillers I'm cautious to divulge too much. No spoilers here! Did you read this one? I'd love to discuss it. DM me on Instagram. 

3 Mini Reviews

 

I received copies of these releases from the publishers in exchange for honest reviews

Title: Sweet Potato Soul: 100 Easy Vegan Recipes for the Southern Flavors of Smoke, Sugar, Spice, and Soul: A Cookbook
Author: Jenné Claiborne
Publisher: Harmony
Release Date: 2.6.18

I've read a lot of cookbooks about vegetarianism and veganism but I am not sure I've related to any of them as much as Jenné Claiborne's Sweet Potato Soul. The introduction was stellar with an interesting personal profile of Claiborne. The following chapters (breakfast, salads & soups, greens & sides, mains, sweets & drinks, and pantry staples & sauces) are full of yummy recipes. This book caught my eye because I LOVE sweet potatoes and I was so happy to find lots of new ways to incorporate them into my weekly menus. First up: "Sweet Jesus" Mac & Cheese followed by No-Bake Gingerbread Bars. 

Title: Plants Are My Favorite People: A Relationship Guide for Plants and Their Parents
Author: Alessia Resta
Publisher: Clarkson Potter Publishers
Release Date: 2.1.22

My daughter and mother both have green thumbs. I...do not. This book is cute collection of information, quizzes, and lessons from Alessia Resta aka Apartment Botanist. I love learning about plants and looking at pictures of plants but I am doubtful that even this talented plant influencer (plantfluencer?) can help me. 

Title: Herbal Handbook: 50 Profiles in Words and Art from the Archives of the New York Botanical Garden
Author: The New York Botanical Garden
Publisher: Clarkson Potter Publishers
Release Date: 2.8.22

Imagine strolling through the fields by your country home and collecting herbs in your basket to bring back home. Which ones do you pick? Which are used for eating and drinking and which are used for medicine and bathing? Ok, you're likely not living in a Brontë novel, but if you are interested in learning how to identify and incorporate herbs into your daily life you will like this collection. The detailed illustrations (from the renowned archives of the New York Botanical Garden) and history of uses for each herb were especially informative.

Index, A History of the:

 

I received a copy of this release from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Title: Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age
Author: Dennis Duncan
Publisher: W. W. Norton Company
Release Date: 2.15.22


Publisher’s Summary
Most of us give little thought to the back of the book—it’s just where you go to look things up. But here is the secret world of the index: an unsung but extraordinary everyday tool, with an illustrious but little-known history.

Charting its curious path from the monasteries and universities of thirteenth-century Europe to Silicon Valley in the twenty-first, Dennis Duncan reveals how the index has saved heretics from the stake, kept politicians from high office, and made us all into the readers we are today. We follow it through German print shops and Enlightenment coffee houses, novelists’ living rooms and university laboratories, encountering emperors and popes, philosophers and prime ministers, poets, librarians, and—of course—indexers along the way. Duncan reveals the vast role of the index in our evolving literary and intellectual culture, and he shows that in the Age of Search we are all index-rakers at heart.


My Review
Not everyone will be interested in the history of the index, but there are some word nerds who will. Do you love books about books? Do you love learning about the history of books? Then you will likely love this! I have was intrigued when I learned about the dictionary wars so I had to know how this deep dive stacked up. The history of the index is filled with just as much politics, arguments, and competitions as the dictionary wars. This book is super niche and at times a bit *unexciting* but I feel like it would be embraced by most of the Bookstagram community. 

Born of Lakes and Plains

 

I received a copy of this release from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Title: Born of Lakes and Plains: Mixed-Descent Peoples and the Making of the American West
Author: Anne F. Hyde
Publisher: W. W. Norton Company
Release Date: 2.15.22


Publisher’s Summary
Often overlooked, there is mixed blood at the heart of America. And at the heart of Native life for centuries there were complex households using intermarriage to link disparate communities and create protective circles of kin. Beginning in the seventeenth century, Native peoples—Ojibwes, Otoes, Cheyennes, Chinooks, and others—formed new families with young French, English, Canadian, and American fur traders who spent months in smoky winter lodges or at boisterous summer rendezvous. These families built cosmopolitan trade centers from Michilimackinac on the Great Lakes to Bellevue on the Missouri River, Bent’s Fort in the southern Plains, and Fort Vancouver in the Pacific Northwest. Their family names are often imprinted on the landscape, but their voices have long been muted in our histories. Anne F. Hyde’s pathbreaking history restores them in full.


Vividly combining the panoramic and the particular, Born of Lakes and Plains follows five mixed-descent families whose lives intertwined major events: imperial battles over the fur trade; the first extensions of American authority west of the Appalachians; the ravages of imported disease; the violence of Indian removal; encroaching American settlement; and, following the Civil War, the disasters of Indian war, reservations policy, and allotment. During the pivotal nineteenth century, mixed-descent people who had once occupied a middle ground became a racial problem drawing hostility from all sides. Their identities were challenged by the pseudo-science of blood quantum—the instrument of allotment policy—and their traditions by the Indian schools established to erase Native ways. As Anne F. Hyde shows, they navigated the hard choices they faced as they had for centuries: by relying on the rich resources of family and kin. Here is an indelible western history with a new human face.


My Review
Before reading this book I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about interactions between English settlers and Native Americans. I learned the "traditional" aspects from the viewpoint of colonizers throughout elementary, middle, and high school, but knew next to nothing from the viewpoint of Native Americans until my college courses. I only learned about Indian schools last year after researching a small storyline from an amazing movie (Let Him Go). I didn't realize I had never really thought about the intermarriage between Native people and the traders moving throughout their lands.  

Anne Hyde outlines the lives of 5 families made up of Canadian and American trappers and Native Americans, spanning from the late 1600s to the early 1900s. This look into the history of North America shows how trappers being adopted into various tribes through marriage helped the early development of the west.

I really enjoyed the topic of this book and the theme of the 5 families, but I was definitely confused several times. I wish there was some sort of family tree included for reference. (I read this as an e-ARC, but maybe there is in the final/hardback edition.)