The plot weaves around in ways I wasn’t expecting, and the cast of allies the sisters gather around themselves have enough depth to feel real without distracting from the main relationships. Something about the raw dynamism of the more immediate and focused in scenes is lost in the descriptions of what these women were doing over a longer period of time. There are some things that didn’t quite work for me, mostly the fact that I didn’t enjoy the narrative as much while events were being described in the abstract. The narration will take pains to say it didn’t notice the lingering scent of her, or whether she had a wedding band on her finger, while describing in detail the answer in brackets straight afterward.

The way Harrow writes Beatrice in particular I love, a woman punished for loving other women, so that her own narration both lies and reveals her attraction to Cleo (a woman who faces her own struggles as an African American in the 1800s).

And on top of all this the prose is both lyrical and easy to parse throughout. There’s so much emotion and power in the way Harrow writes scenes, a rawness that matches the struggle the sisters face. They slowly start to realise that they are not the only witches in New Salem, and that if they wish to hold back the dark forces that wish them harm, they must find the lost words and ways, call back the ancient tower of the last three witches, and claim that power for themselves. They are also witches, of a sort, taught the words and the ways by their Grandmother (and bringing the will themselves). There is a bond between the sisters beyond the metaphorical, and despite their estrangement, they find themselves drawn together, and to the suffragist movement in the town of New Salem. We are told these things, because elements of the structure of the novel mimic fairy tales, but we are also shown them too. Those sisters are Juniper, the wild one, Agnes, the strong one, and Beatrice, the wise one. Three women, all sisters, are introduced one after the other, symmetrically in prose, and each one finds themselves in the same place, witness to a tear in space that holds an ancient tower, brimming with myseltery and power.

Not recommended if you find traumatic birth experiences triggeringĪlix E.

Recommended if you love stories with a strong emotional core.

Not recommended if you prefer secondary world fantasy.

Recommended for those who love lyrical prose.

Harrow is a tale of feminist witches, the healing bond between estranged sisters, and the power of an angry woman who refuses to be pushed around any more, in the backdrop of late 1800s America. Summary: The Once and Future Witches by Alix E.

The once and future witches book review