The Once and Future Witches (Alix E. Harrow)

The Once and Future Witches
Alix E. Harrow
Redhook
Fiction, Fantasy
***** (Great)

DESCRIPTION: In ages past, women were witches, keepers of those special words and ways and will that could heal or harm, mend or break, charm or curse. But when women have power, always there are men who fear and hate them for it. And so the men came, with their iron and their torches, burning the words and erasing the ways and breaking the wills, until even the great bastion Avalon was nothing but ash and ruin, conquered by Saint George. But always, when something is shattered, some fragments remain, secrets hidden in nursery rhymes and childhood games and details of needlework and other places men never think to work, passed between mother and daughter who nevertheless remain fearful always of iron and torch as they whisper. Though goodly folk remain ever-vigilant, they believe the war against wicked witchery to be all but over, with women well and truly in their place under men's boot heels. But nothing is lost that cannot again be found, and not all are content with mere whispers in shadows...
In 1893 New Salem, as suffragists agitate to grant women voting rights (and others, naturally, rail against granting them even that much power), the three estranged Eastwood sisters are about to change the course of witchcraft and history. Agnes Amaranth left rural Crow County years ago and scrapes by as a mill worker, enduring horrendous conditions and deprivations. Beatrice Belladonna, left broken and bent by years in an institution, toils quietly in a library and tries her best to avoid notice. James Juniper, half-feral youngest of the three, has come seeking her kin after they abandoned her to their monstrous father. Though they may not yet realize it, the three are bound by more than blood, but by threads of power and of fate. For the Eastwood women all carry with them words and ways taught them by their late grandmother, and the moment of their reunion is marked by an impossible vision: the Tower of Avalon, long thought lost, returning for a handful of heartbeats right in the middle of New Salem. The sisters are going to need all the magic they can gather, and all the allies they can find, to survive what's ahead: not just the possible return of witchcraft to the world, but the return of the witches' oldest and most brutal of enemies.

REVIEW: It's a sad truth that history repeats itself, which is why The Once and Future Witches, set in an alternate history and with magic as a clear metaphor for empowerment (not just of women, but also of lower classes and other cultures and races), is both timeless and timely in its often-brutal depiction of the downtrodden struggling to rise, the powerful stomping them down, and the general public - which often, erroneously, thinks of itself as outside of the struggle (or simply decides it's better to go along to get along) - all too easily harnessed by tethers of fear and manufactured outrage to enable monsters and excuse atrocities, even at the cost of their own freedoms and futures.
From the beginning, the reader is introduced to three very different Eastwood sisters living very different lives. They have been divided by bitter resentments and misunderstandings, divides further exacerbated by a world that actively encourages division among peers and would-be allies; a divided and squabbling underclass is a powerless underclass. Indeed, the divisions that keep people from coming together against mutual enemies are a strong undercurrent to the whole story. Even the suffragists fight among themselves over policy and goals. They all have been taught to hate and distrust each other, and even themselves, in ways they may not even recognize but which preemptively sabotage many of their efforts at rising up, or even simply surviving, in a society that makes no bones about wanting them and all their kind shackled or dead (or both). Some even cling all the harder to the people who hate and hurt them the most, as if serving the beast will keep it from biting as hard (or simply being brainwashed into believing the bites are what they are owed). The main characters are not magically immune to this conditioning, either. Even headstrong James Juniper has been twisted and (literally) crippled by the world, her own anger and thirst for vengeance becoming as much a liability as a strength. It takes everyone leaning on each other, compensating for the blind spots, weaknesses, and scars of their companions, for any lasting change to be possible... and even when it's possible, there is no clear or guaranteed path to success.
Their chief enemy, a politician named Gideon Hill who is building a cult following and populist movement founded on fear of/hatred of witches and women (and minorities, and workers who dare believe they deserve some manner of rights), is far more dangerous than even his inflammatory rhetoric indicates. It's going to take more than mere magic to defeat him and bring about a better future, but building bridges between historically estranged groups is perilous work in and of itself, especially when the knowledge they're sharing is so risky: the magic systems here are as simple as they are mysterious and diverse, snippets of verse or song or dance with ingredients scrounged from everyday items or herbals and all driven by depth of need and force of emotion. This, too, the sharing of diverse and hoarded spellcraft between women (and even between the women and downtrodden men, whose magic has long been considered separate from the "wicked" workings of girls), is not so easy a process as some stories would have one believe. There are many believable setbacks, a few betrayals and failures of courage, and times when it seems like a lost cause altogether. Still, giving up is not an option, and when faced with certain Hell if one quits and even a slim chance of success for persevering, the choice is clear, if never easy.
Starting fairly fast, the book moves relentlessly forward, if not always at a breakneck pace; there is breathing room as it fleshes out the characters, their relationships, and their worlds, interspersed with nursery tales and folklore that often holds hints and clues if one knows how to look at them. Each chapter starts with snippets of spells, foreshadowing the theme of the coming passage and further filling out the magic system and the alternate world. While there is plenty of darkness, though, there are moments of joy and wonder and even levity. The whole builds to a climax that is just as explosive and harrowing as the tale and characters deserve, one not without sacrifices and does not pull its punches or put a glossy, artificial golden sheen on things.
It has been some time since I've awarded a five-star rating, but this one earned it handily. The Once and Future Witches is a book that manages to be both brutally honest and yet hopeful. In fiction, at least, hope for a better future is possible...

You Might Also Enjoy:
To Shape a Dragon's Breath (Moniquill Blackgoose) - My Review
The Only Harmless Great Thing (Brooke Bolander) - My Review
The City We Became (N. K. Jemisin) - My Review