A Secret History of Witches reveals an ancient and dangerous power that's been handed down from mother to daughter since time began. After Grandmere Ursule gives her life to save her tribe, her scrying stone falls silent. Even with Ursule's magic lost, her family keeps the Old Faith, practicing the spells and rites that have been handed from mother to daughter for generations. Until one day, Ursule's young granddaughter steps into the circle, and magic flows anew. From early 19th century Brittany to London during the Second World War, four generations of women fight the battles of their time, deciding how far they are willing to go to protect their family, their heritage, and ultimately, all of our futures.
This was an impulse read - it was there, it sounded intriguing...so I tried it. As we all know, impulse reads can go drastically wrong or be very right. Luckily for me, this fell into the second category.
The book covers the history of a particular family of witches, beginning with their flight from Europe during the witch hunt, and ending several generations later. Each section is specifically related to the next witch down the line, which gave it the feel almost of one of those old Bibles with the family history written in. And as each girl came into her power, the book detailed the similarities and the differences in the struggles each faced, as well as how she chose to face those struggles.
The writing was quite lovely, and drew me in. Overall, it was a great impulse-read, and one that I have been recommending to people who come into Powell's looking for that next book club read.
