Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
Weyward is a debut fantasy multi-generational fable by Emilia Hart. Released 7th March 2023 by Macmillan on their St. Martin's Press imprint, it's 336 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback due out from the same publisher in first quarter 2024. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a beautifully written paranormal historical novel told in three timelines and three women in the same familial line. The story itself is compelling and richly interwoven with flashbacks, journals, and visions. All of the women are gifted with psychic, healing, and wild natural gifts which, when used, run afoul of the local populace for witchcraft, at peril for their lives.
For sensitive readers, there are numerous descriptions of sexual assault, abuse, psychological torture, and murder. There are frank discussions of miscarriage and fairly graphic passages discussing pregnancy loss and miscarriage and trauma.
Four stars, with the strong codicil that although it's beautifully written, there are parts which will likely be difficult to read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Reviewed by annieb123 on
Reading updates
- 25 July, 2023: Started reading
- 25 July, 2023: Finished reading
- 25 July, 2023: Reviewed