A thrilling, devastating, gorgeous novel from a tremendous author. The whole thing feels almost like a fairytale, not one of those cheesy Disney versions but the darker older ones full of blood and bone and tears. She puts words together in unexpected ways. Yes, their first steps toward resistance are mired in white and cisheteronormative feminism, but Harrow gives them the space to grow and learn.Īlix E Harrow has a stunningly lyrical style of writing. Juniper has a very narrow view of what real magic is, and the more she interacts with diverse communities the more she realizes how much her understanding was shaped and limited by the patriarchy. We also see how the magic of other cultures is devalued by – the scene in the human zoo – and stolen by white supremacy.
As the final confrontation heats up, men use “women’s” magic and women use “men’s” magic and no one bats an eye. However, over the course of the novel, we see how much of that gender divide is caused by the patriarchy rather than any natural order. Women’s magic tends to be related to the household (mending seams, cooking, etc.) and men’s magic is rougher (tying shoelaces together, etc.). Harrow initially divides magic into women’s magic and men’s magic. As a sinister city councilman sets his sights on becoming mayor and passing old school Puritan laws, and his female charge who wants to quash the suffragette movement, the sisters have their work cut out for them. Seething in the shadows is an ancient evil determined to stamp out any and all witchcraft in the most brutal fashion. A romance between Bella and Cleopatra, a Black journalist from the redlined side of town, a friendship between Juniper and a queer trans woman, and Agnes’ partnership with poor immigrants and labor activists expands their goals from equality to equity to restorative justice. But it soon becomes bigger than any of them could imagine. The suffragette movement serves as cover for their real scheme to restore witchcraft and pull women out from under men’s thumbs. After Bella unintentionally casts a spell and pulls a magical tower out of thin air, the three are reunited. Three sisters – pensive Bella, wild Juniper, and stoic Agnes – haven’t seen each other in years, not since a tragic fire that left Juniper disabled and her sisters scattered to the wind. Alix E Harrow, fresh off 2019’s wondrous The Ten Thousand Doors of January, turns her sharp gaze to the patriarchy (and white supremacy) with The Once & Future Witches.
The story is also always rosier than the truth it is based on. Three main characters, three wishes, three acts of violence.
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