by Emilia Hart ★★★★☆
Weyward, Emilia Hart's debut novel, focuses on the interlacing stories of three women of the Weyward bloodline: Altha Weyward, and her trial for witchcraft in 1619; Violet Ayres, and her troubling upbringing in 1942; and Kate Ayres, and her flight from an abusive relationship in 2019. Throughout each woman's life, they've felt like they were a bit different. And, it turns out, it's for good reason: magic and a connection to nature runs strongly in their blood, giving them not just an altered view of the world, but some significant powers to pair with it.
Altha grew up in a single parent household, living with her mother in the 1600s. The pair were outsiders, with rumors circulating in town about her mother's practice of alternative medicine. Furthermore, with witchcraft trials happening across the land, they lived on a knife's edge, knowing one wrong poultice or healing visit could lead to the town turning on them. Altha's mother was more than an alternative healer, though -- she seemed to have a more direct connection with nature, insects, and creatures, a gift (or perhaps a curse?) that Altha would eventually come to find lived in her as well.
Like Altha, Violet also grows up in a single parent household, although in her case it is without her mother, who died giving birth to Violet's brother (or so we're led to believe). At age 16, Violet lives a mostly lonely existence with her brother and perpetually angry father in their manor house outside of Crows Beck in 1942. She finds happiness in days spent wandering the manor grounds, climbing her favorite tree, or marveling at the insects and her connection with them. While not happy, life is fine...that is, until her cousin Frederick returns from the war.
Following a childhood tragedy, Kate has never fully felt in control of herself. That uncertainty led her to a relationship with an abusive and completely controlling husband, to the point where she has finally built up the courage to flee. When her great-aunt Violet passes away, she leaves Kate a cottage in the small town of Crows Beck. Kate makes her way there, trying to cover her tracks and disappear for a new start.
Author Hart creates consistent themes and events for our three special women. In each case, the women start out as passive passengers in a life situation dominated by men. And in each case, a tragic or emotionally-charged event leads each woman to discover her own confidence and special set of Weyward women powers.
But these poor Weyward women! When it comes to men, they have the darnedest luck. Hart creates a world that, while based in reality, also casts men in the worst possible light. With really only one or two exceptions, every male character in the book is not just bad, they're horrible. Rapists, misogynists, sexists, abusers -- they wield their power over the Weyward women (and others) in the ugliest of ways. Even male characters on the periphery are unnecessarily bad. The town doctor is corrupt and abuses his power, unprofessionally advancing the immoral wishes of other evil men. The husband of one of Kate's friends gives an annoyed honk on the car horn while waiting for his wife, who is comforting Kate at her doorway. Totally unnecessary...unless you have to make every male horrible! Even Violet's male family dog, Cecil, is an angry and vicious beast.
While I recognize it was done to make a point, it was so over-the-top that it diluted the message. If you've seen the Kill Bill movies, it's roughly analogous to how Tarantino uses blood in the fight scenes. Those movies contain so much blood, oftentimes cartoonishly squirting from severed limbs or flowing like a river, that the viewer becomes desensitized, it loses its impact, and in some ways almost becomes a running joke. The same could be said about Hart's Very Evil Men. Reigning in their evilness a little would have added more nuance to the tale, but it was so extreme I found myself eventually laughing at the male characters' continued awful behavior. In one scene, a particularly vile male character says to his female victim, after raping her, "I trust you enjoyed yourself?". Really?
The first 2/3 of the book dragged a bit, and I struggled with it for that reason as well as those mentioned above. But the last 1/3 was more enjoyable, and Hart did an admirable job of capturing and effectively realizing independent yet intertwined character arcs for all three of her main female protagonists. It's worth a read, but try not to let the absurdity of the male behavior cause you to lose sight of the flip side: this is a positive tale of women taking control and rising above some horrible situations.