Skye McKenna ‘Hedgewitch’ Book Review

Hedgewitch by Skye McKenna © book styling Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2023

A great read for the school holidays. Goblin bombs anyone?! It starts off very well, there are exciting bits, scary bits and then mystery takes over. I loved this type of book as a kid, such an imaginative and inventive storyline founded in fantasy and grounded in real life, albeit with a talking cat and nasty little imps. Young Cassandra Morgan is a great protagonist (you can’t say heroine anymore can you?) who meets some pretty big challenges head on.

First there are uncomfortably cruel boarding school scenes but after much trauma, and a train trip, Cassie arrives in the enchanted village of Hedgely which watches over The Hedge that protects England from Faerie. Cassie has a familiar (partner) cat named Montague. She starts witch training school, a bit like Girl Guides, hoping to earn the inimitable pointy black hat. All the while preparing her secret quest to find her missing mother.

Cassie wears a key around her neck, the only memento of her mother.

Rule One is ‘Do not walked through The Hedge alone’. Learning the magic of witchcraft, friendships blossom alongside potions, cauldrons, experiments, incantations and wonky broom riding. But the golden thread is Cassie taking risks to reunite with her mother. She sneaks into her Aunt Miranda’s study, the eponymous and cranky Hedgewitch of Heartwood Hall, searching for information. The background scene-setting is vivid, coupled with Mrs Briggs the housekeeper, Brogan the gardener, Uncle Elliot, goblins, shape-shifters and the ethereal Erl King.

As an adult I probably appreciate the setting more than an action hungry young reader might until the spooky second half of the book. I have enjoyed magical realism before, e.g. the Stella Montgomery series by Judith Rossell who illustrates her own books. The ‘Hedgewitch’ chapters and full page pen and ink artwork by illustrator Tomislav Tomic are evocative and his Hedgely map is superlative.

Chapter 20 is one of my favourites, ‘The Midsummer Fair’ would be delightful to actually visit. However, with certain chapters I had to curb my jaded adult view because of what I might find stereotyped, a new reader will not. Especially as this is reasonably removed from iconic Harry Potter’s hardship but many similarities can be conjured.

A
Book
Quote
‘Ignis Fatuus’
Chapter Seventeen
“This is a terrible idea,’ croaked Natter.
‘For once, I am in agreement with the frog,’ said Montague.
‘Toad, but look, you can’t go wandering about in there on your own.’
It was a glorious, sunny afternoon and the grassy hill that led up to The Hedge
was spotted with buttercups and daisies. The sun was warm on their backs and they were well provisioned for the journey with ham sandwiches, bottles of Mrs Brigg’s
homemade ginger beer and a packet of digestive biscuits.”
Cassie came with her broom Tantivy once owned by her mother.
Rue had her salt Goblin Bombs, just in case.
Hedgewitch
by Skye McKenna
Welbeck Publishing Group 2022

In hardcover ‘Hedgewitch’ has 403 pages double spaced and I have seen library books where turned pages seem to stop in the middle. I hope this is not the case with this story otherwise the erstwhile reader will miss out on some magical treats “By mirrored moon and shining flower, Over sea or mountain peak, Reveal to me this item’s keeper, For I would glimpse the one I seek.”

The second book ‘Woodwitch’ has hit the shelves!

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

‘The Witch Finder’s Sister’ by Beth Underdown

A witch-finder compiles his list … To me, prologues are an unnecessary extension of the backcover blurb and I often don’t read them. Resistance is futile when it comes to Beth Underdown’s deep dark 17th century historical novel based on the real witch-finder Matthew Hopkins.

When I read the prologue to The Witch Finder’s Sister I tried not to become smitten with the words, tried not to be intrigued by the premise nor overcome with a desire to read what sister Alice has to say, but I am already into Chapter 8 even though historical fiction is not my preferred genre.

As absorbing as I’m finding this tale, this is not a proper book review and “no correspondence will be entered into”. But I will say Chapter 1 is claustrophobic and tension-filled, a classic example of how thoughts become words to become other people’s thoughts. There is an epilogue under the guise of Author’s Note which I can live without reading. If you wish to pursue the Prologue & Epilogue debate, check out WordPress Blogger theryanlanz A Writer’s Path

I will leave the review to Suzi Feay of esteemed The Guardian newspaper:

The Witch Finder’s Sister by Beth Underdown review – puritan or serial killer?
The Guardian Review of The Witch Finder’s Sister by Beth Underdown

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Here is the prologue to The Witch Finder’s Sister by Beth Underdown––
“1645, and the Civil War in England has begun its fourth year. It is a war about God, and how best we should worship Him. It is a war about who should govern, and why; whether the Parliament should rule, or whether the ousted King. It is a war of thoughts, of words printed or hurled in anger: but this is also a war of guns. Last year, at Marston Moor, more than four thousand men were killed. Before this, women have seldom been hanged for witchcraft – one or two, every five years, or ten. Eight were sentenced in Pendle, thirty years ago, when the land still knew peace. But now this country is falling apart at the seams. Now, all England is looking the other way: so there is nothing to stop Matthew Hopkins stepping forward. Starting to make his list of names.”