The Factory Witches of Lowell

by C. S. Malerich

Overview

C. S. Malerich's The Factory Witches of Lowell is a riveting historical fantasy about witches going on strike in the historical mill-town of Lowell, Massachusetts.

Faced with abominable working conditions, unsympathetic owners, and hard-hearted managers, the mill girls of Lowell have had enough. They're going on strike, and they have a secret weapon on their side: a little witchcraft to ensure that no one leaves the picket line.

For the young women of Lowell, Massachusetts, freedom means fair wages for fair work, decent room and board, and a chance to escape the cotton mills before lint stops up their lungs. When the Boston owners decide to raise the workers’ rent, the girls go on strike. Their ringleader is Judith Whittier, a newcomer to Lowell but not to class warfare. Judith has already seen one strike fold and she doesn’t intend to see it again. Fortunately Hannah, her best friend in the boardinghouse—and maybe first love?—has a gift for the dying art of witchcraft.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250756565
Publisher:	Tom Doherty Associates
Publication date:	11/10/2020
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	191,322
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

C. S. MALERICH grew up in northern New Jersey. In addition to writing, she has taught mythology to undergrads at the University of Maryland and pursued interests in folklore, cultural studies, and public health, sometimes all at once. Her fiction explores intersections of liberation and justice, with an infectious dance beat. Her work has appeared in Apparition Lit, Ares Magazine, and the Among Animals anthologies. Her novel Fire & Locket was published in 2019.

Editorial Reviews

08/17/2020

YA author Malerich (Fire and Locket) makes her adult debut with this spellbinding account of a group of textile factory girls in Lowell, Mass., who form a union after their boardinghouse rent is raised. Their demands are simple: higher wages and working conditions that won’t slowly kill them. Judith Whittier, who spearheads the effort, and Hannah Pickering, whose lungs are compromised from inhaling lint, have a plan to make sure their strike doesn’t fail. Hannah, a Seer, has a connection to magic, and though she’s never cast a spell before, she and Judith convince the other girls to bind themselves together so that none of them can break their strike until their demands are met. The spell works, but the factory owners bring in new workers, and the union members struggle to get by with their funds cut off. As tension rises in the ranks of the union, Judith’s feelings toward Hannah change into something more than friendship, and Hannah’s health continues to decline. With Hannah too ill to help, Judith makes one last, magical bid for the girls’ places at the textile mill. The practical magic and genuine connection between Judith and Hannah are sure to charm. Historical fantasy fans won’t want to miss this. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

The Factory Witches of Lowell is a sweetly magical tale of solidarity, owning the means of production, and the romance between a witch and a union girl. I loved it madly.” —Annalee Newitz

“Women's work — silent, invisible, necessary — has always looked like magic from the outside. The Factory Witches of Lowell makes literal the unspoken societal fear of women with the capacity to organize and the willingness to sacrifice for each other and for a better world.” —Madeline Ashby

“Malerich weaves a rich story, as meaningful as it is fantastic, that will have you cheering the underdog in this unique take on workers, bosses, and class struggle.” —P. Djèlí Clark

“New England witches fight for their rights with pragmatism and passion, using their wits and their art to battle forces of capitalist exploitation. A must-read for fans of authentic and engaging historical fantasy.” —Katharine Duckett

"Sisterhood, love, and magic blossom in this timely tale of protest based on a historical incident...Slender but still well-crafted and satisfying." —Kirkus

From the Publisher

★ 10/01/2020

The textile mills of Lowell, MA, were built for profit, and the Boston-based owners decide that their returns will improve by raising the working girls' rent. In response, the girls go on strike, led by the tenacious Judith Whittier. Although Judith's experience in Dover failed, she has crafted a plan that involves her best friend, Hannah Pickering, and Hannah's talent for witchcraft. As the conflict comes to a head, the mill agent, Mr. Boott, is determined to break the strike and bring the girls back to the mills—or see them suffer. Tension rises as whispers of the spell work increase, and with Hannah's health at stake, Judith finds her drive and heart strong. Class struggles and industry exploitation are woven into a touching tale layered with magical and romantic elements. VERDICT In her adult debut, YA author Malerich (Fire & Locket) has created a delightful historical fantasy shining a spotlight on New England history, making this a terrific companion to Alix Harrow's The Once and Future Witches.—Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Library Journal

2020-08-19
Sisterhood, love, and magic blossom in this timely tale of protest based on a historical incident.

In mid-19th-century Lowell, Massachusetts, the “mill girls” spin the thread and weave the cloth in the textile factories, all to the profit of the “Boston gentlemen” who own the mills where they work and the boardinghouses where they live. But when those very same gentlemen decide to raise the young women’s rent by a quarter a week, the women decide it’s time they had a say in their living and working conditions. Fierce Judith Whittier organizes the workers into a union and ensures their loyalty to the cause—and specifically, to their planned strike at the mills—with the help of her friend Hannah Pickering, a gentle and sickly Seer who bends her untrained magic into a spell that uses a lock of every woman’s hair to literally weave all of them into solidarity. Now the union members are magically compelled to maintain the strike, but what will they do when the mill owners’ agent, the hardhearted Mr. Boott, brings in new and more desperate workers to take the strikers’ places at the factories? As Judith and Hannah seek a magical solution to their cause, they both gradually realize that what they feel for one another is more than mere friendship. A feel-good message of a marginalized community battling amoral, exploitative capitalists might seem a bit obvious, but it also feels empowering during these uncertain times, when so many are still effectively disenfranchised. If the story has a flaw, it’s that it might’ve been richer with a higher page count and more development. The battle between the union and the establishment could have spawned additional twists and turns, more magic spells. Some more character development would also have been welcome; we learn a certain amount of Hannah’s history, but we learn very little about Judith’s backstory and even less about the other mill girls’.

Slender but still well-crafted and satisfying.

Kirkus Reviews

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