The Once and Future Witches

by Alix E. Harrow

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A witch origin story set in 1893, The Once and Future Witches follows the Eastwood sisters, together after unwanted separation, as they join the suffragists of New Salem. The suffrage movement soon starts to parallel a bubbling witch's movement that only the sisters can lead, if they can bind the wounds between themselves. Harrow follows up her Hugo Award win with a highly enjoyable and inherently feminist sophomore novel.

"A gorgeous and thrilling paean to the ferocious power of women. The characters live, bleed, and roar. "―Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR Books • Barnes and Noble • BookPage

In the late 1800s, three sisters use witchcraft to change the course of history in this powerful novel of magic, family, and the suffragette movement. 

In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.

But when the Eastwood sisters―James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna―join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote―and perhaps not even to live―the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.

There's no such thing as witches. But there will be.

An homage to the indomitable power and persistence of women, The Once and Future Witches reimagines stories of revolution, motherhood, and women's suffrage—the lost ways are calling.

Praise for The Once and Future Witches:

"A glorious escape into a world where witchcraft has dwindled to a memory of women's magic, and three wild, sundered sisters hold the key to bring it back...A tale that will sweep you away."―Yangsze Choo, New York Times bestselling author 

"This book is an amazing bit of spellcraft and resistance so needed in our times, and a reminder that secret words and ways can never be truly and properly lost, as long as there are tongues to speak them and ears to listen."―P. Djèlí Clark, author The Black God's Drum

For more from Alix E. Harrow, check out The Ten Thousand Doors of January.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316422048
Publisher:	Orbit
Publication date:	10/13/2020
Pages:	528
Sales rank:	65,875
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.80(d)

About the Author

Alix E. Harrow is an ex-historian with lots of opinions and excessive library fines, currently living in Kentucky with her husband and their semi-feral children. She won a Hugo for her short fiction, and has been nominated for the Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy awards. Find her at @AlixEHarrow on Twitter.

Editorial Reviews

06/01/2020

Harrow’s sophomore novel (after The Ten Thousand Doors of January) is a love letter to folklore and the rebellious women of history. The Eastwood sisters—bookish Beatrice, stoic Agnes, and feral Juniper—each paid a high price to escape their abusive parents and harsh childhood in an alternate 1893 America where witchcraft is real, illegal, and all but extinct. When a legendary rose-covered tower manifests in New Salem, the Eastwood sisters reunite as adults, drawn to its power. Assisted by New Salem’s working-class and black communities, they set out to bring back real magic, but their actions accidentally boost a terrifying, repressive politician to fame. Harrow gestures at a diverse, gender-neutral vision of witchcraft, through which men cast spells in Latin, the Dakota Sioux use dances, and black witches use songs and constellations, but despite the inclusive background cast and manifesto moments (in Harrow’s imagining, a witch is “any woman who... fights for her fair share”), the racial and gender politics are oversimplified as the focus remains tightly on the sisters. Still, their path to empowerment is entertaining, and Harrow’s world is gleefully referential; folklore and history enthusiasts will have a feast. Agent: Kate McKean, Morhaim Literary. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 09/01/2020

There used to be witches, but plagues and purges came, along with fire—and now the witches are gone. Little charms endure, passed down through the generations, but these are worn down to nursery rhymes and old memories. Now in 1893, women look for power at the ballot box, and the New Salem Women's Association seeks suffragists to support their cause. On the spring equinox, the long-separated Eastwood sisters—James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna—all feel the energy that arrives in their city and start to use their positions in the women's movement to reclaim real magic. But there is a shadowy sickness in New Salem, and the sisters will need to form alliances throughout the city, discover lost witchcraft, and set down the pain of their childhood, before a dark power destroys the movement and their lives. The worldbuilding is richly detailed, inclusive, and enchanting, while still honoring the harsher history of civil rights and resistance. VERDICT Drawn from folklore and history, Harrow's (The Ten Thousand Doors of January) lyrical prose immerses readers in a story of power and secrets that is not easily forgotten.—Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Library Journal

"A gorgeous and thrilling paean to the ferocious power of women. The characters live, bleed, and roar. I adore them, and long for witchcraft to awaken in all of us. Harrow makes it feel possible, and even likely."—Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author

"A glorious escape into a world where witchcraft has dwindled to a memory of women's magic, and three wild, sundered sisters hold the key to bring it back....A tale that will sweep you away."—Yangsze Choo, NYT bestselling author of Night Tiger and The Ghost Bride

"This novel cleverly connects the dots between the suffragist movement of the past to the Me Too movement of today. Compelling, exhilarating, and magical, The Once and Future Witches is a must-read."—Booklist (starred review)

"A radiant masterpiece of pure storytelling magic! Meet the Eastwood Sisters and prepare to take the best book vacation you will have in a long time."—Gwendolyn Womack, USA Today bestselling author of The Fortune Teller

"Drawn from folklore and history, ­Harrow's lyrical prose immerses readers in a story of power and secrets that is not easily ­forgotten."—Library Journal (starred review)

"The magical tale of imperfect heroines, fractured sisterhood, and shadowy undying villains you never knew you needed. Alix Harrow crafts a delightfully bewitching story with familiar but ingeniously recrafted histories and deft worldbuilding as rich as the prose that leaps off the page. This book is an amazing bit of spellcraft and resistance so needed in our times, and a reminder that secret words and ways can never be truly and properly lost, as long as there are tongues to speak them and ears to listen."—P. Djèlí Clark, author The Black God's Drum

"A love letter to folklore and the rebellious women of history."—Publishers Weekly

"This is a delightful, satisfying novel, a tale of women's battle for equality, of fairy tales twisted into wonderfully witchy spells, of magics both large and small, and history re-imagined. All of it is told in Alix Harrow's exquisite language and with her vivid characterizations-a great pleasure to read."—Louisa Morgan, author of A Secret History of Witches

"A breathtaking book-brilliant and raw and dark and complicated. It's also, to be blunt, uncannily relevant."—Sarah Gailey, author of Magic for Liars

"A brilliant dazzle of a book. This story of sisters and witches, memory and power cracked open my heart and set down roots there. I devoured it in enormous gulps, and utterly loved it."—Kat Howard, author of An Unkindness of Ghosts

Previous praise for Alix E. Harrow:


"A gorgeous, aching love letter to stories, storytellers and the doors they lead us through...absolutely enchanting." —Christina Henry, national bestselling author of Lost Boys and Alice on The Ten Thousand Doors of January


"One for the favorites shelf... Here is a book to make you happy when you gently close it. Here you will find wonder and questions and an unceasingly gorgeous love of words which compasses even the shape a letter makes against a page." —NPR Books on The Ten Thousand Doors of January


"Harrow has created a gorgeous world of magic that is at once familiar and startlingly new. With lush writing and a sense of wonder, The Ten Thousand Doors of Januaryexamines power, progress, and identity. It is an adventure in the best and grandest sense." —Erika Swyler, author of The Book of Speculation


"A love letter to imagination, adventure, the written word, and the power of many kinds of love." —Kirkus on The Ten Thousand Doors of January


"A magical, spellbinding saga... A fantastical journey of self-discovery that reveals the true power of our imagination." —Women's World on The Ten Thousand Doors of January


"The Ten Thousand Doors of January is both whimsical and smart, using engaging writing and a unique plot to touch on serious topics. Harrow's debut reads like a love letter to the art of storytelling itself, and readers will be eager for more." —Booklist

From the Publisher