Weyward: A Novel

The story of three generations of women, Altha, Violet, and Kate. Never meeting but influencing each other as they discover their power. Altha is from the 1600's, accused of witchcraft. Violet is a sheltered young woman kept in the dark about her legacy. Kate is the modern woman escaping from an abusive partner. All three end up in the Weyward cottage where they claim their birthright and find their power. Altha's diaries help Violet 300 hndred years later and Violet's bequeathment of the cottage to her grand-niece Kate provides a safe haven from her abuse. Enjoyable traversve through the lives of women who survived their circumstances.
As entertaining as this novel is to read, it does fall prey to some overused tropes. There are at least three different characters that are experiencing domestic abuse. Numerous women in the story survive SA. These elements do not detract from the novel but it would be nice to see women being empowered without having to go through SA.
Regardless I did have a strong emotional reaction to the end. So, I enjoyed the history, I engaged with the story, and I connected with the characters. An enjoyable journey of a family of women and their struggles.

I was really in between 2 or 3 ⭐️ but it was leaning more to 2. It was ok, very slow burn book. I got The Crucible vibes (one of my favorite plays) meets generational trauma and hate towards men. I really wouldn’t classify this as magical, fantasy or paranormal. The only part I really enjoyed was the journey of her learning about her family. I enjoy geneology myself, the character learning about her family was the only exciting part of it because that’s often I how feel when I discover a new part of my ancestral history.

⭐⭐⭐✨ A Haunting Tale of Witches, but I Wanted More Magic I really enjoyed the concept of Wayward, especially the rich backstory and the theme of witches throughout the novel. The multi-generational storytelling was compelling, and there were moments that truly tugged at my heart. Some parts were absolutely heartbreaking, making the emotional weight of the story feel real and powerful. That being said, I found myself wishing for a bit more magic. While the historical and atmospheric elements were well done, I wanted to see the magical aspects play a bigger role in the plot. Overall, Wayward was an engaging read with beautiful writing and strong characters—I just would have loved a little more of the witchcraft woven into the story.

After reading Sirens, I wanted to pick this book back up and relight the spark that it had and make sure it was as magical as I remembered. It was. I hope that Emilia Hart’s next book will return to this feeling and be even better than this. In any case she has created something wonderful here and no matter what comes after for her, we will all always have Weyward to look back to.

Three women spanning 5 centuries who endured persecution, humiliation, sexual abuse, and pregnancy loss and used nature and magic to avenge. That’s the whole book. I did not feel spellbound by this story after the first few chapters. I am still processing it because the content was highly triggering 🪶