Set on a Southern plantation before, during and just after American Civil War, Conjure Women deals with the meaning of freedom, faith and belonging to those who inhabit it. May Belle, a healer and conjure woman, her daughter Rue, also a healer and Varina, the daughter of Marse Charles who owns the plantation and everyone on it. The narrative moves back and forth between Slaverytime, Freedomtime and Wartime and is mainly focused on Rue, her childhood spent playing with Varina and learning from her mother, growing up as Varina thinks of marriage and the destruction of the plantation house towards the end of the war. At the start of the novel, in Freedomtime, Rue is called to assist at a birth, she delivers an unusual looking baby boy who will act as a catalyst, affecting the whole community of freed slaves still living on the plantation.

The characters are wonderfully realised, both Rue and May Belle are morally grey and the more compelling for it, living with the choices they have made to protect what’s important to them and to survive. Secondary characters too – Ma Doe, Varina’s old nanny and keeper of Rue’s secrets, Bruh Abel, itinerant preacher and former slave who Rue fears will bring change. And there is a palpable tension between the past, the old folk beliefs and ‘hoodoo’ of May Belle and salvation Bruh Abel promises; between the trauma of slavery and learning to live in the present, without chains but also not exactly free, surrounded as the community is by white settlements.

Conjure Women is a highly accomplished debut novel and Atakora is a skilled writer who shows a lot of promise. The novel does slightly suffer from uneven pacing, with a slow middle before it really picks up in the last third but this is a minor grumble. I’d love to see what Atakora does next.

My thanks to Netgalley and Fourth Estate for the opportunity to read and review Conjure Women.

An interesting book with great characters. I was disappointed when I came to the end as I really felt involved with the story. I would definitely read more from this author.

An absolutely astounding novel. A really fresh take on novels set during slavery and the times just after emancipation, with a main female character told with depth and empathy. Told in a mixture of the main character's life and flashbacks to her mothers, it was amazingly well written. I cannot recommend this enough.

Thank you to 4th Estate and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review. I have rated this book 3.5 stars.

I was so excited to get my hands on this book! From the blurb it looked right up my street, ticking numerous boxes. I mean, a female-led multigenerational story spanning multiple eras all wrapped up in a ‘magnificently researched’ historical novel? Count me in!

I am so happy to have had the privilege of reading Afia Atakora’s debut novel. It is beautifully written with wonderfully complex female characters. Rue, our protagonist, was born into slavery and just barely an adult when ‘freedom’ came following the Civil War. She has shadowed her mother, Miss May Belle, a ‘healer’ who dabbles in curses and hoodoo, all her life and, after her mother’s death, takes up her mantle in her community. She is both resentful of her predetermined destiny and takes pride in her work. Rue is a sympathetic and likeable morally grey character. She’d definitely an unreliable narrator and a pleasure to read.

The narrative flits between the pre and post war eras, so, as well as chapters from Rue’s perspective about her childhood, we are also treated to some chapters written in Miss May Belle’s voice, which I really enjoyed. The other woman’s story this novel tells is Varina’s. She is the daughter of Rue and Miss May Belle’s enslaver, Marse Charles, and is another interesting character. This is novel is, I think, an exploration of power and autonomy. Varina, of course, has power over Rue and Miss May Belle due to the fact that she is their white mistress. Yet, she is also vulnerable and powerless, a member of the second sex, and Afia excellently explores this dualism.

Unfortunately, while I found this to be an engaging novel it was, strangely, simultaneously anti-climactic. I think that perhaps this was an issue with the lead plot or maybe a casualty of the non-linear narrative – something I usually really enjoy but feel was perhaps was not so well executed in this case. Maybe I expected more magical realism than was delivered. I’m not sure. It’s hard to put my finger on why I came away from this novel underwhelmed but it was certainly a great debut and I would happily read a subsequent novel from Afia!

This is wonderfully imagined and beautifully told novel that stays with you long after you've finished reading. Conjure Women is a slow burner that doesn't really pick up pace until about half way through but when it gets going, the many twists and turns make it immensely compelling and leaves the reader thoroughly enchanted.

Atakora deftly manages to go back and forth between slavery and freedomtime in a way that makes you feel like you're on the plantation with Rue and Miss May Belle. The time jump expertly covers the civil war and the abolition of slavery with characters that feel so close you can almost touch them. As the book goes on there is more and more moving between time periods which got quite confusing at times but it did pay off in the end.

Whilst Atakora is definitely a gifted writer and certainly one to watch, I found the comparisons to Homegoing and Beloved in the blurb slightly distracting as it gives the novel a lot to live up to. All three novels are great in their own right but the only similarities between them is that they have strong female characters and are set during slavery. I did find that this comparison does the book a bit of a disservice as it makes you almost wish it were more like the other two novels.

Saying that, this is a well thought out and brilliantly told debut novel!

Wow. This feels like an important book.

The story explores the lives of several women, taking place during slaverytime, the civil war and the aftermath of abolition. We're introduced to a panoply of interesting, well fleshed characters, my personal favourite being Rue, who has such a gentle yet pragmatic voice.

There's a lot of time jumping in Conjure Women, which can become confusing if you're not paying close attention, but the ride is well worth it.

Atakora writes with great authority and wisdom - I can't wait to see more from her.

this book epically covers the lives of several women (and men) living on a plantation, before, during, and after the civil war and abolition of slavery. my favourite part of this novel was getting to read the words of Rue and May Belle. The chapters moved fast between different periods, which I greatly enjoyed. However I did get slightly confused about Bean - as near the end it says he dies, but then he also lives to be a toddler? I might have missed something, so the fault is surely mine! Near the end, the going back and forth between time periods became slightly too confusing for me. But, I found Atakora's writing to be beautiful, and an ode to Toni Morrison herself.