I liked the premise of this book and the writing at parts was quite endearing. I thought the idea that witches exist but the rest of society operated the same as the real world hard to believe. It sometimes felt like I was being hit over the head with clumsy social commentary but it had nice moments that saved it as a 3 star for me.

The Women Could Fly follows Josephine Thomas, a woman whose mother mysteriously disappears when she is a teenager. Rumours swirl regarding what actually happened, but Josephine lives in a world where witches are real and that’s the most dangerous rumour of all. Hers is a dangerous world for women – especially Black women – who don’t conform, and can therefore find themselves on trial for witchcraft at any moment. The State further mandates that all women marry by the age of 30 or register so that they can be monitored, effectively forfeiting their autonomy.

14 years later, Jo finally decides it’s time to declare her mother dead. At 28, with her ability to control her own life and future on the line, Jo can understand her mother’s potential need to escape. So, when her mother’s will offers her an opportunity to honour one last request, Jo leaves her life behind in the hope of finding closure.

I really wanted to love this book. It’s witchy, feminist and political, which I love, and I thought the premise was so intriguing, especially in light of the current discussion of womens’ rights and bodily autonomy. However, it took me ages to get into and I got about 50% in before the pace really picked up for me. I enjoyed the growth of Jo’s character and her relationships with Angie and Preston, and while the prose was often poignant and thought-provoking it just didn’t blow me away like I thought it would!

The Women Could Fly is out now. Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan for the E-arc.

The Women Could Fly has an interesting premise for a feminist dystopian story; there is widespread fear that women are capable of and engaging in witchcraft, burning at the stake is back and all women are required to be in heterosexual marriages by the age of 28 or else their freedoms are curtailed and they are assigned monitors. The story is centred on the life of Josephine, a young woman whose mother has been missing for years. Josephine’s mother is a Black woman, and the prevailing racist culture means that Josephine’s every move has already come under intense scrutiny.

This was a novel that almost worked for me. It explored many issues that are of huge interest to me, such as compulsory heterosexuality; for bisexual Josephine and her lesbian best friend, the legal requirement to marry men was obviously deeply problematic. The exploration of this was muddied, though, by the author’s habit of using terms like ‘queer’. Often, when describing injustices towards women, this would be quickly followed up by a sentence referring to gender presentation, or using terms like cis and trans. I was frustrated so many times while reading this novel, to find that a feminist point was hastily undone by an almost apologetic follow-up sentence bundling other groups in with what was effectively only happening to women in the story.

As a lesbian feminist, then, the writing was not for me. I think that to have a clear understanding of the impacts of something like compulsory heterosexuality, we need an accurate definition of who is, and is not, a lesbian. We cannot reach a sensible understanding of this topic by using muddled language like ‘queer’ or by referring to gender rather than sex.

Had these references, which I think will date this novel quickly, been edited out then it would otherwise have been a very well-written and interesting dystopian tale.

This is such an interesting concept and I was super intrigued.
The premise was better than the actual book though for me. I found the writing to be a little too descriptive at times, which slowed the pacing down, and I lost interest at these times.

Despite not loving this book, there are so many questions this book poses - so it would be a great one for a book club.

Overall, i did enjoy this book, but I didn't love it.

I really enjoyed this story and felt that I knew the thoughts of the main character, Jo Thomas, inside out.

Witches must complete their paperwork if they wish to 'live' in this world. They'll have to sacrifice most other things too. People are constantly reminded to look out for signs that they - and others - are witches. If they are incriminated, they will be interrogated (by men), and then burned at the stake (by men). It's Big Brother for witches.

This world is ruled by men. Women who are unmarried must register by age 28, and must be married by age 30. Non-conformity to gender roles is illegal. Women of colour are treated as less than human. As a bisexual, mixed race woman, therefore, Jo hasn't got a snowflake's chance in Hell of a positive outlook for a long life. Her mother disappeared when she was 12, firmly putting the question mark of a witch on mother AND daughter. When Jo follows one last request from her mother's will, it turns her world and everything she believes about herself upside down. I adored the ending.

This was an easy read and the writing was very good. One thing that niggled me was the portrayal of the men. Rather than being frightening, I found them to be totally idiotic, almost comedic. That could be just me, though.

I chose this ARC from a selection which I voluntarily read and honestly reviewed. All opinions are my own. My thanks to the publisher, NetGalley, and the author.

A novel with dark themes of witchcraft and domination of women, that has echoes of Victorian patriarchal society in its attitudes towards the fairer sex. A very witty and playful read, with relatable characters that rouse sympathy and ire on their behalf.
The narrator is Josephine, she is twenty eight, unmarried and employed at the Museum of Cursed Art. Unfortunately, all females must be married by the age of thirty, or they have to register with the Bureau of Witchcraft and all their activities overseen by a man. They will not be allowed to have a career. If they remain wilfully single, they will be registered as a Witch, and be sterilised. If they are sensible, get married, they are permitted to continue with their job, with the permission of said husband.
Women are told to be alert to the possibility of magic from the age of fourteen, just at the time the body experiences puberty and menstruation starts. Men are fearful that their power is diminished due to the hidden wonder and magic of the female form.
A multi layered story that reminds us of the dark days of wise women and herbalists being accused of being witches and subjected to torture and the flames. This is a thoughtful and analytical look at past history of women being treated with fear by men, that manifests itself in current attitudes of coercion and prejudice.
A definite page turner of a novel, deserving of a five star rating.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers, Pan MacMillan for my advance digital copy. This is my honest, unbiased review.

I always love a dystopian novel, but had never read one that involved a magic theme as well (which is usually not my favourite), but I have to say the combination was powerful and very well delivered.
Giddings is an exceptionally skilled writer! I've found the storyline and the characters very well developed despite the difficult themes the novel touches.
A compulsive, recommended read!

Josephine Thomas has heard every single opinion people have on her mothers disappearance. She ran away, her father killed her, she was murdered, she was a witch... the most dangerous in a world where women can be charged with witchcraft, and being Black and a witch would lead to certain death. Fourteen years have passed since her disappearance, and now Jo and her father have decided to finally put it all behind them, finally admit that her mother is dead. But just as Jo seems to be sorting her life out, her father calls with a weird request, her mother has left her a significant amount of money but to claim it Jo has to travel to an Island in Lake Superior and complete some tasks. Jo knows what life has planned for her, at 28 she is expected to find a husband, marry, have kids, and Jo see's this request, bizarre as it is, as her last chance to feel connected to her mother, her last chance at autonomy, so she jumps at it. But Jo is unprepared for what she finds on that Island, and the repercussions that it will have on her future.

Jo was a fantastic POV to read this story from. Black, Bi... and something else. She has always been against the registration of women, the strict laws in place to ensure women's 'safety' that they refrain from falling into the Devils traps. She is reminded daily that she is different, she strays from the norm, what society consider to be acceptable, and yet she knows there is an inevitability to her fate, to marrying a man who will have ownership over her. That is until she visits the Island and learn things she never thought possible, about herself, about her family and about society as a whole. It's a hard book to talk about without giving away spoilers and, although there is some inevitability to Jo's ending, it was glorious being able to follow her along her journey.

To say this is a timely book is the understatement of the year. Giddings Dystopian world is scary in that it does not seem that large a jump from our own. A world where women are ruled by the whims of men, registered at the age of 28 and expected to marry a man by 30. A world where there are only considered two genders, where anything outside of the norm was dangerous, could lead to you being deemed a witch & where being a witch could lead to death. Parts of the story had me seething with anger, others had me smiling sadly, empathising with some of the things going on. Gidding's world is one filled with injustice, but not only towards women, it contains racism, sexism, genderism, classism, and it shows the slippery slope the our own world is heading towards with it's intolerance of anything different. Gidding's uses stories told to Jo from her mother to show the history of the world, how it wasn't always like this, how women and witches were belittled, ruined, destroyed by men until they had nowhere safe to go, until they were so controlled there was no escape.

I really enjoyed reading the relationship between Jo and her mother. It was complicated, filled with only the equal parts love and hate a child can feel for their parent. Her mother was both loving and distant, both tolerant and strict and Jo never quite had a steady vision of her in her head thanks to both society's and her own impressions of her. She was known for being outspoken, headstrong, different, all things that were dangerous in a world where being different could mean death. But it wasn't just Jo's relationship with her mother what was complicated, nearly every relationship in her life was thanks in large part to the rules surrounding being a woman. She loved her best friend, but never acted on it because why ruin something when you could never be together anyway. She enjoyed having sex with Preston, but felt like loving him was conforming to society in a way she never wanted to. She loved her father, but resented his lack of care for her when she was a child.

This is the latest is a string of feminist fiction I've been reading recently and I've been loving it. Gidding's creates a world too close to our own for comfort. It's not a book of revenge, there is no happy ending where the patriarchy is destroyed and everyone lives happily after, but rather shows the dangers of conforming, of letting ourselves be chipped away at bit by bit until there is no fight left in us.. It's rough & dark in parts, but also a story that effortlessly drags you in, thanks in large part to Gidding's writing style, and I found it nearly impossible to put down. An easy 4 stars, and I'm eager to see what Gidding's has in store in next.

Set in a dystopian world with magic and with a lot of similarities to our own reality. Where being a black woman puts you at a disadvantage, as does being gay, and being suspected of witchcraft can lead to your death. Women are expected to be married by 30 to keep any rights and freedom. At 27, Josephine is still finding her way in this world and sleeping with whoever she chooses. Her mum, who didn't belive in magic, vanished 14 years ago and she feels lost and alone in the world. This book makes us evaluate our rights and beliefs, as well as shining a light on oppression, bigotry, racism and discrimination.

Our protagonist, Jo, is a bisexual in her late twenties living in contemporary America. However, in this world, women can and still are accused of being witches and the treatment of those suspected or found guilty does not differ from those women of the 17tg century.

Women are under constant suspicion and Jo's situation is further compounded by the fact that she's black and her mother went missing when she was younger in mysterious circumstances.

The novel is clearly a rumination on the inequality that still exists in society. There are some clever points of reflection but it seemed a little too heavy handed in it's metaphor at times. I am not sure the first person perspective worked with the plot and a lot happened in the middle section that really could have been a whole developed world on it's own. Jo's choices were a little frustrating and despite only hearing from her I don't think she was as fully formed as I would need her to be to accept the fantastical elements of the story.

I think it would be an accessible way into fictional feminist writing for a younger audience.

I received an electronic advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you to Megan Giddings and Pan Macmillan for giving me the opportunity to read The Women Could Fly before its release.
I’m a huge fan of dystopian fiction, so a feminist dystopian fiction sounded right up my street. Add in witchcraft and it sounded like the perfect book for me.
In practice this is an important book that delves into the oppression of women, in particular of Black women. In a world where women are intensely monitored for any and all signs of witchcraft and marriage is strongly encouraged, 28 year old Josephine is on the cusp of further monitoring as she remains unwed. With a mother who vanished years prior, she has been under scrutiny of people around her for years; did her mother disappear because she was a witch, or for another reason.
As her mother is officially declared dead, Josephine is left one final request from her mothers will. But on following through with this request, Josephine enters on a journey of self discovery that brings her closer to relating to her mother than ever before.
While I loved the concept of this book and appreciate the deep nuances involved with delving into such important topics, I did feel drawn out of the story at times by the pacing during the first half of the book. It took me a while to truly connect with Josephine as a character; but once I did I was desperate to know her fate.

Giddings’s second novel is chilling in its portrayal of a society where witches are real, and every woman is in danger of being accused of being one.

I'll be honest, when I started the book, I didn't much care for it. It took me a few chapters to get into the plotline, and then I fell in love. Dystopia isn't really my bag, but my, oh my, does Giddings provide some food for thought that feels closer to reality than fiction in so many ways.

At 28, all women are subject to a complicated surveillance system. Their actions are monitored and legislated, regulated under the guise of community health and safety. Unmarried women over 30 cannot hold jobs or have credit cards without a male co-signer. Witches are to be feared, and all women, only women, are under suspicion. People are alerted to monitor the behaviour of their neighbours, their colleagues, and their wives. Those accused of witchcraft are subject to torture, and the convicted are subject to burning. As is true of most systemic crises in our society, women of colour, poor women, and other marginalised groups fare worse than others in this arrangement, bearing an excessive amount of accusations and having less access to resources in the fight against them.

Through the book's protagonist, Jo Thomas, a 28-year-old bisexual black woman whose mother, Tiana, a suspected witch, has been missing for 14 years, Giddings portrays this hyper-patriarchal society with an eerily authentic tone. She describes the bureaucrats who enforce its rules and the ways they deafen themselves to the voices of those they are quashing.

The ease with which people can participate in such a system based on the subjugation of women is all the more noteworthy in the current political climate around the world - Afghanistan being at the forefront of my mind as I write this review.

The Women Could Fly is a story about power and fear. Women have been bestowed real, primal strength, yet the men who hold the authority do everything they can to legislate it, minimise it, and protect themselves from it. The stakes are so high for women that they might literally be burned upon them.

MINOR SPOILERS
This was a great idea for a book, the idea that witches are real and walk amongst us in modern society could inspire excellent creative narrative. But that excellent backdrop was dampened slightly for me by the lead character Jo. Jo - who is a a grown woman at nearly 30 - was so obsessed with herself and her relationship with her parents that it put me off her a little and so I didn't care too much about what happened to her. She was self-destructive, selfish, spoilt and a not a good friend/partner. I get that that is a character trait in itself and informed by her background but it made it hard for me to relate. Also she needed to grow up a little and stop waiting for her mother to return and make everything better.
And then when she did meet her mother again she became petulant and didn't try to get back what she had been missing.

Anyway - back to the witches - the author creates a very good world of 'witchy' artefacts, art and history that feels quite believable and immersive, until Jo gets to the island when it all becomes quite bizarre and not well explained.
But the social commentary was the best part of this book. It describes brilliantly - using the rights of single women and witches as an example - how society can play fast and loose with the rights of various different marginalised groups, and just how quickly you can find yourself on the wrong side of the law just for being you.
I enjoyed the wider concerns of the novel far more than the domestic musings of Jo and was hoping for a big revolution at the end, or at least a resolution. But it did kind of fizzle out... maybe that is the truth - that things haven't changed for marginalised sectors but it didn't make for a memorable ending.

Full disclosure; I dnf'd this book around 25%

The idea of this book was extremely appealing, witches are real and women are forced to marry by 30 or else suspected of witchcraft.
This got compared to The Handmaid's Tale which is one of my favorite novels.

The writing style did not work for me, it was like a running stream if consciousness which I never enjoy in a novel. It was tough work reading this and I was just not having a good time unfortunately.

Premise is still great and I'm sure this book will work for people who enjoy the writing style but for me, it's a pass.

The synopsis of this book really caught my attention, particularly the comparison to The Handmaid's Tale. Certainly there are echoes of the dystopian society, women as second class citizens being controlled and opressed by men.

Women are expected to be married by 30, so that their husbands can keep them respectable and safe from the lure of witchcraft. If found guilty of witchcraft, a woman will be burned alive.

As a young, Black, unmarried woman, whose mother disappeared in mysterious circumstances, Jo has more than her fair share of suspicion directed her way. The book deals with several conflicts in her life - whether or not to accept that her mum is likely to be dead and whether to go against everything she believes in to marry a man who can give her respectability and safety.

Many important themes are raised - racism, oppression of women, LGBTQIA+ rights, for example - but because so many are included, there is no room to develop them fully. We read about Jo's internal conflict in great detail, but this means that there is less action taking place and the pace of the story felt a bit off kilter.

Some beautifully descriptive writing and very interesting ideas, but it didn't quite hit the target for me personally. I do think others will award five stars to this without question!

Thanks to the author, Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

The cover is stunning, and when I read the description, I knew I had to request it.

I thought I was going to love this book. I thought it would be as stunning as Blood to Poison (Mary Watson), but I was a little letdown.

The fantasy element to the story was somewhat lacking for me.
There was so much promise, and parts of it were phenomenal, but the (I don’t know if this is right) realist in me had questions that didn’t get answered (when the witchy element came into play) and left me annoyed with the main character.
However, the times before and after, the dystopian elements, I loved!
The correlation between fact and fiction is evident in this book. Women may not be witches, but the restrictions and laws in place prove that “freedom” for women comes at a cost. We might not be drowned or burned, but even to this day, women suffer.
The current climate and political views highlight this perfectly, from women losing the rights over their bodies to losing their lives at the hands of pure evil only for it to be blamed on how the woman acts, dresses etc...
Powerful & thought-provoking. A unique and enthralling read.

You will find yourself questioning your freedom and what freedom means to you.

Thank you so much, Pan Macmillan & NetGalley, for the eArc in return for an honest review.

Set in a world that doesn’t seem too distant from our own, witchcraft is monitored and trials continue to take place. Women are even expected to get married by the age of 28, or face close surveillance. The protagonist, Jo, is fearful of losing her autonomy as her birthday draws closer, with her mother’s disappearance and alleged witchcraft hanging over her. Giddings’ dystopian novel is suspenseful and powerful, exploring racism, misogyny and trauma through a magical backdrop. It’s a timely commentary on current lawmaking, inequality and discrimination in America, making the novel all the more harrowing. Giddings’ smart observations and details, with an emotional plot, makes this novel a stand out dystopian read of 2022.

A dystopian exploration of what it is to be a woman that plays enough on the reality of everyday life for it to barely feel dystopian. The use of witchcraft as a commentary on freedom and the general lack of control felt by women is very poignant, especially in light of recent political events. I feel as though the author didn’t know quite how meaningful her work would become as time progressed and society regressed. This book was full of sadness and grief but I enjoyed the philosophical questions. Can you love someone if you ultimately have no control without them? It gave me stockholm syndrome vibes but as an undertone, as this could just as easily be a romance. Every situation is different but nothing works out when one social group has all of the power, and another has none. It was perhaps a horror in the sense that this could easily be reality for many people, although more commonly without the witchcraft. Whilst this was an impressive and very thought-provoking and relevant read, it was hard to connect with the characters and is perhaps more plot driven than character driven.

I read the book but to be honest I lost all interest in it after about 20%. The descriptions of certain things and scenes within the book are lovely, however overall I found it rambling and too much effort. Sorry, not for me.

DNF at around 60%. Such a fascinating world, so I really, really tried, but couldn’t go on. I wasn’t able to deal with Jo’s meandering narration and the slow pace. Perhaps it’s too literary a novel for my taste.

Review copy from NetGalley.