Weyward

HOLY HELL THIS BOOK WAS GOOD. It was well written with a compelling and powerful storyline and well developed characters - some of which I loved. This was both a spotlight on male violence in history and the differences in gender as well as an exploration on femininity, the power of women and nature.
It was full of vivid descriptions and rich imagery. I loved it.

I loved this book so much! I became so invested in the lives of these women, I didn’t want it to end. Hart manages to move deftly between the different time periods and make you feel fully immersed in each story. The nature writing was beautiful and I loved the balance struck between the ethereal and real life. 1000 stars from me! 🌟

Thank you to Net Galley for giving me early access to review this book. I truly am at a bit of a loss for words on how much this book affected me. Although a fantasy work of fiction this has to be one of the most female empowering books I have ever read. 3 generations of women linked by their power and history's many different ways of exploiting it. Thank you Emilia Hart for creating such amazing characters that I can't imagine any women couldn't relate too. I could not put the book down and the fact that it is a debut novel is outstanding. I look forward to hopefully reading many more books from this author. Cannot recommend enough.
I aspire to forever be a Weyward woman

ONE OF MY FAVOURITE READS OF THE YEAR. This has to be one of the best debut novels I've ever read. It has something for everyone. I love the multiple POV's and timelines, generational trauma, relationships (familial, plantonic and romantic), and the magical elements of the story. The depictions of nature and the Weyward cottage in particular are so beautiful.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this story weave together; you can definitely tell that the plot was so well thought out before reading.

I am looking forward to getting my hands on a physical copy of this book in 2023 and cannot wait to read more from Hart.

Thanks: Received from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, this was good, so good that I thought about it for days afterwards. I read it through in two sitting (stopping to eat seemed like a good idea). It is such a compelling storyline and I enjoyed each of the three main characters. Definately on my best books of the year list.

I absolutely loved Weyward by Emilia Hart. Told in three different timelines, it follows the story of three generations of women, each of them facing challenges in their own times. The historical detail was phenomenally good, and the story whipped along at a real pace. I was equally invested in each timeline. Hugely recommend this if you enjoy reading about witches, nature, and the power of female endurance.

Thank you Publisher and Netgalley for this dvanced copy.

Weyward was such a unique book. Of course in a good way. Emilia Hart proses were so beautiful. The pacing was a bit slow but still enjoyable.

Weyward is a story of three generations of the Weyward women, spanning four hundred years between 1619 and the present. Its three protagonists are Altha, the healer, put on trial for murdering a man and accused of using black arts; Violet, a fifteen-year-old girl, a daughter of a viscount, who is subjected to an assault with far-reaching consequences which only she, the victim, is expected to suffer; and Kate, a woman running from an abusive relationship with the father of her unborn child.

Each of the women is subjected to brutalities which are sanctioned by the laws and mores that are designed to destroy them and to protect their oppressors. Each of the women embarks on a journey of self-discovery and undergoes a moment of empowering awakening.

Society shuns the Weyward women as witches, but this book isn’t about trickery, boiling cauldrons, warts and superficial gimmicks. It is about what it means to be a woman and stay in touch with your inner femininity, to commune with nature, to command and serve it. It is about building resistance to male dominance and man’s voracious drive to subjugate women. It’s about natural justice. About the freedom of choice.

The book throbs with sensitivities that only a woman can describe. There are scenes of unspeakable violence, including rape and physical abuse. The response to those, from the point of view of the victims, is powerfully realised. The detail, every sublime sensation, the textures and the minutiae of shape, sound and form are all masterfully crafted. The prose delivers the story in assured strokes of the author’s brush.

I relished the story, was shaken by it and inspired to reflect about my own femininity, from girlhood to my ripe oldish age now. The book brought to mind Ann Rice’s Mayfair Witches of The Witching Hour. A great read.

Three women linked through blood with one secret. How far will women go to protect themselves.
This book was totally out of my comfort zone and I’m so glad I read it. It’s beautifully written and the audio book was perfect.
Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

My thanks to HarperCollins U.K. The Borough Press for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Weyward’ by Emilia Hart.

This stunning debut novel weaves together the stories of three women, each touched by magic, across five centuries.

In 2019 Kate flees London and her abusive boyfriend and travels to the remote village of Crow’s Beck, Cumbria. She had recently learned that she has inherited Weyward Cottage from her great-aunt and sees this as a chance to find a new life. Unknown to her a secret lurks in the bones of the house, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

In 1942 sixteen-year-old Violet Ayres had grown up in Orton Hall, the seat of the Viscount Kendall. Yet she is more interested in climbing trees and collecting insects than in conforming to society’s expectations for a lady of her station. Then a chain of shocking events changes her life forever.

In 1619 Altha Weyward is the daughter of the local wise woman. Both women have an uncanny connection with nature and animals. Following her mother’s death Altha takes up the role of healer in the local community. However, she finds herself on trial for witchcraft, accused of killing a local man.

Each of these women are linked to the Weyward bloodline and at heart each belongs to the natural world and the wild.

I felt that Emilia Hart skilfully chronicles the lives of her three Weyward women. Each experiences a sublime connection with nature, though with Kate it is rather suppressed due to living in an urban setting.

Kate finds this changes as she seeks information about her ancestors and lives closer to nature and beginning to wake with the sun, spends time in the garden and takes walks in the country.

Emilia Hart approaches the supernatural/paranormal aspects of her tale in a subtle manner such as the strange behaviour of birds, insects, and animals.

Overall, I found ‘Weyward’ a beautifully written novel, well deserving of its prepublication praise. After such an assured debut, I will be looking forward to Emilia Hart’s future projects.

Highly recommended.

I have really enjoyed reading about the three Weyward women. Altha's story set in 1618, Violet's story set in 1942 and Kate's story in the present day. All with a heartbreaking story to tell. I'll definitely be recommending this to friends and family and will read this again in future.

Emilia Hart has stunned me with this amazing debut novel. It is enchanting and bewitching and utterly believable.
The Weyward women through the centuries have had a close relationship with both the natural world and its more supernatural elements. This is the story of three of those women. Three women trying to survive against the cruelties of the men they are forced to share their lives with.
Spanning five centuries in Crows Beck, a remote Cumbrian village, from the time of King James I's witch trials to the physical abuse of modern day marriage, this is poignant and powerful. Three women who fought back with the help of Mother Earth.

Having downloaded this a while ago, I was then apprehensive to start reading after saw it recommended as yet another 'Witch Lit' title. I shouldn't have worried as it was definitely one of the better ones and not just following the genre trend. I can't deny that it is hard going in some places due to the uncomfortable nature of some events and the general attitude towards woman historically. But this is exactly why books like this should exist, to make us question and feel uncomfortable. It's also a great entertaining story of course, so a win win for me.

4.5 stars
An enchanting, magical read about the strength of women and family. I loved the three narrators in this one, although my favourite was definitely Violet.
Each of the women had been through so much in their lives and the links to the past were beautifully covered.
The connections with nature and the history of the cottage and the family were cleverly interwoven into each story and I loved how a physical reminder from the past had survived to give strength to the next generation.

I loved this story. It was mysterious and well written it was god to get the story from different angles o piece together what was happening.

This book is amazing. I cannot believe that this is a debut, because it is so well written and immersive. It is a mix of historical fiction, litarary fiction and magical realism. There are three main female characters and each of them lives in a different time period, but they have so much in common.
I really liked the setting of the Weyward cottage with all the descriptions of nature and insects. The connection between the female characters was so beautifully done. I loved the way how they were able to draw strength from one another and learned more about themselves, though they weren't able to interact with each other directly.
The book deals with very heavy themes like abuse, death, isolation and depression, just to name a few. But it's also about self worth, making choices and taking responsability for oneself. It gets really symbolic at times and also plays with wonderful imagery. There were lots of quotes that stood out for me and I even had to write some of them down, which is not something I often do.

This book is amazing, itsawhholeother level, I loved this somuch I’m awaiting Waterstones special edition to arrive as I type . I love that it centred on women , that it felt realistic, the characters made making realistic choices, they were so easy to relate to. I loved the empowerment of women, the connections they had between each other, family, friends and nature. I can’t praise this enough, you need to read this book.


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy in return for an honest review

Having taken a short reading break, Weyward was the perfect title for me to find my way back. Hart alludes to Margaret Atwood in the book and her acknowledgments and there’s definitely echoes of her in Weyward. The story follows several generations of the Weyward women as they come into their own, and it is so captivating. Hart writes beautifully, navigating difficult themes such as domestic violence and rape from start to finish and I really felt a connection with the Weyward women. I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone who identifies as a feminist and enjoys fiction with a mystical element. I particular liked the nature theme that weaves its way through the book. I was hooked from the moment I picked it up and didn’t want to put it down.

I loved it. The story was both cosy and gripping. The descriptions of the magic gave perfect cosy vibes but the stories of the three women kept me invested in the story the whole time.

A fascinating tale spanning three generations of Weyward women and their intricately woven lives and fates. Each must overcome stigma and male oppression in order to not only survive, but to thrive and ultimately to nurture the golden cord that exists within the female line of their family.
A very accomplished debut by a new must-read author.

Weyward by Emilia Hart is an outstanding debut book by the author. The storyline and the characters of Altha, Violet and Kate were fascinating and their individual stories told as part of the Weyward women’s family history narrated over five centuries were totally engrossing.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and look forward to reading other books by the author
Highly recommended.

This did not feel like a debut, in the best way.
The writing had me gripped from beginning to end.
This isn't a story heavy in magic. But instead a sort of coming of age of three different woman across different generations. As they find their strength through "magic"

Each of the storylines are as compelling as the woman they focus on. Sometimes multi POV and timeline can have a weak link but not here.
While there are heartbreaking scenes for each woman there is also some empowering moments as they find the strength to stand up to those who harmed them.

I had seen so much advertising and hype about this book that I just had to read it: I can happily say that I was not disappointed. Beautifully written with captivating characters, I did not mind whose story I was reading as long as I could keep going!

As the blurb states, the voice has multiple storylines and three distinct voices from very different time periods. I was surprised to read how the gap between the three different characters narrowed. Each female had to battle, in her own way, against male oppression and find a voice of their own. I was transfixed as the links between them was carefully revealed. I think Kate's story was most heartbreaking for me - possibly because it was set in a modern timeline and it was easy to understand how she found herself in such terrible circumstances. The horrors of her childhood took a very long time to abate.

Violet's childhood experiences, while completely different, seemed to have similar outcomes and both women had to trust their own inner voices to take power and control of their own destinies.

A fascinating portrayal of an inherited form of witchcraft! Don't miss this fabulous read!

Weyward is the story of three woman, in three different timelines. Kate, Violet and Altha are all victims and are all related by blood. Altha is on trial for witchcraft in the seventeenth century, having been accused of provoking cattle to attack a local farmer. Violet is the eccentric daughter of a landowner who is seen to have brought shame onto her family in the early part of the twentieth century and Kate is her great-niece who has inherited her run-down cottage in the present day. Kate escapes to the cottage in an attempt to get away from her controlling partner and starts uncovering some of her family’s mysterious past. The three stories have their parallels in terms of misogyny and abuse and the empowerment of women to overcome adversity. Intriguing and highly compelling.

With thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

I love a witchy historical fiction, and this was everything I was hoping for. We follow three women across three different timelines: Altha in 1619, Violet in 1942, and Kate in 2019. I absolutely adored all three of these women, and I loved how the more we got to know of each of their stories, the more connections we uncovered between the three women!

All three of these women’s lives were heartbreaking to read about. I’d suggest looking up trigger warnings for this book as it was very emotional and upsetting in several places, and there was a particularly graphic miscarriage scene that was very difficult to read! Despite the tough topics, they were written about in such a beautiful way and very sensitive to the issues at hand. Nothing was gratuitous, and merely gave us a small insight into what life was actually like for women in these times.

I loved Violet’s relationship with her brother Graham. They had such a beautiful and unbreakable sibling bond and the things they went through together and supported each other through were so powerful to read about.

The pacing of the book was really great - we really got to know all three of these women in such depth, but there was also plenty of tense and exhilarating plot points and short chapters to make it a very bingeable read!

Emilia Hart's debut 'Weyward' is the intricately woven story of three generations of women: Altha is on trial for witchcraft in the 1600s; Violet is struggling to overcome her controlling father's power at the height of WWII; and our present day heroine is Kate, on the run from an abusive boyfriend and hiding out in the cottage her mysterious aunt bequeathed to her.
As these three stories take turns to unfold, we witness these women grow and discover their own unique power in the most beautiful blossoming I've ever read!
So let me tell you some of the endless number of things I loved about this book that enabled me to devour it in less than two days! First of all, each and every character was literary perfection - even the "villains"! Our three protagonists, the Weyward women, were each believable and their struggles were so relatable, even Altha's imprisonment for her witchy ways in the 1600s. Normally, when a book is written from various perspectives, I tend to lean towards a favourite but I genuinely couldn't choose one of these women over another, and I was flipping pages voraciously each time a new chapter started to continue each one of their stories.
This brings me to another aspect of this stunning story I adored: the perfectly paced unravelling of the mystery of the Weyward family. The book spans 400 years and whilst many webs were tangled throughout, Hart ensured they were woven expertly together into a perfect, yet not predictable, ending.
Finally, I think what I loved most about this delightful debut was its message to women worldwide: we are powerful. We are passionate and honest with so much inner beauty and such closeness with Mother Nature. I've never felt a book speak so strongly to me about these ideas before, but Emilia Hart really hit me where I needed to be hit right now, and I'm thrilled I had the chance to read her work. Hopefully, this will be the first of many Emilia Hart experiences we are gifted!
All in all, a bewitching tale of female empowerment to remind you just how strong women truly are.

You had me at witches - love a "realistic" witchy story!

We span three women's lifetimes - all related and similar stories, but each makes their own tough choices and all the while having a relationship with nature; animals and insects included.

I really enjoyed this story and would reccomeded it to anyone who loves a good strong female character with a bit of magic thrown in!

Rating - 5 Stars
Genre - Historical Paranormal Fiction
Pages - 384 Hardback

Weyward was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023 and had already pre-ordered the Waterstones exclusive edition when I applied for this E-ARC so was beyond thrilled to start reading and with VERY high hopes I could so easily been disappointed but I loved every single second I spent reading this beautiful book!

This story pulls at my feminist heartstrings, following three very different but equally strong women who may be living in different centuries but are fighting the same patriarchy.

The magical element within the story is subtle but very well done with the introduction of 'Green Witches' who use the power of nature rather than the high fantasy Witches who use spells and potions. Therefore, this story is fabulous for all types of reader! The magic isn't overpowering enough to off put non fantasy readers but has just enough to grip those of us who read about magic much more often.

Although this is a tale as old as time, Weyward is a beautifully written, unique story that had me turned pages way into the late hours. The characters are fleshed out and loveable, the imagery detailed and vivid and the symbolism and pace of the story is perfectly done!

The idea of three storylines/timelines can be very daunting for many readers but each is woven into the next expertly and the story runs seamlessly throughout. Emilia Hart did a wonderful job of her debut novel and she has instantly added herself onto my 'must buy' list.

you will not be disappointed picking up this book!!

A huge thank you to Netgalley, Emilia Hart and St. Maritn's Press for the exchange of this ARC for my honest review.
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Quicky summary;

"Three women. Five centuries. One secret.
‘I had nature in my heart, she said. Like she did, and her mother before her. There was something about us – the Weyward women – that bonded us more tightly with the natural world.
We can feel it, she said, the same way we feel rage, sorrow or joy.’
In 2019, Kate flees an abusive relationship in London for Crows Beck, a remote Cumbrian village. Her destination is Weyward Cottage, inherited from her great Aunt Violet, an eccentric entomologist.
As Kate struggles with the trauma of her past, she uncovers a secret about the women in her family. A secret dating back to 1619, when her ancestor Altha Weyward was put on trial for witchcraft…"

A beautifully written, hauntingly powerful story.
A vast timeline with three main characters - it flows between them with ease (there's a risk with multiple leads and time-frames that as a reader you can lose your way as to who you're with or where you are, having to go back and check - I didn't find this at all with Weyward)
It's heartbreaking at times and tackles some really tough issues (TW - there's different types of abuse featured and baby loss).
An impressive debut novel, I'd love to read more by this author.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc ebook.

What an absolute gem of a debut novel! I have literally devoured every word of this book and not been able to put it down. Evocative, foreboding, magical, beautiful, enchanting, powerful - all words I could use to describe it.
Weyward is the story of three incredible women, linked together through a family history that they are unaware of. The story travels between the 1600s, the 1940s and the near present, following three young women each battling to survive against adversity and the cruel hands of men. Can they each discover their family secret and their own inner strength and power to overcome the terrors they face?
I loved the role of nature in the story, the beauty and the power of it, the connection between each woman and her surroundings. I thought the women were superbly portrayed and felt that I was there with each of them, so strong was the connection that the author created. I hope we’ll see more from Emilia Hart in the future.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for a review.

I can't believe how good this debut is, it's PHENOMENAL, one of the best debut's I have ever read. I can't wait to actually hold the Hardback in my hands tomorrow when it's delivered. I'm so excited. It's a story of three women who all have secrets and mystery attached to them, it's haunting and deliciously dark. It's definitely a MUST READ for 2023. I can't wait to see what Emilia Hart writes next because this is just so good and I didn't want it to end. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVED EVERY PAGE.

At last a book that lives up to the hype! I absolutely LOVED this book with its three timelines of strong 'Weywood' women woven together so artfully.that II was fully invested in each of their stories. Feminism, magic, intrigue...what more could you want?

Another one of my favourite reads of 2023 so far. Such a bewitching and spellbinding story mixed in with feminism and finding your voice. Loved it!

"Witch, I heard them say. Hang the witch."

Weyward is a sublime book and ever since I finished reading it I can't stop thinking about the characters. I flew through it.

Weyward is set over multiple timelines and each ones is as good as the next, I don't think I could pick a favourite if I tried. The timelines are seamlessly interwoven and help illustrate to the reader the impact of the past on the present.

If this debut novel is an indication of things to come then Emilia Hart will become a go to author for me. Weyward had me hooked from the beginning and not just because one of the timelines centred around a young woman accused of witchcraft, a topic I always find fascinating. I rooted for each character and genuinely loved them all.

The first timeline is set in 1619 around Altha. A young woman on trial accused of killing a man using witchcraft.

Then, in 2019 we have Kate. Kate is fleeing an abusive relationship to live in a house left to her by her recently deceased great-aunt.

"The front door clicks shut. The step of his shoes on the floorboards. Wine, gurgling into a glass.

Panic flutters in her, like a bird."

The final timeline is about 16-year-old Violet living in 1942 in a great hall with her brother Graham and her difficult father.

"Violet hated Graham. She absolutely loathed him. Why did he get to study interesting things all day, like science and Latin and someone called Pythagoras, while she was supposed to be content sewing needles through a canvas?"

Violet wants to be a biologist or an eptimologist but knows this is a future that she may never be able to achieve because she is not male.

Violet knows little about her dead mother and has a difficult relationship with her father, he doesn't understand her love of nature and actively tries to discourage it.

"As a child, Violet had assumed that father's 'curios' (as he called them) were signs that he shared her love of the natural world...Father didn't care that elephants formed close-knit, matriarchal groups, that they mourned their dead, like humans. Nor did he consider that the elephant he had killed - for the mere sake of an ornament for his desk - would have been bewildered by fear and pain at the moment of its death.

For father, the tusk and everything else in the Hall, like it - was just a trophy or venerated, but conquered.

They would never understand each other."

Weyward had a Practical Magic Vibe to it but was also completely unique.

"Weyward, they called us, when we would not submit, would not bend to their will. But we learned to wear the name with pride."

Weyward is three stories woven into one which spans across five centuries, with the heart of Weyward women pulsing in each thread. A multi POV can be confusing but here it is seemless. The author cleverly entwines the stories to create a novel that is something really magical.

The historical and modern parts blend really well. Each time period captures the irrepressible strength of our Weyward women as they learn about their legacy and harness the power of the natural world to overcome their adversaries.

Weyward is a debut novel by Emelia Hart and I absolutely LOVED it. This is definitely an author to watch.

Thank you to Harper Collins for the eARC of Weyward

This novel is so beautifully written the characters all bring the story to life and the magic brings the story to life.
Each of the three women are intertwined, they're all strong and the magic they yield is green magic.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, it's multilayered and so richly described you feel part of the story. I loved how three timelines and three characters are all connected and the multiple povs create a layer to each character, surprisingly this does not create confusion but gives the story more depth.
I highly recommend Weyward to everyone. It's a fantastic debut!

Definitely a 5 star read. This is a brilliant mix of historical and modern fiction. It is full of beautifully descriptive writing. It has the perfect mix of real life and superstitions.. It tells the story of three generations of women from the same family all with different backgrounds but all with very similar stories connected though the ages.

As soon as I started reading this book, I knew I was going to absolutely love it! The descriptive writing of the characters feelings, the atmosphere, the surroundings and the experiences they were going through felt so real and as soon as I began reading, I was completely hooked.

I love all the main characters in this book, they are well developed. The format of how it is written flowed so beautifully for me, the pacing was excellent and I felt fully immersed in the story. I have read books with this style of three characters related in different time lines and this one is the best I’ve read. I definitely enjoyed it the most. With how the characters felt so entwined and connected, it enraptured me and I was consistently eager to know more. All the characters and their experiences pulled at my heart strings profusely.

This book shows the potential of ancestral patterns and how repetition is known to cause havoc in the lives of generations and the potential for opportunities to arise to break them. Every part of the book was concluded perfectly.

This was a truly wonderful read! Thank you so much to NetGalley and all involved in me being able to read this book. I absolutely loved it!

What a brilliant and unique debut novel by Emilia Hart. Once you have started it you will not want to put it down until the end of the book. Not a genre I would usually go for but the reviews have been terrific and couldn’t deny myself the pleasure of reading it.
Spanning the years 1619 to 2019 we race through the years. The story is told by three women, all related, and we go back and forth between them.

Kate, 2019 is an amazing woman. She has been fortunate enough to have been left a cottage in Cumbria by her great aunt. Weyward Cottage can tell many tales of times gone by. Kate flees from London to get away from her life. She is really intrigued with her heritage and tries to find out about her descendants. The cottage is full of secrets and unrest. Kate came across as a kind and compassionate woman, who manages to find the strength to leave her old life back in London.

Violet, 1942. This is a really heart-breaking tale of loneliness and demonstrated just how much some of us require to be loved. Her love of life as she was growing up was all about wildlife. Violet was quite young and naive and hasn’t had anyone to tell her about the ways that humans procreate. Her father was horrible. He showed no warmth, kindness or love. This leads to a change in her circumstances rather quickly.

Altha, 1619. Altha also had a love for nature and had been accused of murdering a man from her hometown by means of witchcraft. As her story unfolds we learn of someone who is brave and compassionate.

This is a brilliantly written book. I loved the way we flipped from one generation to another. How life had been in 1619 and not a time I would like to have lived through. The descriptions of the sound of nature bought this book to life. Through her written word I could certainly hear and visualise the birds, bees and insects.

I was told that this is going to be one of the top books for 2023. I agree wholeheartedly. Congratulations to Emilia Hart on such a marvellous debut novel. Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this in exchange for a truthful review. Definitely a five star read and suggest that everyone should support such an inspirational novelist as her debut is published.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this magical book. I was really looking forward to reading this one and it certainly didn’t disappoint. I absolutely adored it and didn’t want it to end. 3 strong, brave and formidable female characters who I instantly loved. I loved the historical elements as well as the modern, with just the right amount of magic! I will definitely be recommending this book to everyone. A huge 5 stars from me.

Weyward is a beautiful story about three generations of women connected to each other by blood and by their affinities with nature.

I really thought this book was beautiful. I was accepted by netgalley for an ARC but it became sort of buried under everything else, until the reminder email came. I'm so glad it did. It was so worth unearthing from my kindle! I flew through it.

The book is told through three different perspectives in different time frames and yet none were more favourable than the others. I felt truly connected to each of these characters and invested in their stories and outcomes.

I feel as though there are a tonne of witchy reads being released right now but this is so different from the others I've read recently, being not in the rom com sort of genre, It is purely about femininity and strength, it is wonderful.

**Side note - I would really recommend going into it aware of trigger warnings though, as there are descriptions of DV and SA etc**

First I'd like to thank you for getting me out of the worst reading slump and secondly and most importantly thank you for Weyward. This book is tremendous when I read the description I knew I was going to love it and it was brilliant 5 stars for the story and 5 stars for the cover . I will be buying this book. Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to review this book and thank you to Emilia Hart for writing it .

This is an immensely powerful, strong novel about abuse and female strength . There are three main protagonists : Altha, who was accused of being a witch as tried as such in 1619; Violet who grows up with an extremely controlling , cold father in the forties and is raped by a cousin, and Kate, Violet’s grandniece, who has escaped from an abusive boyfriend but discovers she is pregnant in modern times. Strong themes of being at one with nature and women supporting women , I found this quite unputdownable and devoured it in a couple of nights.

A very big thankyou to HarperCollins for such a incredible powerful story .



II really don't want to give to much away as I would love so many of you to read this book, but is bit of a outline . So we follow Altha from 1619 tried for witch crafted ,violet from 1942 which was abused by her farther , and Kate which is violets grandniece who was in a very abusive controlling relationship , for some this could be a trigger but know this with everything happening to these amazing women different to others they was strong and powerful in ways that other lacked .


This book will take you on a journey of how woman in powerment , they all hold that bit of magic but not in the way there are black hats and cats its not that kind of story ,its more about how women find power inside their self's as I said before it is totally captivating and hits you in the heart in the best way .

The writing style is wonderful flowed so well and you could really did her research and put it into this incredible book I've never read anything like this before I could read it all over again .

This story will suck you in and it will devour you not you devouring the book . I give this book 5 strong stars .

Books featuring strong women will always go to the top of my reading pile. Last year that one book was The Change, this year Weyward will be the one that’s hard to beat. I have already pre ordered the hardback to go on my forever shelf.

Three very special women all intrinsically linked and equally as fascinating. Normally with multiple points of view one is favoured but here I was riveted by them all. All have been hurt by men, Altha is awaiting trial for murder by witchcraft, facing a jury of men. Violet is trapped by her father who fears that she is too like her mother and Kate has fled an abusive and coercive relationship.

This book had me raging at their treatment, the men are vile and I was secretly hoping for their comeuppance. Nature features heavily and gave a fantasy element that I couldn’t help but think of The Change again and Harriet. If there’s two books that could do a crossover with characters it’s these and the authors should seriously get together.

Spanning four hundred years of men having power of women, will these women take the power back?

I am a Weyward woman. Are you?

I thoroughly enjoyed Weyward by Emilia Hart. It was perfectly paced for me and I devoured it, desperate to find out what happened to Altha, Violet and Kate.

The three Weyward women throughout the centuries had to cope with recurring issues of abusive men and difficult circumstances, but were able to survive and thrive through their love of nature and (perhaps) the magical assistance of the natural world. I found their strength very beautiful and empowering and the way their stories wove together was perfect. I miss them now I've finished reading the book.

A highly recommended read - I'll be looking out for more by this talented author. I can hardly believe that this is a debut novel!

Excellent debut novel by Emilia Hart. Three women in three different centuries - their stories, challenges and how they overcome them; and follow their own paths, resisting unfair and, often, cruel treatment.

'Wayward' is an engaging novel, a joy to read, and is to be recommended to all readers who enjoy good writing.

Thanks to NetGalley and The Borough Press for an ARC.

I absolutely loved this book. It tells the tale of 3 different generations of Weyward women, each very strong and individual in their own way. The author did an amazing job of weaving all their lives together, so that you could see the differences and similarities between the three women. My favourite character was Violet, she was beautifully drawn. I didn’t want the book to end.

What a way to start the new year off! I’ve always been rather fond of witches and back in the day devoured Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches series (long before the current reboot on screen). This is not a tale of dark witches but the story of three strong and resourceful women in England over a period of 500 years.

In 2019 Kate discovers that she is pregnant and flees from her controlling and abusive boyfriend in London. Her great aunt had left her a small cottage in Cumbria in her will and Kate begins the trek up to Weyward Cottage before he can follow her. She leaves behind everything that could be used to trace her and begins a journey to discover who this aunt was who left her all of her worldly belongings.

In wartime Britain, 1942, Violet is more interested in climbing trees and making friends with the insects, birds and animals than she is in becoming a young lady. Sometimes she thinks that her father really doesn’t like her very much and her only occasional friend is her brother. He is often away at school so she is largely left to her own devices. A visit from a distant relation changes Violet’s life forever and a shocking chain of events unfolds.

It is 1619 and Altha is on trial for witchcraft. She had followed her mother’s instructions about staying under the radar as much as she could but sometimes people are just out to get you. She is accused of killing a local man, the husband of her childhood friend. Her way with medicines and her relationships with all kinds of animals seem to be the final nails in her coffin. The priest and the doctor have testified. Will she face the ultimate sentence?

These three stories are interwoven together in Weyward creating a multi generational tale of how society deals with unusual independent women. It is a haunting tale of how a community continues to deal with things that cannot readily be understood. The women here are all struggling to be useful members of their own locality and are largely misunderstood with an affinity towards green, natural magic rather than the dark arts. It is an exhilarating read and one of the best debut novels that I’ve read for a long time. A story that stays with you long after you have turned the final page.

Supplied by Net Galley and The Borough Press in exchange for an honest review.

Whatever I thought Weyward would be before I read it: I got so much more than I expected.

This is a tale of wildness, of women, and of the systems that would tame them. It is the telling of nature - both that within and outside of us - and how we may choose to embrace it, or hide from it. This is a story of power, and truth, and of healing.

What attracted me to Weyward was the storylines of three women, at three different times in history. I love books that follow a family through generations, and I have no problem with flashbacks and non-sequential timelines.

Altha, Violet, and Kate are different enough that I did not find myself confusing them and their storylines. I thought their similarities were well-placed, considering their relation within the story and to one another. Just enough similarities to tie them to one another, but not enough to melt them into one.

The only book I’ve read that has a similar “feel” is Skin - although set on the opposite end of Britain, and a distinctly different era, a magical undercurrent pulses through both these books. And yet, this is not a work of fantasy, but rather, of magical realism. It is not so much an imagining of might-have-beens, and more a reminder of the forces that shape, and have shaped, our lived world. But even that does not capture how deftly the surreal is woven into the fabric of Weyward, and how realness, and rawness, are never sacrificed.

Emilia Hart is a skilled author who has no trouble reminding the reader of their own inner wild thing - however buried it might be. We may not all hear the soft clicks of a spider’s legs, and we may not all wield power through the gifts of nature (or even wish to do so), but we can all recognise the spark of power when it is lit - and Weyward will light it.

Ten out of ten for Weyward - this is a book I will gladly read again.

(Content warning: abuse, sexual assault, pregnancy loss/termination)

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for providing an eARC, in exchange for an honest review.