The Last Witch in Edinburgh
Books | Fiction / Fantasy / Historical
Marielle Thompson
For fans of Sarah Penner’s The Lost Apothecary and Alix E. Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches, this lush, atmospheric novel from the author of Where Ivy Dares to Grow blends witchcraft, queer love, a vibrant Edinburgh setting, and Scottish folklore for a propulsive and emotional story exploring what it means to resist the patriarchy and find your voice. “A lyrical and hauntingly beautiful new voice.” —Hester Fox, Author of A Lullaby for Witches In an alternate Edinburgh of 1824, every woman lives in fear that she will be the next one hanged for witchcraft. All it takes is invoking the anger, or the desire, of the wrong person. Nellie Duncan, beautiful and unwed, keeps to herself until she encounters the Rae Women’s Apothecary. There, fiery Jean Rae and the other women provide cures and teach others that they too can aid the winter deity, the Cailleach, embracing her characteristic independence, agency, and craft, in turn becoming witches themselves. Nellie finds a place and a purpose at the shop, and a blossoming romance with Jean, as she learns about nature-based craft and a witch’s ability to return to life after death. But the Cailleach has an ancient enemy intent on stripping the power of the deity and all her witches, leaving a wake of patriarchal violence and destruction. When heart-breaking disaster strikes, Nellie flees and spends the next two centuries hiding from the world—until love gives her the courage and the motivation to come back. Nellie’s past is waiting for her there, and hanging witches is no longer the only means of oppression. But this time, Nellie refuses to run—either from her foes, or from her resolve to awaken others to the unimaginable power that can come with fighting the patriarchy in its many forms—and finding one’s own magical inner-strength.
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Author
Marielle Thompson
Pages
384
Publisher
Kensington Books
Published Date
2024-08-20
ISBN
1496742656 9781496742650
Community ReviewsSee all
"Girly really needs to hold onto her stomach because it truly is falling out everywhere.
I have dichotomous feelings about this book. The first half of the book is set in 1824, while women in Edinburgh are being hanged for the accusation of being witches, and Nellie, our main character, obviously is in fear that she's going to be the next to be hanged. I LOVED this half of the book. It has a great introduction to Scottish history and folklore, it's well-written (the entirety of the book is), and I found myself really loving the relationship between Jean and Nellie. This half of the book is at least 4 stars, if not 4.5.
After a pretty pivotal scene, Nellie flees Edinburgh, and the book decides to do a time skip to 2022, so 200 years from where the story has started, and it seems Nellie has not changed at all in the 200 years she's had to live. At times, the point that the book was trying to drive home was way too heavy-handed, even though I agreed with what it was trying to say. Yes, women are still under attack even 'til this day, yes, unfortunately most women and trans/GNC people have unfortunate stories of sexual assault and violence against them, which is especially compounded if they are POC, but at times it felt that the author was beating me over the head with it, as if I couldn't surmise what she was trying to say if she didn't write it into every sentence. You can 100% assume your reader is smarter than this and will get the imagery that you're putting forth. This half of the book for me is probably around 1.5, maybe 2 stars.
And so it sits at 3 stars, I guess? I definitely appreciated the diversity of characters and the commentary on patriarchy and intersectionality, but I think there are better ways it could have been done.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review."
C C
Charlie Coward
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