Published 23rd July 2020 by Bantam Press.
Read August 2020.
From the cover of the book:
Born on the fringes of Bethel, Immanuelle does her best to obey the Church and follow Holy Protocol. For it was in Bethel that the first Prophet pursued and killed four powerful witches, and so cleansed the land.
And then a chance encounter lures her into the Darkwood that surrounds Bethel. It is a forbidden place, haunted by the spirits of the witches who bestow an extraordinary gift on Immanuelle. The diary of her dead mother . . .
Fascinated by and fearful of the secrets the diary reveals, Immanuelle begins to understand why her mother once consorted with witches. And as the truth about the Prophets, the Church and their history is revealed, so Immanuelle understands what must be done. For the real threat to Bethel is its own darkness.
Bethel must change. And that change will begin with her . . .
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It has been a long while since I read a fantasy novel that caught me as much as The Year Of The Witching.
Immanuelle is a girl born into the rigid strictures of a deeply religious community, and bound by the Holy Protocol that guides their lives, but the history of her parents brands her as an outsider from birth - she is neither a full member of the Bethel devout, nor part of the Outskirter people whose blood runs in her veins courtesy of her father.
Her path is seemingly marked by a dark star, and as she learns about herself and her home she begins to understand that she has been born to bring change to her homeland, be it good or bad - for there is something rotten at the heart of Bethel and everything it stands for, and it is time for the truth of the Prophets to be challenged.
The Year Of The Witching is both a rip-roaring fantasy tale, full of darkness, horror and witchcraft and the fight for good against evil, but is it also a rather cleverly crafted story of love, family, oppression, the subjugation of women, and feminist rebellion.
This is a wonderfully complex tale, which incorporates a myriad of shades and layers that mean it is not so easy to draw a clear line between good and evil, and this makes for a compelling tale that draws you in completely, all the way to the breathless and exciting climax.
This is a book being vaunted at a meeting between The Handmaid's Tale and The Village and this is a good way to think about it, as there is a fine mix of horror. politics and morality tale making up the glorious whole. It is also interesting to note that Alexis Henderson garnered much of her inspiration for this book from her own experiences in a fundamentalist and deeply religious community, and her idea that witchcraft is best used as a form of political resistance is rather intriguing.
As a debut novel, The Year Of The Witching is very impressive and I cannot wait to see what comes next from Alexis Henderson. There is scope for more stories from the world of Bethel and perhaps there is even a little clue in the last line of the book? We shall see.....
The Year Of The Witching is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer.
Thank you to Alexis Henderson and Bantam Press for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the author:
When she doesn’t have her nose buried in a book, you can find her painting or watching horror movies with her feline familiar.
Currently, Alexis resides in the sun-soaked marshland of Charleston, South Carolina.
Thanks so much for the blog tour support xx
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