A fantasy novel by Alix E. Harrow.
In the spring of 1893, witches don't exist. Small magics do, hidden and weak, passed on from mother to daughter and sister to sister, but religion and science keep marching forward and powerful men hate the idea of women with power.
In New Salem, the estranged sisters Beatrice Belladonna, Agnes Aramanth and James Juniper meet for the first time in years. As they grow involved in the suffrage cause, they start to wonder about withches... specifically, if they can become them once more.
Tropes in this novel:
- Alliterative Name: Beatrice Belladonna, Agnes Aramanth and James Juniper. Agnes later names her daughter Eve Everlasting. The sisters mother was named Calliope Cole.
- Death by Childbirth: The sisters mother died when she gave birth to Juniper. There is a question whether she could have been saved by her mother, the sisters grandmother Mags, but their father didn't allow Agnes to call for her.
- The Dog Bites Back: It's Hills adoptive daughter, who he had mind controlled for years, that eventually kills Hill
- The Hecate Sisters: A recurring theme of the book. The sisters fit the roles, with Beatrice Belladonna, the wise and learned librarian, as the crone, Agnes Aramanth, fiercely protecting her own and pregnant for a signifcant part of the story, as the mother, and James Juniper, wild and free, as the maiden. The sisters themselves remark on it. The last three witches also map quite nicely onto the maiden, mother and crone.
- More than Mind Control: Gideon Hill, the main villain, can control people by stealing their shadow.
- La Résistance: What the sisters end up forming with several other groups. The sisters found the "Sisters of Avalon", a group of women from all sort of backgrounds that want to bring back witchcraft, and the ally with the "Daughters of Tibutia", a group of black women witches, who originally don't quite trust the mostly white women of the Sisters, and the union men, who also take their time to take the women seriously. In the end, though, they all fight side by side and win.
- Self-Made Orphan: Juniper kills the girls abusive father before the story.
- Suffrage and Political Liberation: Juniper originally just wants to join the suffragists, but they don't want to bring back witchcraft. Several suffragists later join the Sisters, though, and votes for women remain a topic for the group.
