The Familiars follows Fleetwood, the wife of a member of the gentry, who is pregnant for the fourth time, without yet having a living child. She unexpectedly meets Alice Gray, who she hires as her midwife.
However, Alice is caught up in the witchcraft accusations that are happening in the town and Fleetwood must do everything she can to save Alice.
I really enjoyed seeing the relationship between Fleetwood and Alice develop. It was really clear that she cared for Alice past just her role as her midwife and it really made her need to save Alice totally believable.
Fleetwood was also portrayed as a headstrong woman, that wouldn’t always necessarily listen to her husband. I’ve found that in some historical fictions from around this time period particularly, the woman is very much under the husbands control. Whilst this was true in this story to an extent, I enjoyed seeing Fleetwood stand up to her husband and go against his demands!
I haven’t read historical fiction for a while and this book has really kickstarted my want to read more now! I haven’t read a book involving witches before and felt like this was a great introduction. It was written in such an accessible way, beautiful yet easy to understand which really helped my enjoyment.
Also, something I learnt at the end of this book was that it was actually based on real people, and the Pendle witch trials which just makes it all the more interesting!
All in all, I loved this book and can’t wait to read more from Stacey Halls! (Also, is this not the most beautiful cover?!)