I received a copy of The Familiars from NetGalley and Readers First in exchange for honest reviews.
Seventeen year old Fleetwood Shuttleworth is pregnant for the fourth and final time, if the note addressed to her husband stating her imminent death is anything to go by. Navigating new dynamics in her marriage with her lying, secretive husband, and the accusations that her new midwife, Alice, is a witch, Fleetwood struggles to keep her unborn baby alive and decide which side of history she wants to be on in the Pendle witch trials. But how well does she actually know Alice? And can she trust her?
This book is beautifully written. I was very quickly drawn into the landscape of Gawthorpe hall and the surrounding countryside, I was eased into Fleetwood's everyday life, and every time I had to put this book down I looked forward to when I could pick it up again.
There were times when I felt Fleetwood would soon become an annoying character. She is innocent and naive and seems to have ideas far above her stature, which is noted on throughout the book, but something about her saved her from this. I related to her quickly, and what I loved most was that whenever she ended a chapter with 'I had an idea brewing' or something similar, I didn't know what that idea was. She wasn't predictable, wasn't boring, and I loved reading about her.
I also loved the focus on women in this novel. One of the major reasons for the witch trials was that men were so fearful of women's knowledge - of herbs, medicines, their bodies and childbirth - things acquired through experience and the transfer of learning between them, and not through the tradition ways of education the men were privileged to, which the women of course were not.
So it was fear, and the thought that they were more powerful than the men, could take the upper hand, could upturn society, and the only way to change the narrative, rather than admit that women were clever, that they knew things men didn't know, that they were experts in something, was to call them witches.
And I appreciated the solidarity between characters, the privilege Fleetwood had as a woman of her status and how she used it, at the embarrassment and possible expense of her husband and her lifestyle to fight for a woman, and women, she barely knew.
Unfortunately, there was something missing about this book. I really enjoyed the plot, and the characters, and the writing style, but there was just some spark missing which I was expecting for a book with such hype and publicity. So while I did enjoy it, I was still definitely expecting more. Something a bit more special.
I'd still be really interesting to read more of Stacey Halls' work, and would still recommend this as a good read. 4 out of 5 stars.
Seventeen year old Fleetwood Shuttleworth is pregnant for the fourth and final time, if the note addressed to her husband stating her imminent death is anything to go by. Navigating new dynamics in her marriage with her lying, secretive husband, and the accusations that her new midwife, Alice, is a witch, Fleetwood struggles to keep her unborn baby alive and decide which side of history she wants to be on in the Pendle witch trials. But how well does she actually know Alice? And can she trust her?
This book is beautifully written. I was very quickly drawn into the landscape of Gawthorpe hall and the surrounding countryside, I was eased into Fleetwood's everyday life, and every time I had to put this book down I looked forward to when I could pick it up again.
There were times when I felt Fleetwood would soon become an annoying character. She is innocent and naive and seems to have ideas far above her stature, which is noted on throughout the book, but something about her saved her from this. I related to her quickly, and what I loved most was that whenever she ended a chapter with 'I had an idea brewing' or something similar, I didn't know what that idea was. She wasn't predictable, wasn't boring, and I loved reading about her.
I also loved the focus on women in this novel. One of the major reasons for the witch trials was that men were so fearful of women's knowledge - of herbs, medicines, their bodies and childbirth - things acquired through experience and the transfer of learning between them, and not through the tradition ways of education the men were privileged to, which the women of course were not.
So it was fear, and the thought that they were more powerful than the men, could take the upper hand, could upturn society, and the only way to change the narrative, rather than admit that women were clever, that they knew things men didn't know, that they were experts in something, was to call them witches.
And I appreciated the solidarity between characters, the privilege Fleetwood had as a woman of her status and how she used it, at the embarrassment and possible expense of her husband and her lifestyle to fight for a woman, and women, she barely knew.
Unfortunately, there was something missing about this book. I really enjoyed the plot, and the characters, and the writing style, but there was just some spark missing which I was expecting for a book with such hype and publicity. So while I did enjoy it, I was still definitely expecting more. Something a bit more special.
I'd still be really interesting to read more of Stacey Halls' work, and would still recommend this as a good read. 4 out of 5 stars.