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Weyward by Emilia Hart

Magical realism

Weyward

BOTY FINALIST

Each year thousands of members vote for our Book of the Year award—congrats to Weyward!

Debut

We love supporting debut authors. Congrats, Emilia Hart, on your first book!

by Emilia Hart

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Quick Take

An ode to the natural world and female power, this lush, generation-spanning novel is equal parts daring and inspiring.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Multiple_Viewpoints

    Multiple viewpoints

  • Illustrated icon, Feminist

    Feminist

  • Illustrated icon, Magical

    Magical

  • Illustrated icon, Nature

    Nature

Synopsis

I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting, but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family’s grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives—and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart’s Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.

Content warning

This book contains scenes depicting sexual assault.

Why I love it

Go ahead. You know you want to. Judge this book by its cover. It’s probably one of the best of the year.

And living inside the pages of Weyward are characters just as lovely and vivid: Kate in the present day running from an abusive husband, Violet in the early 20th century with an abusive father, and Altha in the 1600s on trial for witchcraft. These three unconventional green witches show us how connected we are as women to the past, to each other, and to nature.

“There was something about us—the Weyward women—that bonded us more tightly with the natural world . . . The animals, the birds, the plants—they let us in, recognising us as one of their own.”

Weyward hits all the right buttons of magical realism done right—that is, magic rooted in the believable. In this case, the world of nature. If you loved Hester and The Lost Apothecary, it vibrates in a similar way, but Emilia Hart’s voice is totally original, both gentle and fierce. She takes you on a journey through history, showing the cyclical struggle women had, and continue to have, with men who think they can control their lives, their decisions, and their bodies.

A bold and bewitching debut, Weyward will have you pining for fictional Weyward Cottage. But the big takeaway is that the power and magic found there is already in you, waiting for you to finally embrace it.

Debut authors
Weyward
The Stone Witch of Florence
Shark Heart
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
Dinner for Vampires
Ink Blood Sister Scribe
Lunar Love
Banyan Moon
The Collected Regrets of Clover
Afterparties
The Days I Loved You Most
The Wives
The Ministry of Time
The Astonishing Color of After
Did I Ever Tell You?
Middletide
Northwoods
A Flicker in the Dark
A Short Walk Through a Wide World
The Storm We Made
How to End a Love Story
Made for You
Here After
Adelaide
Spitting Gold
The Friend Zone
The Stars Too Fondly
The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye
The Other Valley
Maame
The Other Black Girl
Queenie
The Lost Apothecary
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?
Paper Names
We Are the Brennans
People Like Her
Firekeeper's Daughter
The Writing Retreat
Olga Dies Dreaming
She Started It
Somebody's Daughter
Dearest
In the Weeds
Kaikeyi
Love & Other Disasters
The Fortunes of Jaded Women
Damnation Spring
A Little Hope
Camp Zero
The Last Story of Mina Lee
Ariadne
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
My Body
Sisters in Arms
Honey Girl
Vladimir
Big Friendship
Black Buck
White Ivy
Luster
Miracle Creek
Three Women
White Horse
Someday, Maybe
Peach Blossom Spring
Maid
The Woman in the Window
What She Knew
Shrill
Church of Marvels
Lacy Eye
Home is Burning
Dear Mr. You
The Sound of Gravel
The Night Charter
Before the Fall
Rich and Pretty
Girls in the Moon
The Possessions
The Impossible Fortress
One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter
Startup
The Dark Lake
The City of Brass
The Philosopher's Flight
The Oracle Year
Sweet Little Lies
Goodbye, Paris
The Age of Light
The Winter Sister
Enchantée
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
Opposite of Always
Beyond the Point
Wicked Saints
We Hunt the Flame
Again, But Better
Free Food for Millionaires
On The Clock
Mind Games
The Chestnut Man
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
When the Stars Lead to You
My Friend Anna
Red, White & Royal Blue
Dangerous Alliance
The Sound of Stars
All the Stars and Teeth
Star Daughter
The Girl in the Mirror
The Kindest Lie
My Dark Vanessa
Five-Star Stranger
The Singer Sisters
Debut authors
View all
Weyward
The Stone Witch of Florence
Shark Heart
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
Dinner for Vampires
Ink Blood Sister Scribe
Lunar Love
Banyan Moon
The Collected Regrets of Clover
Afterparties
The Days I Loved You Most
The Wives
The Ministry of Time
The Astonishing Color of After
Did I Ever Tell You?
Middletide
Northwoods
A Flicker in the Dark
A Short Walk Through a Wide World
The Storm We Made
How to End a Love Story
Made for You
Here After
Adelaide
Spitting Gold
The Friend Zone
The Stars Too Fondly
The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye
The Other Valley
Maame
The Other Black Girl
Queenie
The Lost Apothecary
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?
Paper Names
We Are the Brennans
People Like Her
Firekeeper's Daughter
The Writing Retreat
Olga Dies Dreaming
She Started It
Somebody's Daughter
Dearest
In the Weeds
Kaikeyi
Love & Other Disasters
The Fortunes of Jaded Women
Damnation Spring
A Little Hope
Camp Zero
The Last Story of Mina Lee
Ariadne
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
My Body
Sisters in Arms
Honey Girl
Vladimir
Big Friendship
Black Buck
White Ivy
Luster
Miracle Creek
Three Women
White Horse
Someday, Maybe
Peach Blossom Spring
Maid
The Woman in the Window
What She Knew
Shrill
Church of Marvels
Lacy Eye
Home is Burning
Dear Mr. You
The Sound of Gravel
The Night Charter
Before the Fall
Rich and Pretty
Girls in the Moon
The Possessions
The Impossible Fortress
One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter
Startup
The Dark Lake
The City of Brass
The Philosopher's Flight
The Oracle Year
Sweet Little Lies
Goodbye, Paris
The Age of Light
The Winter Sister
Enchantée
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
Opposite of Always
Beyond the Point
Wicked Saints
We Hunt the Flame
Again, But Better
Free Food for Millionaires
On The Clock
Mind Games
The Chestnut Man
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
When the Stars Lead to You
My Friend Anna
Red, White & Royal Blue
Dangerous Alliance
The Sound of Stars
All the Stars and Teeth
Star Daughter
The Girl in the Mirror
The Kindest Lie
My Dark Vanessa
Five-Star Stranger
The Singer Sisters