About the Book

A powerful debut about women, witchcraft, revenge, grief and the ties that bind us.

In 17^th-century England, civil war rages and witches have become pawns in a plot to oust the King. Young, red-haired Evey does not want to be a witch, but she cannot deny the magick coursing through her veins. 

A storm is coming. 

After witnessing the murder of her mother by witch-hunters, Evey vows to avenge her. Fury burns in her bright and strong. But she has promised her mother that she will keep her gifted, little sister Dill, her mother’s favourite, safe. 

But battling terrible jealousy, Evey abandons Dill with their Aunt Grey at the coven in the woods, and sets off to town where crowds are gathering for the witch trials. 

As the lust for blood and retribution rises to fever pitch, will Evey keep true to the bonds of sisterhood and to her witching ways? 

With an enchantingly dark, wintery atmosphere and beautiful lyrical writing, WITCH is the perfect read for fans of A Skinful of Shadows by Francis Hardinge, Witch Child by Celia Rees and Witch Hill by Marcus Sedgwick.

About the Author

Finbar Hawkins is a graduate of the Bath Spa MA in Writing for Young People. He grew up in London and now lives in Wiltshire with his family, in a place steeped in myth and legend. He is a creative director for Aardman in Bristol, where he makes fun interactive things for children of all ages. Follow on twitter @finbar_hawkins

What I Thought

Author Finbar Hawkins has written the perfect read for this time of year. His debut Witch is a young adult novel set in the time of the witch trials, but more importantly it’s a tale of two sisters, and one teenager’s trial to find herself.

It starts with a bang, straight in to the action that throws our young protagonist Evey on the run with younger sister Dill. The sister she harbours a jealousy towards, her mother’s favourite, the one with magick. This quiet sibling rivalry festers to the extent that she shuns Dill’s name for her, Eveline of the Birds.

But what burns inside her is the need for revenge and it is this revenge that is too often missing from the tales of the women put on trial for witchcraft. But in Witch, magic is more than simply things others simply don’t understand or fear. At least it is when pushed to be so.

Evey’s journey through revenge and to herself is aided by Anne, the daughter of the local magistrate and she finds sisterhood with her, and her way back to sisterhood in general. I wasn’t sure if there was going to be a touch of romance between them, and there was one secret that I thought Anne was keeping where I was really wrong with my guess. I’d love to know if that was a clever misdirection or if I totally made it up 😂.

I loved the writing and a couple of descriptions stood out. “a desk slumbered beneath papers like fallen leaves, and a feather quill wept black tears for its master’s hand.” and “I licked the edge of my words.” Hopefully they made it across from the review copy to the finished text. I also loved the honesty that the author shared with us about some changes that were made between the copy I read and what is published, showing the value of sensitivity reading and understanding the modern situation even when writing something historically set.

As Halloween night draws ever closer settle down to this atmospheric read, and if like me you have a younger sister too remember not to feed the green eyed monster. Although saying that has oddly got me thinking about one of the character’s surname 🤔.

With thanks to Laura Smythe for the gifted copy for the purposes of honest review.

Do check out my guest post from Monday and the rest of the blog tour spots – Ironically today’s post is by Never Judge a Book by its Cover – but with this one you can because that stunner matches up to the insides.