All have an affinity to nature all must break free of their past and harness their power with strength drawn from their lineage. The author delves into male apprehension of female assertiveness and fear of those who are different. The need to escape the influence of cruel men is a strong theme, developed through incidents of sexual abuse, rape, and witch-hunting, the retaliatory actions unleashing quite violent supernatural occurrences. Historical records of the Weywards disappeared in 1619, only reappearing in 1925, but a powerful legacy survives nonetheless, handed down through the female line. Hart develops the women’s stories separately, occasionally revealing tenuous connections―a locket, a character trait, a gravestone. In 2019, Kate Ayres escapes an abusive relationship, moving north to a small cottage, central to the novel, which her great aunt left to her in her will. At Orton Hall in 1942, Violet Ayres spends her time outdoors befriending spiders and flies and climbing trees, rather than behaving like a lady―until one fateful day. In 1619, Altha Weyward, a healer like her mother, is tried as a witch. Weyward is a compelling intergenerational novel of female empowerment and of how far modernity has strayed from our inherent connections to the natural world.
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