“Weyward” – Book Review

Simultaneously following the timelines of three inter-connected women, Weyward by Emilia Hart explores the mystique of what it would look like for the magic and mystery of old to appear in as a subtle force modern times. The three women are connected through bloodlines. The first, Altha lives in the times of the witch trials of old. Violet is a young girl living through the turmoil of WWII. While Kate is the most modern, entering the timeline in 2019.

Weyward covers many difficult topics. Overcoming abusive parents, abusive partners, and rape are the strongest themes in the book. While Weyward portends to show the overcoming spirit of the women involved, I walked away feeling the tragedy of generational traumas, each one living and experiencing similar traumas through different timelines seemingly repeating the misogyny of men over and over. All of the women eventually overcome their traumas, but none of them (with the exception of Kate…maybe) seem to put much value in helping future generations in overcoming. Violet, in particular and slightly redeemed in the epilogue, could have done more in helping the next generation.

Weyward needs the increasingly common content warnings at the beginning as I truly had no idea what I was entering into. Some of the scenes could be extremely distressing to readers. While Kate’s timeline in the description mentions an abusive partner, there is no indication to the traumatic themes of the other women. Part of my disappointment with Weyward may even be tied to this lack of warning, as I was expecting a book of women overcoming together and was left with women overcoming alone and in the dark.

Aside from content, I found the consistent changing of point of view from 1st person to 3rd person past to 3rd person present jarring. Changing character POV each chapter was expected, but each character being told in a different way within that POV felt disruptive. I have no personal preference of 1st person vs 3rd person, but I would like it to be consistent through the whole book. Kate’s 3rd person in present tense was particularly awkward to read as it felt like it was even slipping tenses at times.

Overall, the constant POV changing and the seeming focus on the trauma more than the overcoming left me less than enthralled with Weyward. I’m willing to try more by the author, but this one simply wasn’t my cup of tea.

Favorite Quotes:

“The physician spoke with confidence. He was a man, after all. He had no reason to think he would not be believed.”

“Fiction became a friend as well as a safe harbor; a cocoon to protect her from the outside world and its dangers.”

“Everything is made out of magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us.”