Elizabeth Obermeyer

 As promised, I have another review, thanks to the kind people at ECW Insiders! This month’s review is The Witch of Willow Sound by Vanessa F. Penney.

The story follows Phaedra (Fade) Luck, who we first meet sleeping rough in a Halifax cemetery after walking away from every aspect of her life, but especially from a job that took too much of her soul. She receives a phone call from her mother who wants Fade to find her sister—Fade’s Aunt Madeline—who is missing. Fade recalls a rift between the sisters which resulted in a decades-long estrangement, and indeed the last time she even saw her aunt was when she was nine years old. She agrees to travel to her aunt’s home in Willow Sound to look into the old woman’s disappearance. 

When she arrives at the cottage, Fade is disturbed by the condition of the once lovely home, now falling apart and unfit for living. Her family name makes her unwelcome in the town of Grand Tea—a dark and gloomy town in the shadow of a massive rock that has balanced above the town for millennia. The town itself thrives on the legend of Madeline Luck, the so-called Witch of Willow Sound, capitalizing on this story, this lore, and making their money on the legend of witchcraft in the area.

Aided by Nish, a friendly historian working in the town’s archives, Fade works to unravel the mystery not only of what happened to her aunt, but also to understand Madeline’s life and work and to protect her legacy. In doing so she becomes embroiled in the police investigation, as well as something potentially more sinister, all while a hurricane threatens to destroy the town and everything around it.

This is a moody, atmospheric, and fast-paced novel with a lot of suspense, tempered with a good amount of humour as well, thanks to Fade’s acerbic wit. Penney evokes an incredible sense of place throughout the book with vivid and detailed descriptions of the landscape, the woods, the cottage; we feel we are right there with Fade, moving through this place. 

It is also a fascinating look at the stories people tell about women who stray from the ideal, who don’t conform to the expectations of what women should be. A woman who wants to live alone and work on being a good steward of the land she is on is suspect, because of course she is. It also digs into the idea of whose history becomes part of the bigger story and whose gets forgotten—or in some cases, deliberately hidden away. Penney wants the reader to understand this was (and in many places still is) reality, and weaves in these important details accordingly.

 The townspeople of Grand Tea and their obsession with witches could have easily devolved into cartoon territory: frenzied witch hunters brandishing pitchforks and torches, an evil mayor who blames the witch for everything bad, and other tropes that have been used a million times. But Penney avoids that by tapping into and showing us the all-too human emotions and responses that drive this kind of frenzy: the need to blame someone, anyone for the bad things, and, more importantly, fear. Fear drives humans to lash out, to hide their heads in the sand and prefer to believe a legend that has been told to them for generations, because the alternative is more frightening. Because knowing the real story means having to take responsibility and to face the truth, that has been hidden for so long. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and thanks again to ECW Press for the ARC. The Witch of Willow Sound is out September 30th, and you can pre-order it now via the ECW website or through your favourite indie bookstore!