#132 The Year of the Witching

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

The Year of the Witching is a story of womanhood, religion, the patrichary, motherhood and revenge. Trigger warnings include physical and sexual violence towards women and traumatic child birth if you are sesitive to either i would suggest skipping over this book although what i will say is that both topic was handled very well by the author, it wasnt dragged out either but if its triggering for you then its probably best to skip over those parts. 

Emmanuel our bi-racial protagonist is born and raised in a small town called Bethel, Bethel is a cult like town which is run by a prophet and most of the women in the town end up marrying the prophet. From birth she is seen as an outsider within the community. Emmanuel's mother was seen as a 'sinful' woman and the community view Emmanuel in the same light. Her family is disgraced due to her mothers past sins (basically she was meant to marry the prophet and ended up having an affair with an outsider instead and getting pregnant. When the prophet found out he killed the outsider and her mother then ended up fleeing into the dark wood. She emerges 8 months later ready to give birth but right before she gives birth she says that the baby is a curse) and as a result Emmanuel dedicates herself to religion and seeks comfort in it. After a few mishaps within the story Emmanuel has always had a calling towards the dark wood and one day finds herself there even though she is told never to enter as it is said that witches were murdered there, when in the dark wood she finds her mothers old journal which unlocks a lot of secrets from the past and our story pretty much takes off from there. 

The book is a marketed as YA but i would say it reads closer to new adult/adult due to the themes involved. I would say my favourite part f this book was how atmospheric it is! I also loved the legends and folklore surrounding the dark wood, it was truly fasinating. The bi-racial rep was done very well in my opinion, Emmanuel's struggle with being an orphan and not knowing her fathers side of the family whilst also not fitting in with her family in Bethel was so interesting to read about and gave her character real depth. This is also a debut novel from Alexis Henderson which surprised me a lot, she writes like a seasoned writer and i am so excited to see what she comes up with next!