Weyward by Emilia Hart

A book review

Are you fond of insects? Fascinated by the occult? Weyward might be just the novel for you.

Moving through three time periods in alternating chapters, it explores the lives of three English women with mysterious gifts. In the seventeenth century, Altha is accused of witchcraft after a neighbor’s husband is killed by his cattle. In the 1940s, Violet has an uncanny affinity with insects and a father who imposes suffocating restrictions on her. In the present day, Kate fears both insects and her abusive husband. But each of these women have reserves of strength that carry them and the story forward.

Some of the writing is atmospheric and evocative, not only of the natural world, but also of buildings the women live in or visit. A decrepit cottage in the woods offers a meager shelter: “Inside, the dark rooms had a sunken look, as if they were trying to disappear into the earth.” A visit to an aristocrat’s manor house reveals ruin of a different kind: “The stack of mail rustles as they walk past, and Kate notices that the curling envelopes are covered with a strange, glittering film, like tiny particles of broken glass. . . . Insect wings.”

An engraved W appears in several forms, carved into wood or embroidered onto a moth-eaten handkerchief, hinting at the women’s relationship to each other, despite the efforts of various men to keep them ignorant. It awakens curiosity, and with curiosity, hope. (2023, 329 pages)