The Woodsmoke Women’s Book of Spells

Our Review

"A Morgan woman can make a wish. She can scratch at the door of the mountains and ask for the world, but if they agree to help, she must give something of equal importance in return. An eye for an eye. A secret for a secret.

A life for a life."

I started reading The Wooodsmoke Women's Book of Spells by Rachel Greenlaw and quickly wondered why this was the first book I had read by her. It was a cosy and atmospheric read that kept me hooked for the entire book and left me thinking about it for a long time after. There wasn't a moment of The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells that I didn't love.

Carrie is returning to her hometown of Woodsmoke, a little town in the shadow of some mountains, after 10 years away. She returns following the death of her beloved grandma, Ivy. Ivy had stipulated in her will that Carrrie should return to Woodsmoke to restore the cottage. Her return stirs up a lot of memories, gossip and superstitions. 

The women in Carrie's family have a book of tales passed down through her family, a book filled with 'workings' and tales of bargains to be made in the shadows of the mountains. 

"There are tales in the book, Tales of beautiful people who are not quite real, stories from the mountains of the people of Woodsmoke being lured into the wild depths and never coming home. Perhaps the mountains are vengeful, perhaps just playful, perhaps in love with us. But it's been drummed into me to follow the paths and never stray from them. Most still follow the old ways here, even if they don't admit it aloud. But the hikers, the visitors, they don't know the rules. Some never leave the mountains."

Those who live in Woodsmoke are divided over the stories surrounding the mountains and over the use of the book to meddle in the affairs of those living in the town, and yet even those who claim not to believe still adhere to the superstitions.Carrie's Great Aunt Cora clings fast to her belief in the old ways but her mother and grandmother respect and feat the mountains and want no part in the bargains availble to them as a Morgan Woman. Carrie is an embodiement of the way most people in the town are hedging their bets - both believing in the power of the mountain tales, and not.

"I turn to the North, to the mountains. If I don't greet them, if I turn away and pretend they are not there, I know what could happen. I know the old tales. It's a curse and a gift being a Morgan woman with this knowledge. But we all know, really. Everyone in Woodsmoke has grown up knowing that magic isn't some intangible, wonderful thing. It's real, it has consequences, and it echoes in the mountain range. This ancient place, where magic seems to grow thick and wild. Some people in the town like to think that they don't believe, but I've seen them scratching at Cora's door. I've seen the outcome when her warnings are not heeded. We all have." 

Carrie is all set to get the cottage sold and move on..until she meets a man who appears with the first frost, a man nobody else seems to have seen.

One of the things that appealed to me about The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells is the underlying message of being careful what you wish for, a message that reminds me heavily of the old style fairytales.

"The magic of the mountains is a dark thing, demanding a price, demanding blood from a Morgan woman for every bargain made in it's shadow, or so it is whispered around the town."

Another thing that struck me about the book is the way nobody, not even the Morgan family themselves, can say for sure whether the mountains have real magic, or whether it is all just superstition born of the hardness of the landscape. Whether Mathieu is real or whether he is a punishment from the mountain's as Cora suggests, a man sent to make Carrie fall in love and then to melt away with the Spring and leave her heartbroken.

"What if Matthieu is something out of one of the tales of the book? What if...What if he did appear with the frost? What if Cora is right?"

The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells is getting a lot of hype online and as far as I am concerned it is well deserved. I loved every character in the book and I dare you to read it without routing for Carrie.

 

 

Our Final Rating...

3 Months Ago