Outlandish Wild West Witchcraft Novel In the vast and untamed landscapes of the Wild West, where cowboys roam and outlaws rule, emerges a tale like no other. This outlandish wild west witchcraft novel weaves together the genres of Western and supernatural to create a unique and captivating story. Set in the backdrop of dusty towns and endless prairies, the novel introduces a cast of characters who defy convention and embrace the mystical. Our protagonist is a young witch, navigating a world that fears and misunderstands her power. She possesses an otherworldly gift that sets her on a path of self-discovery and adventure. As the story unfolds, we are introduced to a range of supernatural beings, from shape-shifting coyotes to powerful spirits that dwell in the desert.
Blakemore, who also is a published poet, brings both beautifully crafted sentences and a thorough understanding of Hopkins’ theology to her fascinating novel. Her narrative alternates between the first-person account of Rebecca West and a third-person perspective that makes readers into witnesses.
Some of these witches are already infamous like Sabrina, Baba Yaga, and the Wicked Witch of the West ; some, you may be meeting for the very first time. This title is recognised as one of the most influential historical studies of European witchcraft beliefs; it began as an enquiry into the origins of the great European witch-hunt.
As the story unfolds, we are introduced to a range of supernatural beings, from shape-shifting coyotes to powerful spirits that dwell in the desert. These characters add depth and complexity to the narrative, blurring the line between reality and folklore. The main storyline revolves around the protagonist's quest to save her family and unravel a dark secret that haunts her past.
Review: How weird women became ‘witches’ in a fierce debut historical novel
Seventeenth-century England was a world turned upside down. Arguments over religion erupted in violence. Calvinists wanted a stripped-down Christianity wholly determined by literal readings of the Bible. The Church of England had adopted Protestant doctrines but still incorporated Catholic rites. Calvinists believed in the equality of believers but not women, whom they saw as responsible for original sin.
When civil war broke out in 1642, the ensuing chaos was disastrous: displaced people, outbreaks of bubonic plague, typhus and other deadly diseases, famine as a byproduct of war. The 1649 beheading of Charles I cut the figurative head off patriarchal society.
In her new novel, “The Manningtree Witches,” A.K. Blakemore explores the consequences of that chaos for a group of village women through the viewpoint of a narrator named Rebecca West. West, a true historical figure, was among those prosecuted in Essex. Blakemore’s novel adheres to these events but fills in the lacunae in the documents.
Several of her women stand outside their communities in various ways. Mother Clarke dispenses folk magic; Rebecca’s mother, Jane, is described by her own daughter as “Jade. Pot-companion. Mother”; Rebecca herself is an outlier for being literate. None of them are married. Liminal spaces are dangerous for women, never more so than under Calvinism.
AdvertisementMother Clarke is old and going blind from cataracts. She has lost a leg and her hands shake with palsy. While Rebecca sees Mother Clarke as a “withered and slatternly old woman,” her neighbors perceive her as “cunning,” capable of making small charms. Rebecca assumes it’s the widow’s “web-in-the-eye” that draws folks. “Beyond the uncanny way it makes her look — like a fairy came along and scrubbed the meats clean of spots — people get terribly superstitious about such things as cataracts, and choose to believe that God would not be so cruel as to rob an old woman of her earthly gaze without equipping her with a spectral one, to say sorry.”
The passage indicates a theme. Women’s bodies are described in extensive sensory detail. Rebecca’s mother has thin lips; she observes “how her teeth are stained from chewing tobacco, how the wet root of her tongue jostles.” The women in church “fan themselves with their handkerchiefs, churning up bemingled emanations of rosewater perfume, womb-clot, sweat and cinders.”
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‘Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch,’ historical fiction about Kepler’s mother, is Galchen’s first novel since 2008’s ‘Atmospheric Disturbances.’
In a culture that prioritized the spirit over the flesh, witch-hunting manuals were obsessed with the body of the witch. Catholic and Protestants alike examined witches’ physical aspects as if by speculum.
When a newcomer arrives at Sunday services, Rebecca acknowledges that Matthew Hopkins is handsome, “[b]ut there is something about him slant and insubstantial, as though all the dramatic outfitting houses none of the usual human meat. Black boots, black gloves, black doublet, black cloak, black ringlets and then a white face floating lost in the midst of this funereal confection.”
Rebecca’s instincts are proved correct. Hopkins, who in actual history was called the Witchfinder General, publicly blamed the litany of community tragedies on the work of witches. Absent a working government, he operated without oversight. He began that campaign in the village of Manningtree.
AdvertisementBlakemore, who also is a published poet, brings both beautifully crafted sentences and a thorough understanding of Hopkins’ theology to her fascinating novel. Her narrative alternates between the first-person account of Rebecca West and a third-person perspective that makes readers into witnesses.
(Catalpult)In a scene that precedes the women’s eventual arrests, Blakemore conveys Hopkins’ attention to physical details in a way that also foreshadows violence: “He removes the apples from the basket carefully, one by one, inspecting each. He throws one experimentally on the fire and crouches low by the hearth to watch it burn. There is an odour, though barely detectable — sweet and acrid at once, like horse dung. The dermis slowly blisters then cracks, the juices sizzling out, and within minutes all that remains is a charred core with two scorched frills of leather, like the brow bones of a death’s head.”
Witchcraft, real or imagined, has become a somewhat trendy tack among writers turning over the legacies of patriarchy, but Blakemore is no dilettante here. Based on my own dissertation work on the topic, it’s clear that the author is deeply conversant in the historiography of English witchcraft as popularized by historians such as Keith Thomas and Lyndal Roper. Her characters plumb the taxonomy of the persecuted with precision — from Mother Clark, the archetypal “beggar witch,” accused of cursing those who refuse to help her, to Rebecca’s mother, Anne, the “midwife witch,” who takes the blame for devastating levels of child mortality.
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Anne has been a difficult woman most of her life, and she offends neighbors often. Rebecca is arrested because neighbors assume mothers pass on witchery to their daughters. For Hopkins, a witch’s body bore physical signs of her alliance with the devil, and part of each interrogation was “pricking” — probing with needles for growth, especially on the genitals. Though torture was technically forbidden under English law, this was not; nor was sleep deprivation. The interrogator’s words came up against human flesh. The command accompanying the torture was always the same: “confess.”
Torture produced confessions but not the truth. Blakemore’s clear agenda is to give these silenced women a voice, and in fiction, she can thrust herself into Rebecca’s consciousness. The discipline of history doesn’t allow that, which often leaves it gesturing toward the silencing without being able to give it voice.
Rebecca’s ability to read and write is important, and not only in serving Blakemore’s goals. She loves words, and the echoes of her reading appear in her vocabulary. But she also sees that what Hopkins is asking her for are simply words, words she can speak without believing them. Whether she will speak them, and what they would signify, becomes another theme of the novel. Among its perverse delights is the employment of the language of witch-hunting manuals (“inspissated,” “deliquesce”) to drive home the bodily obsessions of the trials.
One other recent witch novel, Rivka Galchen’s “Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch,” wrestles with some of these same questions, turning on the intellectual battle between early scientist Johannes Kepler and those who had arrested his mother. Galchen sought to give a voice to a woman whose true nature can only be gleaned in occasional spaces in the court records.
Blakemore also depended on court documents and contemporary sources. In charges of witchcraft, the exalted words of male intellectuals were branded onto the feminine body. Much of it — accusations of penis-stealing and insatiable lusts — was clearly displaced neurosis over sexual desires that interfered with celestial communion. But as Blakemore shows in her brilliant novel, the spiritual life many of them extolled was as slant and insubstantial as Matthew Hopkins.
Unhappy at home, Natasha runs away into the woods. Thre, she finds a strange woman living in a house that can walk around on chicken feet, and which seems to have a personality of its own. Natasha decides to live with the old woman in this weird and magical place, but soon wonders if her new life will fall apart, too.
Along the way, she encounters various challenges and obstacles that test her resilience and magic. The author skillfully combines elements of the Western genre, such as gunfights and saloon brawls, with the mysticism of witchcraft, creating a thrilling and unforgettable reading experience. Through this wild and imaginative novel, the author delves into themes of identity, acceptance, and the power of embracing one's true self. The protagonist's journey is not merely a physical one but also a metaphorical exploration of personal growth and empowerment. It challenges societal norms and encourages readers to embrace their inner strengths, despite the odds stacked against them. The vivid descriptions of the Wild West landscape and the author's immersive writing style transport readers to a world that is both familiar and fantastical. The blending of the two genres, Western and supernatural, adds a fresh and unexpected twist to the storytelling, making the novel stand out in the crowded literary landscape. By placing witchcraft in the Wild West setting, the author subverts expectations and adds a layer of intrigue to the narrative. The juxtaposition of cowboy culture and witchcraft creates a tension that keeps readers enthralled and eager to discover what lies beyond the next page. Overall, this outlandish wild west witchcraft novel is a captivating and genre-bending tale that will transport readers to a world where adventure and magic collide. With its compelling characters, rich prose, and thrilling plot, it offers a fresh and imaginative take on both the Western and supernatural genres. So saddle up, grab your spellbook, and prepare for a wild ride unlike any other..
Reviews for "The Wild West Gets Supernatural: Witchcraft in a Frontier Setting"
1. Emma - 2/5 stars - I had high hopes for this "Outlandish wild west witchcraft novel" but I was ultimately disappointed. The concept was intriguing, but the execution fell flat. The characters lacked depth and I struggled to connect with any of them. The plot meandered and the pacing was inconsistent. The inclusion of witchcraft in a western setting felt forced and didn't blend well with the overall story. Sadly, I found myself bored and disengaged throughout most of the book.
2. John - 1/5 stars - This "Outlandish wild west witchcraft novel" was a complete waste of time. The writing was subpar with numerous grammatical errors and awkward sentence structures. The characters were one-dimensional and uninteresting, and their actions often didn't make sense. The plot was convoluted and lacked coherence. The supposed incorporation of witchcraft in a western setting was absurd and not well explained. Overall, this book was a complete disappointment and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
3. Sarah - 2/5 stars - I'm usually a fan of unique and imaginative stories, but "Outlandish wild west witchcraft novel" missed the mark for me. The author's writing style was difficult to follow and it took me a while to get into the story, but unfortunately, it never captured my attention. The characters felt underdeveloped and their motivations were unclear. The incorporation of witchcraft felt forced and out of place in the wild west setting. While there were some interesting ideas present, they were overshadowed by the lackluster execution.
4. Michael - 2.5/5 stars - "Outlandish wild west witchcraft novel" had a promising premise, but it ultimately failed to deliver. The world-building was inconsistent and lacking in details, making it difficult to fully immerse myself in the story. The characters were forgettable and their relationships felt superficial. The pacing was uneven, with long stretches of dullness followed by rushed and confusing events. While there were a few intriguing moments, they weren't enough to salvage the overall reading experience.