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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
* 3.5
I was going to give it 3 stars because it did entertain me even though it is very slow and nothing really happens. But then in one of the last chapters it does clarify that it isn't a witch tale, but just a very simple love story and I agree with that. I wish they had put that in the cover as a warning because the two halves don't completely make a whole.
I was going to give it 3 stars because it did entertain me even though it is very slow and nothing really happens. But then in one of the last chapters it does clarify that it isn't a witch tale, but just a very simple love story and I agree with that. I wish they had put that in the cover as a warning because the two halves don't completely make a whole.
I was captured from the first sentence: "I suppose my mother could have been a witch if she had chosen to." From this follows a tale that is just barely on the fantastical side, so grounded in the English countryside and mythology that one is fairly sure that it must be a memoir as opposed to fiction.
In a few quick chapters, we get the childhood of Geillis Ramsay - largely hard and dull, with occasional flashes of magic. The daughter of a witchy woman and a thoroughly normal vicar with a parish in the harsh conditions of the interwar coal-mining North, Gilly’s main happiness in childhood comes from visits with her mysterious Cousin Geillis (Jilly is of course named after her). This happiness is returned to her in adulthood, after the twin tragedies of WW II and the death of her parents, when upon her death Cousin Geillis leaves her a cottage in Wiltshire, Thornyhold.
Gilly flees south to the cottage, finding it to be exactly the balm she needs to soothe her soul - and to remember how to be happy. She is immediately drawn into the gentlest of mysteries. A neighbour that seems slightly off, dreams that seem overly real, and the sneaking suspicion that Cousin Geillis might just have actually become a witch…
This is most certainly a comfort read, full of beautiful description and the rhythms of Britain in the immediate post war period. Highly recommended.
In a few quick chapters, we get the childhood of Geillis Ramsay - largely hard and dull, with occasional flashes of magic. The daughter of a witchy woman and a thoroughly normal vicar with a parish in the harsh conditions of the interwar coal-mining North, Gilly’s main happiness in childhood comes from visits with her mysterious Cousin Geillis (Jilly is of course named after her). This happiness is returned to her in adulthood, after the twin tragedies of WW II and the death of her parents, when upon her death Cousin Geillis leaves her a cottage in Wiltshire, Thornyhold.
Gilly flees south to the cottage, finding it to be exactly the balm she needs to soothe her soul - and to remember how to be happy. She is immediately drawn into the gentlest of mysteries. A neighbour that seems slightly off, dreams that seem overly real, and the sneaking suspicion that Cousin Geillis might just have actually become a witch…
This is most certainly a comfort read, full of beautiful description and the rhythms of Britain in the immediate post war period. Highly recommended.
Gilly has a lonely childhood in the north of England between the two WWs, and foresees a long, lonely adulthood for herself. But then her father dies, and her godmother Geillis leaves her a house and garden in Thornyhold. Geillis always had an air of mystery and magic about her, and so does her house. Gilly begins exploring her godmother's herbologies and the woods around the cottage, but interruptions by her various neighbors leave her both unsettled and intrigued. Led by occasional messenger pigeons and flashes of memories that aren't her own, Gilly begins to piece together the puzzle her godmother left behind.
I loved this book. Gilly is a delicately painted, nuanced character who feels perfectly real and quite familiar. The plot dances between moments of darkness and warm bucolic romance. And the setting! I fell absolutely in love with Stewart's England, with its bramble jelly and cats falling asleep in front of the Aga.
I loved this book. Gilly is a delicately painted, nuanced character who feels perfectly real and quite familiar. The plot dances between moments of darkness and warm bucolic romance. And the setting! I fell absolutely in love with Stewart's England, with its bramble jelly and cats falling asleep in front of the Aga.
This was between two and three stars, actually. I enjoyed the beautiful prose, full of the serene beauty of the English countryside. What bothered me was the dialogue (full of cliché interactions, almost stilted) and the improbability of the plot. Too many coincidences, too much melodrama. It was not my cup of tea, but one should read it just for the beauty of the descriptions of the landscape.
This was...pleasant. After a lonely childhood, Geillis Ramsey inherits her cousin's cottage and potentially her occupation as the local witch. The writing was fine, and the set up of the plot was interesting. But it felt as if the author were setting up a much longer and more complex novel, only to have everything wrapped up and ended neatly just as it was getting going. So I can't really recommend this.
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A 3.5 overall. A nice non demanding read. Rather an old fashioned story but enjoyable as a light quick entertainment.