Weyward by Emilia Hart ~ Review

I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family’s grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart’s Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Magical Realism, Historical, Witches

329 pages, Hardcover

First published February 2, 2023

Get Your Copy: Amazon | Goodreads | B&N

PREORDER: The Sirens (release date March 4, 2025)

This book quickly became one of my favorites of all time!

Emilia Hart weaves together the individual stories of three women to form one overarching epic tale spanning five centuries. It’s hard to believe that this is her first novel!

The stories of the Weyward women hold great struggle and incredible pain, but also their unshakable strength once they realize their true identities and the potential that they always had deep inside them.

This book is heavy. Prepare yourself emotionally before diving in. The pages unfold a work of art as self-serving power in the wrong hands goes toe to toe with the power of nature wielded by the hands of generations of Weyward women. The losses these women suffered and the sacrifices they made became a map of the journey that led to their true calling, a journey of helping others just as nature had helped them in their own times of need.

I anxiously await Emilia’s next book!

Emilia Hart is a British-Australian writer. She was born in Sydney and studied English Literature and Law at the University of New South Wales before working as a lawyer in Sydney and London.

Emilia is a graduate of Curtis Brown Creative’s Three Month Online Novel Writing Course and was Highly Commended in the 2021 Caledonia Novel Award. Her short fiction has been published in Australia and the UK. “Weyward” is her debut novel. She lives in London, England.