The Year of the Witching

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Says author Holland of writing Oh Mother, What Have You Done? (which contains an afterward by Bates Motel producer Anthony Cipriano), “ I wrote Psycho II, the first sequel that began the Psycho legacy, forty years ago this past summer, and the film was a huge success in the year 1983, but who remembers? To my surprise, apparently, they do, because on the film’s fortieth anniversary love from fans began to pour in, much to my amazement and pleasure. And then (Psycho II director) Richard Franklin’s unpublished memoirs arrived unexpectedly. I’d had no idea he’d written them before he passed in 2007.”

She gets her dead mother's journal from one of those witches and learns that her little town is in for a hot mess. She starts kinda poking around and realizes that she might have to be the one to save the town. I do not know if I would bother because to be honest...the town is full of turds and a crazy ass preacher man. Thrillingly brisk and bracing . . . it takes the best tropes of horror and witchcraft and gives them a refreshingly feminist twist.'Bewitching . . . Henderson offers a powerful portrait of patriarchal, racial, and religious abuses . . . conjuring a sense of creeping dread and maintaining the pacing throughout. This riveting work announces Henderson as an exciting new voice in dark fantasy. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Adark, dramatic tale of oppression and rebellion, ideology and morality, with a complicated, appealing protagonist caught in a Handmaid's Talenightmare.”-Louisa Morgan, Author of The Age of Witches Henderson’s writing is a thing of beauty. It is, at once, harrowing and seductive in ways that Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, for example, has never quite attained. Where that show chose to broadly sexualize its characters almost by force, Henderson chose to give Immanuelle agency over her sexuality and ties an inherent power to her choices. Henderson blends the supernatural with the real, expertly and ingeniously using dark witchcraft, sigils, and magical plagues to weave in real world themes and issues like racism, the oppression and silencing of women, and religious abuse. NERD DAILY

One of the many emotions that burns inside of me when reading books like this is RAGE. Not towards the book, but towards all the horrible characters who invoke my sense of solidarity towards those they’ve wronged, especially the women. Burn, let them burn!!! and then there’s the fact that the dark-skinned outskirters practice a completely different version of the prophet’s religion in which witchcraft and the mother have a prominent place, and yet… the prophet appears not to care about this at all. people get burned at the stake for adultery and witchcraft, but not for having a worshipful portrait of the evil mother of witches in their church.The imagery of this book was amazing!!! I could literally picture everything, as dark and disturbing as they were, in my head. As much as I loved it, it felt like Henderson focused more on this aspect than giving us more in the plot. The story was amazing, but I just needed MORE. I can’t explain it exactly, just know that I needed MORE.

This is more revolutionist, r It is a forbidden place, haunted by the spirits of the witches who bestow an extraordinary gift on Immanuelle. The diary of her dead mother . . . Blood” is the second section of the novel. Immanuelle was 17 and attended church with her family. Her best friend, Leah, was betrothed to the Prophet. Immanuelle herself had not yet bled, which was unusual for a girl of her age. She lived in a small village named Bethel, which was surrounded on all sides by the Darkwood, which were said to be haunted. Only the Prophet and his closest companions were able to leave through the Hallowed Gate to venture out into the rest of the world. In the Age of Light, the Father had given many humans supernatural Gifts, but now they were quite rare. The Age of Light had ended after the Holy Wars, during which the four witches (Jael, Mercy, Lilith, and Delilah) worked as servants of the Dark Mother to fight against the Father. he has also caused his youngest wife leah to die in an absolutely HORRENDOUS graphic birth scene in which a midwife is forced to cut her baby out of her womb while she dies screaming -- because he wanted to keep it a secret that he was boinking her while underage and not married.I know, bold statement. I might be tempted to revoke my claim later, but for now can we talk about how bloody PHENOMENAL and REVOLUTIONARY this terrifying wtichy culty puritanical tale is???? Yes, this book is the sh*t I want everyone to rave about. The setting is haunting beautiful and creepy that adds a deliciously bleak and eerie feel to the story with the danger that lurks in the Darkwoods. and the text even explicitly asks the question if ‘innocents’ are truly good people if they continually turn a blind eye. it’s wild! methinks false equivalence is at play, and that left a decidedly sour taste in my mouth.