The Familiars
Ratings25
Average rating3.6
15
Ratings25
Average rating3.6
The Sunday Times Bestseller and Richard & Judy Book Club Pick and original break-out witchlit novel To save her child, she will trust a stranger. To protect a secret, she must risk her life . . . Fleetwood Shuttleworth is 17 years old, married, and pregnant for the fourth time. But as the mistress at Gawthorpe Hall, she still has no living child, and her husband Richard is anxious for an heir. When Fleetwood finds a letter she isn't supposed to read from the doctor who delivered her third stillbirth, she is dealt the crushing blow that she will not survive another pregnancy. Then she crosses paths by chance with Alice Gray, a young midwife. Alice promises to help her give birth to a healthy baby, and to prove the physician wrong. As Alice is drawn into the witchcraft accusations that are sweeping the North-West, Fleetwood risks everything by trying to help her. But is there more to Alice than meets the eye? Soon the two women's lives will become inextricably bound together as the legendary trial at Lancaster approaches, and Fleetwood's stomach continues to grow. Time is running out, and both their lives are at stake. Only they know the truth. Only they can save each other... 'Assured and alluring, this beautiful tale of women and witchcraft and the fight against power was a delight from start to finish' JESSIE BURTON 'Stacey Halls is a writer of great originality, great imagination and great sense of place. Atmospheric, intelligent, accessible, every novel is worth reading, then reading again and again' KATE MOSSE 'The new Hilary Mantel' COSMOPOLITAN 'Captivating' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'Arresting' THE TIMES 'A brilliant debut, pacy and inventive, from a terrifically talented new voice' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Truly spellbinding' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'A must-read novel' HEATHER MORRIS bestselling author of THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ 'Enthralling, spellbinding, full of twists and turns, written with heart and style - and the final chapters will have you racing to the end' KATE WILLIAMS 'Phenomenal. Beautiful, haunting, strange and evocative' LIZ HYDER 'Historical fiction at its feminist best' RED Magazine **MRS ENGLAND: the brand new novel from Stacey Halls is out now** *Sunday Times bestseller February and September 2018* *Winner of Women's Prize for Fiction x Good Housekeeping Futures award - Good Housekeeping 14 Oct 2022*
Reviews with the most likes.
I really wanted to like the book as this book touches all of my favorite topics and genres but the plot is always so slow and nothing exciting really happens. I had to give up reading because it was just stalling my other books.
Historical fiction.
Witches.
Those are the words that made me want to read this book. I was not disappointed. Set in 1612, this book really paints a good picture of what it would've been like then. I enjoyed it, and I think I will add it to the books I like to read around Halloween.
I received a copy from Net Galley.
3.5 stars
I've gone back and forth on a rating and review for this one, as there are many things this does well but also things which, after thinking longer on them, just irritated me.
So one of the strongest elements of this story is the setting and the atmosphere, from the very start you really get a sense of the time period and how stark life was for people who weren't part of the gentry and how people's minds could be swayed by someone in power. The entire idea that women who worked with herbs were branded witches by the King and therefore everyone immediately hated and hunted them. In a modern world, this type of mass thinking is baffling.
The main issue I had with the book was the main character, she was a walking contradiction. At 17 and onto her 4th(!!) pregnancy, she is naturally concerned about losing another baby but just rides around the country on her horse willy nilly until literally giving birth. And when she finds out her husband has a mistress hidden away at her old house, of course she's angry and refuses to speak to him, but then a few chapters later "Oh I forgive him everything". Girl, just no.
So yes, very conflicted. Overall I did enjoy it as a historical story, but when the main character is really just a bit of an idiot it's hard to root for her.
