Wildwood Magic

Rachel escaped the extremist sect for less than a day as a child but the wise woman and the orchard she encountered gave her the strength to escape again years later, the abused and pregnant wife of a preacher. Most of the book is told first person past tense from her perspective. She dreams of Siobhan, an Irish immigrant trapped in similar circumstances who planted that very orchard. Siobhan's chapters, and those of other characters, are third person and their name given at the start of each section.

Each character allied with the wildwood has some kind of craft or activity by which they work magic as well as having an animal companion. A lot of the magic is subtle, generally easy to explain away as coincidence or insight. Rachel embroiders. Others knit, sculpt, carve wood. Rachel's animal companion is anything but subtle. She lives by an orchard and has a green snake named Eve. I think Wildwood Magic will appeal to ex-Evangelicals but the biblical imagery is pretty obvious.

The story starts out cautiously, with Rachel finally becoming part of the community after hiding away for years. Then the sect comes along and stress levels ratchet up. The first chapter from the preacher's point of view gave me heartburn from the vitriol expressed. The audiobook switches to a male reader for the few male perspective chapters and this was the first one, so it threw me even further off balance. I'm going to need a cozy book palate cleanser next.

Content warnings: Domestic abuse, Vietnam war PTSD, bees, fire