It’s been a hot minute since I wrote a decent book review! But I felt like I needed to write more about this book. This is Emilia Hart’s debut novel and I am quite excited to see what else she will write! But first a little bit about the book.

Kate, 2019

Kate flees London – abandoning everything – for Cumbria and Weyward Cottage, inherited from her great-aunt. There, a secret lurks in the bones of the house, hidden ever since the witch-hunts on the 17th century.

Violet, 1942

Violet is more interested in collection insects and climbing trees than in becoming a proper young lady. Until a chain of shocking events changes her life forever.

Altha, 1619

Altha is on a trial for witchcraft, accused of killing a local man. Known for her uncanny connection with nature and animals, she is a threat that must be eliminated.

But Weyward women belong to the wild. And they cannot be tamed…

Weaving together the stories of three women across five centuries, Wayward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.

My thoughts

I love books that are set in different time periods. Each plot did focus a bit on that time period but not in a historical fictional way. Which is fine, some books I read for the historical fiction aspect and some I don’t. I don’t think I would think of this book as historical fiction since the main plot points were about Kate, Violet, and Altha and their life, struggles and successes.

There were certain plot elements that I felt were quite contrived but those didn’t really have too much effect on the rest of the novel. But they made me stop and go ehhhh. I would still recommend this book if you are interested in strong female characters and the female bond.

I find it interesting that all of the bad/one-star reviews this book has, focuses on that this is a feminist novel. Which I found very interesting because I wasn’t really connecting feminism to it. Especially since the book is about suffering women at the hands of men. I even thought about how I wished this book was more connected with feminism and instead of having the women have to be strong because of the actions of men that the women could just be strong. Why aren’t there more novels about women just being happy and strong?

All of the characters are reliant on men to find their strength and I think that that was the main point of the novel that annoyed me. Even though the women were the main focus on the novel and the bond between them there were just too many men!

I think I will give this book 4/5 because I did enjoy reading it and I would pick up another book by Emilia Hart of she publishes another one 🙂