REVIEW: A Secret History of Witches

A Secret History of Witches
Author: Louisa Morgan

A Secret History of Witches tells the tale of five generations of witches in a gypsy family. Mothers pass the gift to their daughters. They are persecuted and have to hide their powers from others. Spanning the time from the early 1800s to WW2, the book is divided into five sections, one for each of the five Orchiere family witches -- Nanette, Ursule, Irene, Morwen and Veronica.

This book was at times a little too slow moving, but there is such a strong mother-daughter love through each generation that I felt that emotion was almost more important than the magic. The family grimoire and scrying stone speak differently to each generation as they receive their powers at puberty.

All in all, I enjoyed this book. At times, the plot moved along a bit slowly and I felt the ending was a bit lack-luster, even abrupt. But it didn't really hurt my enjoyment of the overall story.....the characters, their love for each other, and how the passed down power effected them all a bit differently was enough to keep me reading. What the story lacks in action, it makes up for in emotion and a sense of Family passed down through generations. Normally, I tend to not like stories that span multiple generations because the character/time/generation changes can seem abrupt or some portions of the story can be left unresolved. I didn't feel that way about this book, except at the very end. I felt this book was a nice mix of historical fiction and fantasy. I would definitely read more by this author.

The cover art is fantastic!

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Orbit Books via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**