Witches of New York (McKay)
(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)
This book was one of three that was our book club was to choose from, but it didn't win the vote. After the previous month, where the ebooks were difficult to come by, I placed holds on all three books before we even voted. Since the winning book was short, and since this one seemed to be of interest, I gave it a shot. I'm glad I did.
The story takes place in New York City in the 1880s when the Brooklyn Bridge was still under construction, Cleopatra's Needle was on its way to the city (to eventually stand in Central Park) and Lady Liberty's torch, and only her torch, stood in Madison Square Park. Against all this, two witches, Eleanor St. Clair and Adelaide Thom, have a shop called "Tea and Sympathy" where they offer tea and tell fortunes. Both witches have their own specialties and their own histories. They also have a raven named "Perdu". A story from Eleanor's grimoire tells a tale that describes a bird very similar to Perdu and you're to assume that they are the same bird. Moreover, we find from a later ghost, that Perdu isn't really a bird and has an untold secret. In the author interview after the story, when asked Perdu's identity, she says that the clues are in the book, and points back to that story. So that's one mystery solved.
Side note: I learned from Good Reads that Adelaide Thom, who changed her name from Moth, actually appeared in an earlier book by McKay. There were references to her changing her name in this book but nothing came of it. Apparently, it was just to connect the characters together while allowing the character to have a new identity.
Added to this mix is Beatrice Dunn, a young woman from upstate who comes to the city. She touches the obelisk when her train is stopped to allow the obelisk to pass. Beatrice has a natural talent to see ghosts and speak with the dead.
The basic story is that there are some people who are fearful of witches (or pagans) in general, and they have a problem with the tea shop. There is a reverend who is descended from the witch hunters who wants to find one of his own. As a minor character, there is a demon that uses the reverend as a useful idiot to hunt witches so he can feed on their magic (their dead bodies).
There's a love story brewing with Adelaide, who wears a mask because of a previous acid attack that claimed one eye, and Dr. Brody, who wears a prosthetic arm to replace the one he lost in the war (Civil War, that is). Dr. Brody is interested in contacting the beyond and has a device which is, essentially, a mechanical ouija board, that Beatrice will operate blindfolded, where see can't see the responses.
The reverend kidnaps one witch (who takes her own life, after a dream with her mother) and then Beatrice. Everyone is looking for her, but the ghost of the former witch helpd her.
In the end, this is a slice of life piece, because there's no overarching story line. There are competing ones and some of them are left open. That is to say, there isn't a nice pat ending for everything. Perdu is still a bird. And the demon is still out there searching for magic, and the witches have no idea of his existence.
A little heavy at times on the feminism in that it breaks the narration to make its points, but not overly so. Frankly, I've come to expect it. Likewise, if it's a story about witches, I know that there will be an overzealous, possibly evil, priest trying to recreate Salem two centuries after the fact, as if nothing changed.
Speaking of Salem, I have two points: first, the tragedy of Salem was underscored by the fact that none of those innocent woman hanged were actually witches in the literary sense of the word. They may have been pagans, and they made have gathered herbs and brewed potions (or tea), but nothing as powerful as witches are portrayed in the "present" time. If witches had been that powerful back then, would they have been so easily captured and killed. Maybe they weren't and innocents died in their places. (hmmm, that could be a story idea.) And if any of the witches condemned to die were indeed powerful, then doesn't that take some of the stigma away from the ones who opposed them? I hope not, but it gives pause.
The second is that the author discovered in doing researched that she has an ancestor (once removed) that was hanged for witchcraft, and only because laws were changed did that woman's daughter survive. So that makes this story a little more personal.
I enjoyed this book, even more than the actual book club selection. I'm glad I read it.
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