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literatureaesthetic 's review for:

The Familiars by Stacey Halls
4.0

This book was amazing, I don't even know where to start.

This book follows Fleetwood, who is a pregnant woman in the 17th century. Her only desire is to deliver a healthy, living baby for her husband. When she comes across a letter hidden by her husband saying that she will not survive another pregnancy, she is filled with panic. In comes Alice. Alice is a midwife, who aids Fleetwood during her pregnancy. However with the rise in witchcraft accusations, having Alice deliver Fleetwood's baby becomes a lot more difficult.

I adored this book. I loved Fleetwood- her strength and her passion to do what's right is admirable. She is an amazing character. I was fascinated with the presentation of witches. The Pendle Witch Trials play a huge part in British History. I will say, I enjoyed that Stacey Halls never gives us a definitive answer on whether the females actually were witches or not. She leaves that to the readers.

I 100% recommend this. This is a spellbinding book about women, and let's be honest, we could do with more books like that.