“There’s a lure to this work that goes deep in us. It’s the working of saving something from the land. And this, bagging the turf to take home, was most satisfying. A small triumph for man. Even as I watched my hands become scratched and torn I cared little, about as little as the mountain did.”

This book has a real sense of place being steeped in the Legion of the Cailleach (a Witchlike Landscape Deity) and drawing on the powers of the Bean Feasa (Wise Women/Witches). If you ever wanted to learn more about the myths and legions of the West of Ireland via fiction this book is definitely for you.

The story has obvious comparisons to Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic in that we have female witches who are principally Sisters and Aunts who are doomed in love and life until they can lift the Geis/curse set upon their family by their ancestors. The story is definitely five stars and is cleverly plotted and interwoven with hints of the truth given until it comes to its conclusion.

However, the style of writing did not suit me. There were too many changing POVs, too much time spent in overly self-aware characters heads, too much explanation of what a character was thinking and feeling and several other faults that had me seriously considering DNFing this book twice. However, I kept going and the payoff of the story arch was worth it.

I would love to see this author get a literary agent, a publishing deal and a commercial editor for this book. Somewhere underneath its roughness is a real diamond.

Recommended to fans I Irish folklore, the book and movie Practical Magic and the tv program Charmed.