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This story wasn‘t what I was expecting when I got it. Still good but not really that witch-y. A little slow during the first half. HF based on the Pendle witch trials, which I didn‘t know about before. MC is Fleetwood Shuttleworth (what a wild name but she was a real person) who engages Alice‘s services as a midwife. When a bunch of “witches” are arrested, including Alice, she has to find a way to help her, even though she has little power. 4 ⭐️

February #Roll100 picks
I'm excited for all of these
@PuddleJumper

Fleetwood is 17 and pregnant again after two miscarriages. Desperate to deliver a healthy baby she asks a stranger who assists her after a fall from her horse to be her midwife. As she grows more dependent on her new friend, her neighbor begins a quest to ferret out all of the witches in their area in order to gain favor with the king. This was really enjoyable historical fiction with some good twists and turns.

Very good. Inspired by true events and people. Full of twists and turns. Debut novel that doesn't disappoint.

#Zaffre

13/23 This was our Feb bookclub pick & although I would never usually pick it up (I actively avoid historical fiction & fiction about childbirth) I really enjoyed it- that‘s why I love my bookclub! Great for a discussion around power dynamics & what has/hasn‘t changed since the 1600‘s! It‘s also based on real people (painting of the main character and her mother above) Using for #booked2023 #wronglyincarceratedmaincharacter

7/10

Pretty decent read, would likely read again. Midwife or witch, or somewhere in between. Alice and Fleetwood make an unlikely duo that end up changing the lives of many people around them, for better or worse.

Liked it but didn‘t love it. Will be interesting to see what my fellow book club members think

I really enjoyed this. Well written yet an easy read because the writer wasn't overly flowery with descriptions, giving just enough detail to set a truly realistic mood, bringing the reader right into the time of the Pendle Witch Trials. Makes me want to learn more about the true history of that time. I also really liked how it dealt with how precarious the position of women was during that era, regardless of status or wealth.

2022 𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘒 4 ~ 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘴 - 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘺 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴
🌟🌟🌟🌟

Started reading The Familiars by Stacey Halls today. To be honest I haven‘t even checked what this book is about when I bought it. I just really liked the cover. 😅

Obsessed. I listened to it on tape, and at first I wasn‘t so sure but I ended up really really enjoying the story.

What a perfectly fitting book to finish on Halloween 🎃 I have always found the story of the Pendle witches fascinating. This book breathed life into old tales from the past, It was a joy to read! #halloween #witches #thefamiliars #pick

Finished this up on audio today. I really enjoyed this historical fiction set during the Pendle witch trials of 1612. Really liked the ending. Great read for October.

#BookSpin

I‘m a little behind on the prompts for #LittensDressedinBlood

This book and really any book about witches reminds me of Autumn. I really loved this book when it came out and I just ordered the other 2 books by this author on Book Depository.

#CallofFall

Not bad exactly. Just predictable and not particularly well written, in my opinion. The pendle witches was a true event I think. I‘m interested in that from a gender history perspective, but this didn‘t really do more than scratch the surface and was full of anachronistic expectations of marriage and motherhood. Can imagine it doing well as a modern styled period drama on TV.

Not my usual genre at all, but I absolutely loved this!

The historical references were fascinating and the story based around them gripping.

Loved it so much I bought The Foundling by the same author 😍

💛💛💛💛 Very different to my usual genre of choice. I‘ve always found the stories of witchcraft and the accused women in the Middle Ages fascinating and it was interesting to read a fictional story loosely based around real people from the period. I would have preferred if there has been a bit more in depth about the witches. Would read further books by the author!

#TBRPile 📚 “I left the house with the letter because I did not know what else to do.”

It was a good book, but it wasn't really my 'thing'. The witchcraft element was interesting, but the prevalent themes of pregnancy, marriage and unfaithfulness were a little dull to me.
Over all the book was a very 50:50 affair for me

This wasn‘t what I expected, I thought it was going to be much more fantastical than it was, it‘s definitely more of a historical fiction novel. It was clearly very well researched and a good insight into life in those times. The story was simple but clever.

Halls has created a wonderful story of what might have been, bringing historical figures & timelines together with a story about staying strong & seeking the truth. Fleetwood is a strong-willed young lady who is ahead of her time in a world run by men for men. This historical novel is not riddled with descriptions of the 17th Century, she trusts her readers to know their history & maybe discover more outside of this book, which I know I will.

I enjoyed this but would have liked even more of an insight into the witchcraft and suspicions of the time and felt the part about the actual trials was a bit rushed. It‘s a good job I have other read that will do that bit! Gives me a line in #bookspinbingo at least!

1. My current read is set to the backdrop of the Pendle witch trials - lots of women being accused of having the ‘devil in her heart‘.
2. I think I have more mugs than anything else!
3. I‘ve never really thought about it. I think their character matters more than their age.

Thanks for the tag @EadieB ! @Eggs

#TBRPile 📚 Two women get caught up in the witch hunts of northwest England - and only they can save each other. This sounds like a great historical fiction set against the background of the Pendleton Witch trials

This was a nice easy read - just what we need right now. It did feel a bit like a few other books that I‘ve read and I agree with you @Caroline2 - there wasn‘t much about the Pendle witch trials, for a book that claimed to be inspired by them.

I also don‘t think that the book was centred around the ‘familiars‘ so an odd choice for the title, but now I‘m just being picky! 😁

I enjoyed this book, it‘s very readable and I liked the characters (isn‘t Fleetwood a fab girls name!!) but not enough of the story was actually on the witch trails for my liking. Which would have been fine but don‘t advertise it as a book ‘based on the Pendle witch trials‘ and then not really include the trails in the story much?! Wasted opportunity if you ask me. But I still enjoyed it and it was well written with a good ending. #buddyread

#weeklyforecast

OK, I‘m going in for a #buddyread @Caroline2 ! (Mainly cos I found a bookmark to match! 🤣)

Work is just ridiculous at the moment, including most of the weekend, so I‘m not planning much reading this week. I‘ll also continue with To The Bright Edge of the World as I‘m loving that one too and I think the two books are sufficiently different not to confuse my poor tired brain.... 😑

I‘ve only just started if you wanna jump in for a buddy read @squirrelbrain ? 🤔 I‘m enjoying it so far. 👍

Going to finish this one tonight. Very good!

I often don‘t enjoy historical fiction but I loved this. I loved the background of Lancashire and Cumbria during the Pendle witch trials, and the relationship between Fleetwood and Alice. Really delicious I couldn‘t stop reading.

#scarathlon2020 #teamharkness @StayCurious +16 pts

Excited for another readathon!! A few more points for #scarathlon2020 #teamharkness - hoping to finish the tagged book today then follow with impulse reads I think. #24b4monday

Early 1600s, England. A young noblewoman's midwife is accused of witchcraft and put on trial.

1. The Stars At Oktober Bend by Glenda Millard
Worlds Away From You by Charlotte Mednick
Suggested Reading by David Connis
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

2. Hot chocolate all the way!

3. The Familiars by Stacey Halls (tagged!) Such a pretty cover 😍

#weekendreads
@rachelsbrittain

Stacey Halls obviously has a thing for #FTitles! Loved The Familiars, and The Foundling is on my TBR mountain.

#FallFinds
@Eggs

I don‘t know why I didn‘t read this book sooner, it‘s beautifully written and I found myself really rooting for the main character. I thought it would be a bit more witchy and magical but enjoyed it a lot nonetheless
Highly recommend!

What a cover!!!! 🧡🖤🧡🖤 Something witchy for fall.

Next to read on kindle, been meaning to read this for so long

I quite enjoyed this fictionalized retelling of the Pendle Witch Trials of 1612, makes you glad it‘s 2020 ( sort of)

I started reading this at night before I finished The Broken Girls because my brain needed a break from all loose ends in the ghost story. This story is full of ‘witches‘ so I guess I‘m in full Halloween prep mode now

Thank you for the tag @Sharpeipup 1) Definitely a dog person, I spend all day, every day with my two. 2) My son‘s lung function being back to 99% after a nasty bacterial infection. #ChronicIllness he‘s worked so hard with his treatments and exercise #ThankfulThursday

I can't believe this book was a debut novel as it was written so beautifully. Life has been crazy, so it took me way longer than I wanted to finish this story that revolves around the Pendle Hill witch trials. The characters in the book all existed, but the author created the connection between the main character and one of the women accused. I found myself connecting to the main character and invested in the outcome. Highly recommend!

Just finished today brilliant book. Fleetwood Shuttleworth is pregnant and mistress of Gawthorpe Hall she has already lost 3 babies when she meets Alice Gray who promises to give her a healthy baby

I hadn‘t heard/ read much on the Pendle Witch Trials Of 1612 before I read this book. I found it eerily similar , in concern to Mob Mentality, Fear Mongering, and Scapegoating, to the current political agendas in the US. Whether they be Black, Brown, Latino, Indigenous, or a global pandemic, the current state of our system uses fear of the different and unknown to scapegoat as the cause for our problems. This article in the comment below is⤵️

Next up on Kindle

The Mercies has awakened my interests in reading about witch trials, so I downloaded The Familiars. Although I really liked the idea, the execution could have been shorter and more thought out and the ending felt a bit disappointing.

⭐️⭐️⭐️,5 stars

#TheFamiliars #HistoricalFiction

I finally took a day off to just read a book and this was a great read. I was expecting there to be more magic or witchcraft but it was extremely subtle, instead focusing on the lives of females at that time and the Pendle Hill witch trials. Certain outcomes annoyed me, but I appreciate the solutions as not everything can be tied up neatly. It was definitely thought provoking

Don't judge a book by its cover....at least that's what I usually tell myself!

This beautiful cover is one of the only reasons I ordered this on Amazon (bad I know). It's a different kind of story to what I would naturally choose but hoping that's a good thing! Excited to get stuck in.

Has anyone else read this one?