The Witchling’s Girl is fantastically written, it’s got a unique premise in which each village has a witchling to cure the community, to act as a midwife and upon their death to either bring people back or escort them beyond for judgement. Each witchling has a girl, an involuntary apprentice in a way, who upon showing signs of the craft at a young is renounced and given to the witchling to live with her in the House of Dead, train and become her successor. The story starts with our protagonist Haley, taken as a little girl after bringing her dead cat to life, being passed to Marian, the current witchling, where is taught she no longer can see her family, she cannot love, she serves her people and in turn must disown herself. She is taught medicine, magic, the laws of the underworld, but along with day to day healing Haley must learn, the village is also facing a mysterious illness and, if that’s not bad enough, in the middle of a war between battling Lords.

Haley is a fantastic character, you really experience her character development throughout the book As she grows up,, starting off angry and resentful when her mother gives her away, and through life lessons and good (and bad) people, becoming a young woman with torn loyalties, tenderness and fierceness until full circle, she becomes the witchling raising the girl. This book has great LGBQT representation and in particular a connection with Leah, a mysterious character who is brought in later in the book, is tender and intimate and the chemistry is delightful. Similarly, another beautiful relationship is the one between Haley and Marian which takes on a maternal role that is so perfectly captured. There are also a lot of relationships and characters introduced that have special meaning, characters are introduced for a reason and build each other up.

The writing really is fantastic, there is a scene where Haley and Marian deliver a baby that particularly stayed with me. Morality, loyalty, love, violence is addressed, the writing is deep and poetic and my goodness this book will make you feel! While this book is beautifully written, I’m giving it 4 stars instead of the 5, simply because I finished the book and just sat there feeling Incredibly overwhelmed and devastated because this book is very dark, very brutal, very heavy that I genuinely found hard to get past. This book is as much about life as it is about death and while it’s beautiful, it doesn’t hold back. It’s a testament to the writing that it made me care so much about these people.

Thank you NetGalley for the early copy in exchange for an honest review

This book was absolutely incredible. I just finished and I am an emotional wreck. The writing is stunning, lush and evocative without getting to bogged down in overly flowery prose but I think the true reason this book now has a place in my heart as one of my favourite books is it's focus on healing as well as discussions around death and having a good death. Books that have a large focus on medicine and the struggles that healers (/doctors) face will always mean a lot to me as I so deeply resonate with them.

In this book we follow Haley who has a young girl discovers she is a witchling, which basically means she has power to raise and guide the dead, as well as healing magic. She gets taken to the house of the dead, where she must now live with the current town witchling as an apprentice and can never see her family again. The house of the dead was very remiscient of the baba yaga/house with chicken legs aspect of russian/slavic folklore, with each town/village havinga house of the dead witha resisdent witchling who acts as the village healer, midwife and helps people who are dying and guides the dead to the underworld.

At first Haley is very angry and grieving the loss of her old life but she eventually comes round to becoming the apprentice to the older witchling, Marian who becomes almost a mother figure to Haley. We watch as Haley grows up and learns several life lessons, as well as getting to watch her learn the healing arts, which I just loved all the healing aspects of this book!! There was a scene where Haley is helping Marian for the first time at a birth and that scene was just so emotionally impactful (especially as a medical student myself!).

However life is not that simple and strange things as starting to occur in the land. People are starting to die of a strange disease where they get seizures, start speaking in strange languages and act rashly and unlike themsleves. Haley discovers this is atually happening because these people are being possesed by ghosts and keeps this a secret from Marian (and everyone else) which leads to a lot of emotional turmoil for her and some reckless decison making. Haley also is visited by a mysterious character called Leah, who we find out more about as the book goes on and Haley and Leah grow closer and their relationship is beautiful T_T it had me feeling all the feelings and the angst, mystery and chemistry was amazing!!

Watching Haley look back on her life (that is how the story is told) was such a joy, just to follow her life from a scared little girl, to a aprentice unsure of herself and her descions, to a powerful witchling keeping a lot of secrets and eventually to getting her own witchlings girl to raise.

The character interactions are some of the best aspects of this book, witchlings are not allowed to have a family/have babies/be in love but watching Haley make meaning connections with different people in the village, as well as her complicated relationship with Marian and her forbidden feelings for Leah created such dynamic and interesting character interactions.

The atmosphere of this book is so haunting yet weirdly comforting (I don't know if that is just me though and my love for medicine) but this book is perfect for autumn/winter and especially spooky season!!

And I have to mention it again but all the healing scenes in thsi book were just perfection. I loved all the stuff with the herbs, that added so much to the atmosphere/setting. I also love the discussions around death and helping give people a good death and knowing when their time has come. I also liked how the families have to choose between sending their loved one to the afterlife to be judged and their soul can live on forever or to be resurrected for a few years but they soul goes into oblivion. Very though provoking, especially around the ethics and morality of doing this - I also liked how the best interests of the person was discussed. This book also brought up some struggles it's easy to face as someone who works in a healthcare setting, such as feeling guilty when a patient dies and like it's your fault even though you did everything you could, deling with the anger and grief of families and the general emotional exhaustion that comes with providing care and being deeply empathatic.

And finally the ending. I am not okay T_T. I teared up a least twice (a rarity for me in books) and everything just comes to a perfect head, the poltical tension in the land that has been building up, the interpersonal conflicts in the village, the emotional stakes. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

I started my October by picking up this book and I have to say it was a perfect, atmospheric and beautiful read for the season.
From the first page I was pulled straight into the world of the witchlings and their dead house where they serve as healers, midwives and accompany the dead to the underworld. The book is told from the perspective of Haley who at 7 years old was abandoned by her mother for using “death-magic”, she is left in the care of a Witchling named Marian and must come to terms with her new life and learn how to take Marian’s place when she dies.
Watching Haley’s relationship with Marian develop from one of resentment and hate to one full of respect and love was heartwarming yet tragic and really elevated the story for me.
Haley really stood out as a main character as she was easy to relate to and held my attention throughout the book. She made mistakes but always tried to do her best when it came to her work as a witchling. Throughout this book there is a war being fought and although we never see the front line we get to see the effect it has on the village and the way the witchlings operate which added another layer to the story and served the plot well. Another thing that really stood out to me was the magic system that was used - it was fascinating and original and was never over explained so the mystery was kept ‘til the very end.

This book has been one of my favourite reads this year - a beautiful yet tragic tale with perfect pacing and a storyline that I couldn’t put down. If you're looking for a witchy read that’s not only magical but full of heart I would highly recommend you give it a try.

This book saw me pouring a pumpkin spice latte, slapped it out of my hand and said “No! This is how we do spooky season now!” And honestly?! Favourite book of the year.

Do you want to curl up with a cup of tea and fall into an entrancement of hauntingly, beautiful literature during fall? Yes? Thought so.

First of all- it took me by surprise as it was not advertised as LGBT+ but THIS BOOK IS QUEER AND I LOVE IT. My gay heart was over joyed.

1. Our main character, Haley- is Bi
2. Leah- is Asexual, and sapphic (I believe, but many interpret her character in different ways)
3. There’s also mention of a gay male couple early in the book though fleeting.

Now the book itself. I was gripped by the house’ talons and brought into the magical world of a witchling. The book has a medieval, fantasy style feel, with battling lords attempting to take one another’s land.

The story however mostly focuses on Haley, who at an extremely (not normally seen) young age, begins to display powers of resurrection; showing she is a witchling.

However the life of a witchling is one of only devotion to the cause and total impartiality, and punishable by death if you choose to deviate from your path. Haley is ripped from her mother’s grasp, taken into the house of the dead and looked down upon by a town who fears the dark and wonderful powers of its healers.

‘If I stayed stupid, if I did not study, then I would not learn how to carry the dead into the underworld’

The book follows Haley as she grows, starting from a young age and flowing through her life like a hauntingly, spiritual diary. It follows the elder witchling who raises her also,

It’s extremely hard hitting, emotional and has beautiful depth.

I know some people are looking for books to replace their usual Harry Potter reading with this year- and I would highly reccomended this tale of magic. An inclusive, haunting and hard hitting tale of magic.

Content warnings; brief mentions of rape, violence, abuse, bullying, being taken from family, abortion.

I would like to thank the publisher Hodder Books , for providing me with an ARC of this brilliant book.

Imagine being seven years old and abandoned by your mother, to the most frightening person in your town.

The longing to return home, the fear of your new surroundings and the strange person who now rules your life.

For young Haley it must be devastating. And Helena Coggan weaves a realistic portrayal of this young girls anguish and rising curiosity as she begins to accept her fate.

While also weaving an intriguing fantasy world, that merges seamlessly with the characters within it.

My heart went out to Haley and Miriam, both thrust into a life they didn’t ask for and didn’t want. Torn from their families and expected to care for people who feared and shunned them.

Forced to suffer abuse, for what must have felt more like a curse than a gift. Simply because they were born different. Something, I think many readers could relate to in their own many varied ways. Be it poor eyesight, that means they require glasses, a disability or illness, or an accident later in life, that disfigures, even something as uncontrollable as the colour of your skin or your sexuality. The world is afraid of that which they deem different. As if that difference may somehow infect them if they let it come to close. And Helena illustrates this beautifully in this book.

The towns folk need the witchling’s and the witchling’s girl and yet instead of being grateful for them as you might think, they try to ignore them, pretend they are not there unless they have need of them. As if they are a dirty little secret, not to be acknowledged.

And the persecution continues for Haley throughout her life, as she is forced into one bad situations after another and grapples for some small pockets of happiness, even if it means breaking the rules.

It’s a heartbreaking story, that keeps you guessing with its many twist and turns and has a whole host of well developed characters, that capture your heart and have you rooting for them and for change.

I really enjoyed this one and would highly recommend it. The only downfall of the book was that at times it did drag a little, but it was so packed with action these moments never lasted too long.

Please note: I received this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Also please bare in mind that due to my Crohn’s disease I now struggle with pretty bad brain fog Among other things, which means I sometimes muddle words or names, and forget how to spell the simplest of words (so frustrating) so apologies for any errors in this or future post, It was not/is not intentional,