Witches lurk in the Darkwood … and they seem to be calling out to Immanuelle. A young woman struggling to be accepted by the Puritanical society she lives in discovers her true power in The Year of the Witching, a stunning debut fantasy novel by Alexis Henderson, which came out back in July. I know Halloween is well over, but it’s never too late in the year to pick up a good witchy book!
The Year of the Witching is set in the fantastical town of Bethel, which resembles the Puritan settlements of seventeenth-century America. Generations ago, the godly people of Bethel—led by their Prophet—waged a war against the witches, burning them and their followers upon purging pyres. But traces of the witches’ power linger in the Darkwood, where Immanuelle’s mother once sought refuge before giving birth. Immanuelle lives under the shadow of her mother’s sins, no matter how hard she tries to keep her head down and follow the Holy Protocols. But keeping her head down gets more difficult as she is forced to confront the corruption and hypocrisy in Bethel—particularly in the actions of their religious leader, the Prophet. Immanuelle seeks answers in the Darkwood and in her mother’s journal, and she soon discovers that she is entangled in a web of vengeful magic that was set in motion before she was even born. When a series of plagues threatens the town, Immanuelle must decide: Will she risk her life to save the community that would gladly burn her as a witch? Or will she save herself and leave Bethel to its fate?
This novel is centered on the very Gothic trope of corrupted clergy. The most powerful man in Bethel is the Prophet. Blessed by the Father with the power of visions, the Prophet in each generation is meant to guide the townspeople toward a life of virtue and away from sins and witchcraft. But the current Prophet has no business preaching to anyone else about sin. He uses his position of power to abuse his many wives and take advantage of the pious young girls of his flock. Such depictions of well-respected religious figures concealing a life of lust and lechery go all the way back to early Gothic novels like Matthew Lewis’s The Monk. And, of course, leveraging the threat of witchcraft charges to try to coerce women into sex is straight out of the playbook of Frollo in Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The Prophet even presides over his own Inquisition-esque system, in which the young women who defy him are imprisoned, tortured, and interrogated about their sins. There’s always something viscerally disturbing about a villain who twists the faith of others to his own ends. But as with most Gothic novels, The Year of the Witching isn’t just a warning about corrupted men in positions of religious power—it is also a commentary on a wider set of society’s ills: in this case, the patriarchy, gendered double standards, and policing women’s sexuality while turning a blind eye to male abusers.
The Year of the Witching is also, appropriate for these unusual times, a plague novel. In a twist on Biblical tradition, the town of Bethel is struck by a series of four plagues that resemble several of those visited upon Egypt in the Book of Exodus. But these plagues are not sent by God—and they also don’t result in immediate liberation of the oppressed. Instead, the plagues serve as a source of horror for Immanuelle and her enemies, alike. This story is not a simple tale of defeating an evil ruler, but rather of wrestling with more nuanced moral questions. The central question—Is a corrupt society worth saving?—also calls to mind Biblical tales. Immanuelle has multiple opportunities to pull a Noah or Lot—escaping with a loved one while allowing her people to be wiped out as punishment for their wrongs. But is the answer to violence and death really more violence and death? As much as The Year of the Witching points out hypocrisy and corruption, it also points us toward hope and the belief that society is capable of changing for the better.
Have you read The Year of the Witching yet? If not, you can find it at your favorite local retailer or buy it online and support The Gothic Library in the process using this Bookshop.org affiliate link. If you have, let me know what you thought of it in the comments!