Historical Fictionistas discussion

Those of us in the Northern Hemisphere know that October brings fall weather. Those of us in the United States know that October brings spooky season. Personally, I love spooky season. Let's celebrate spooky season.

The October theme is going to be witches. All nominated books must be historical fiction that features a witch or witches. For this month historical fantasy nominations will be accepted. All nominations must include the following THREE things to be included - 1.) Book Title 2.) Book Author 3.) Few words about how the book ties back to the witches theme
Nominations missing any one of these three things will not be counted. I will not be overly policing the thread pointing out to people that they are missing one of the above three things. If your nomination is missing from the list of poll eligible books, more than likely you were missing one of the three things.

REMINDERS
-All members get one nomination and one second: Please clearly state in your post if you are seconding a nomination and keep extra chatter about books to other threads. It gets easy for moderators to miss things when threads are bogged down with extra information.
Books in a series must be read in order: If you nominate book 5 in a series and we have not yet read books 1-4 as a group, the nomination won't count.
NO SELF NOMINATIONS: Any member who self-nominates will be removed from the group.

For more information about how the nomination process works, please see this thread - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE, TAKE A LOOK AT THE LIST OF PREVIOUS GROUP READS BEFORE NOMINATING YOUR BOOK - They can all be found here - https://www.goodreads.com/group/books...

This thread will remain open until 8/21

I'm nominating The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow. This book is the story of three sisters who practice magic who end up being the target of a witch hunt in 1893.

I'm nominating The Embroidered Book by Kate Heartfield. This is a historical fantasy about Marie Antoinette and her sister Maria Carolina of Austria finding a spell book when they are children and using their learned witchcraft skills to succeed at their respective courts!

I'll second The Once and Future Witches

I second The Once and Future Witches

I second “The Embroidered Book”!

I nominate Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman - the story of Maria Owens who is accused of witchcraft in 1600s Salem, Massachusetts. The book is the prequel to Hoffman’s Practical Magic series.

I’ll nominate The Manningtree Witches by A. K. Blakemore. It’s set in seventeenth-century England and has a female protagonist. It features as a character the witch hunter everyone loves to hate, Matthew Hopkins.

I’ll also second The Once and Future Witches.

I will nominate Corrag by Susan Fletcher

I nominate A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan. Below is the summary from the book.

Brittany, 1821. After Grand-Mere Ursule gives her life to save her family, their magic seems to die with her.

Even so, the Orchires fight to keep the old ways alive, practicing half-remembered spells and arcane rites in hopes of a revival. And when their youngest daughter comes of age, magic flows anew. The lineage continues, though new generations struggle not only to master their power, but also to keep it hidden.

But when World War II looms on the horizon, magic is needed more urgently than ever -- not for simple potions or visions, but to change the entire course of history.

I second Corrag also unknown as The Highland Witch.
Corrag is condemned for her involvement of the GlenCoe Massacre in 1692.
She is imprisoned and accused of witchcraft.

I second Magic LessonsbyAlice Hoffman

I’m nominating The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. It doesn’t have any real witches in it, but it has “witches”. Its about a girl named Kit moving from the Barbados to Connecticut after her grandfather’s death. She’s tried to fit in to the Puritan culture, but finds it challenging. After unfortunate happenings in her town, people want to find someone to shoulder the blame.

I nominate Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian
“… a tale of historical suspense set in 1662 Boston, a story of the first divorce in North America for domestic violence -- and a subsequent witch trial. Diana Gabaldon in her review in the Washington Post called it "historical fiction at its best."”

I second the "Hour of the Witch" by Chris Bohjalian.

I second The Witch of Blackbird Pond

I nominate Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
Such coming of age kind of Witching surely make room for more content and add flavor to the reading, I believe.

& I Second : Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

I Second the hour of the witch

I second Magic Lessons.

I'm nominating Hour of the Witch, by Chris Bohjalian, because I saw it on the nominee list of best historical fiction for 2021. I know nothing about it but fits the theme!

Jo Spurrier,

I tried to check if this had been read before, but couldn't find any reference as this being the case.

I would like to add this read as does appear to be terrifying.
"A dead witch, a bitter curse. A battle of magic. Gyssha Blackbone made monsters but now the witch is dead.

I secondThe Once and Future Witches

I am nominating Anne Rice - the witching hour

Seconding The Manningtree Witches

Vote for The Manningtree Witches

I second A Secret History of Witches

I nominate or vote for The Highland Witch by Susan Fletcher, and I second Once and Future Witches, and The Witch of Blackbird Pond

I second Hour of the Witch - my IRL HF Book Club is doing this in November & I might actually be able to double up!!

I'll second Ann Rice's The Witching Hour