Weyward by Emilia Hart: A review

Weyward tells the stories of three women from three different centuries, women who are tied together by blood and by the common sanctuary that each of them found in a place called Weyward Cottage. We meet and get to know Kate from 2019, Violet from 1942, and Altha from 1619. Perhaps most importantly we get to know the cottage that is worlds away from the unhappiness and abuse that those three women experienced in their lives.

Kate had inherited the cottage in 2019 from a great-aunt whom she barely knew. The inheritance came at a fortuitous time as she needed to escape from an abusive relationship. As things became unbearable for her, she fled under cover of darkness to the cottage where she had never really spent any time previously. It felt to her like coming home.

In 1619, Altha was charged with witchcraft. She was accused of having murdered a local farmer by causing a stampede of his cattle that had trampled and killed him. Her mother had taught her knowledge of the natural world and such knowledge was considered dangerous by her neighbors who didn't possess or understand it. They could not appreciate that they, too, were a part of Nature.  

We meet Violet in 1942 as World War II is raging. Violet wants to seek an education like her brother is receiving but social convention at the time forbids it and she is trapped on her family's estate. Violet owns a mysterious locket that came from her mother and is engraved with the letter "W." Moreover, on a baseboard in her bedroom, she finds the word "weyward" scratched. What does it all mean?

Emilia Hart weaves together the stories of these three women and of their sanctuary cottage. Their stories give testament to the resilience of women and to the power of the natural world to transform and heal. 

The stories also make clear that not enough has changed regarding the status of women over more than four centuries. Even in the twenty-first century, women must often struggle to be considered equal to men in the rights they have and in their place in society. 

Hart's first book was a remarkable accomplishment that won her the Goodreads Best Historical Fiction and Best Debut Novel awards in 2023. It is so well-written that it is actually difficult to believe that this was her first novel, although it should be noted that she had previously published considerable short fiction. I think she likely has a bright future as a novelist.