Waking the Witch

What a truly magical evocation of Arthurian legend and Welsh myths, told with an underlying hint of menace for the main character.  Ivy has spent her life in homes and being shunted between various foster parents; but she has an intense desire to find her mother, who abandoned her as a baby, with only a short message and a locket to hint at who she was.  The story begins when she finally gets a message via social media, saying that the messenger had seen someone like her mother on a remote island off the Welsh coast.  When weird things start happening at work, Ivy and her co-worker Tom, decide to make the journey to Bardsey, to try and untangle the mystery.  What follows, leads them through a maze of challenges, introduces unknown family and a link to a version of Merlin that is not that of The Sword in the Stone.  The question is whether Ivy can save her mother and also her ancestors?

This was a delightful surprise, as I am not a huge fan of books that lean towards the horror side of fantasy.  However, the author has kept a very firm control over her plot and the tensions are just kept at a simmer; so that you have an expectation of evil, but it never becomes too oppressive.  The mix of King Arthur and Welsh myths works so well, as they share the same Celtic heritage.  However, the author gives us a different perspective on characters that we think we know and presents us with a situation where women are subjugated by the male leaders such as Merlin.  In many respects this is a story of women’s rights and the fight they have always had, in order to be treated as equals.  But this is also a gentle and ‘slow burn’ romance, as Ivy and Tom gradually come to understand that their teasing of each other, hides something deeper.  Highly recommended.