We Three Witches

Trigger Warnings: Arson, Death, Gore, Body Horror, Blood Magic, Violence, Kidnapping, Imprisonment, Murder.

In a third outing to haunted York, the author of the celebrated queer supernatural fantasies Sixteen Souls and Twelve Bones explores her character Viola’s back story of love and loss. This poignant paranormal prequel, set in the 1930s, is an intense Sapphic romantasy steeped in the worlds of art, theatre and osteomancy.

It follows the traumatic events in the life of a coven of four witches, Viola, Edie, Bea and Merle. Opening with a devastating event that changes everything, it becomes a murder mystery, a quest and a fight to regain a soul mate. Structured around the practice of osteomancy, the book is divided into the eight parts of bone divination, the Soma, the Mind, the Heart, the Soul, the World, the Root, Time and Self. Each is open to intuitive interpretations when animal bones are thrown.

Talbot’s research is evident in her vivid descriptions of this ancient art, with modern day Sangoma including the Shona people of Zimbabwe. It is Viola’s sole purpose until tragedy gives her a perilous sixth sense. As her visions intensify and she meddles in magic that puts her life at risk, the danger grows. Stakes grow higher for the coven as the story unfolds at a breathless pace. Viola encounters a mysterious organisation and starts to wonder whom she can trust.

We Three Witches is a love letter to the city of York with cinematic imagery, historical detail, propulsive plotting and Shakespearean references. Ending on a precarious cliffhanger, promising a sequel, this visceral, tender, dramatic and dark novel is not for the faint hearted. It will appeal to teens looking for queer representation within the horror genre.