Book Haul on a Budget: 8 Witchy Books for All Hallows’ Eve

All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween) and all things commonly related such as goblins, ghouls, and witches tend to be categorized as evil or fun, wicked or harmless, often emphatically so. As you can imagine, I fall into the latter category.

During this time of year, the “Witch” holds a special place in my heart. Sadly, history demonstrates the vilification, mortification, incarceration, and demonization of learned women for daring to, well…do anything. 

For millennia and up through modern times, these women, often healers, thinkers, and philosophers, have been persecuted first for simply knowing too much, and second, (worse in my book), for daring to exhibit such knowledge at all.

If I’d been born hundreds of years ago, my tenacity for scholarly pursuits might’ve caused my imprisonment or death. Thankfully I was born in 1971, surrounded by many women, all healers, thinkers, and philosophers in their own way.

THEY WERE FAMILY

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Before Practical Magic, before Hocus Pocus, I had my Grandmother, Ina, and her two sisters, Louisa, and Aurea.  Facetiously, I call them my Brooklyn Brujas (pronounced broo-hahs, Spanish for witch).

These three feisty sisters weren’t actually witches. They simply believed in themselves and their own abilities. Their strength of character allowed them to accomplish miracles, however humble, from the 1940s on…

They were phenomenal teachers. Within their safe havens, I learned about honor, strength, and reverence. They taught me about self-esteem – that it comes from within – about courage and fortitude. They taught me about humility and pride but most importantly, the balance between the two.

These women are gone now, but I carry their loving guidance with me always. I dedicate this All Hallows’ Eve book haul to them.

Fall is the perfect time of year to indulge in one or two of the following books about "witches", learned women. Perhaps, within their pages, these moving stories will cause a stir in your soul and awaken your intuition. Click To Tweet

Book Haul:  The Chosen Ones

Before I continue, please know this is a Book Haul on a Budget post and it was certainly that. 90% of these books were purchased at Goodwill or similar thrift store for less than a dollar a piece, including the first edition (1990) hardcover of Anne Rice’s The Witching Hour! 

A couple I “saved for later” on my Amazon account until I was notified of a sale under 10 dollars!  Most charitable and frugal indeed! I love saving pennies.

The Witching Hour (Mayfair Witches Book 1)
Anne Rice ~ Amazon ~ Kindle

Not to include Anne Rice’s book would be wrong on many levels. BB:  It begins in our time…Rowan Mayfair…brilliant practitioner of neurosurgery–aware that she has special powers but unaware that she comes from an ancient line of witches–finds the drowned body of a man off the coast of California and brings him to life…

As these two, fiercely drawn to each other, fall in love, in passionate alliance they set out to solve the mystery of her past and his unwelcome gift.

The novel moves backward and forward in time from today’s New Orleans and San Francisco to long-ago Amsterdam and a château in the France of Louis XIV.

An intricate tale of unfolds–an evil unleashed in seventeenth-century Scotland, where the first “witch,” Suzanne of the Mayfair, conjures up the spirit she names Lasher . . . a creation that spells her own destruction and torments each of her descendants in turn…With a dreamlike power, the novel draws us, through circuitous, twilight paths, to the present and Rowan’s increasingly inspired and risky moves in the merciless game that binds her to her heritage. And in New Orleans…this strangest of family sagas is brought to its startling climax.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
Katherine Howe ~ Amazon ~ Kindle

I’m about 1/4th into this book, and it fills me with a thrilling anxiety akin to a roller coaster ride.  I can barely read two chapters without having to walk a lap in an effort to calm my senses. Maybe for reasons I’ve suppressed, I’m a little too close to the subject. I don’t know, something to think about.

BB:  Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie’s grandmother’s abandoned home near Salem, she can’t refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key within a seventeenth-century Bible. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane.

This discovery launches Connie on a quest–to find out who this woman was and to unearth a rare artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge.

As the pieces of Deliverance’s harrowing story begin to fall into place, Connie is haunted by visions of the long-ago witch trials, and she begins to fear that she is more tied to Salem’s dark past then she could have ever imagined.  Written with astonishing conviction and grace, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane travels seamlessly between the witch trials of the 1690s and a modern woman’s story of mystery, intrigue, and revelation.

A Discovery of Witches
(All Souls Trilogy Book 1)
Deborah Harkness ~ Amazon ~ Kindle

BB:  Deborah Harkness’s sparkling debut, A Discovery of Witches, has brought her into the spotlight and galvanized fans around the world.

In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford’s Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont.

Harkness has created a universe to rival those of Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, and Elizabeth Kostova, and she adds a scholar’s depth to this riveting tale of magic and suspense.

The Witch’s Daughter
Paula Brackston ~ Amazon ~ Kindle

BB:  My name is Elizabeth Anne Hawksmith, and my age is three hundred and eighty-four years. Each new settlement asks for a new journal, and so this Book of Shadows begins…

In the spring of 1628, the Witchfinder of Wessex finds himself a true Witch. As Bess Hawksmith watches her mother swing from the Hanging Tree she knows that only one man can save her from the same fate at the hands of the panicked mob: the Warlock Gideon Masters, and his Book of Shadows. Secluded at his cottage in the woods, Gideon instructs Bess in the Craft, awakening formidable powers she didn’t know she had and making her immortal. She couldn’t have foreseen that even now, centuries later, he would be hunting her across time, determined to claim payment for saving her life.

In present-day England, Elizabeth has built a quiet life for herself, tending her garden and selling herbs and oils at the local farmers’ market. But her solitude abruptly ends when a teenage girl called Tegan starts hanging around. Against her better judgment, Elizabeth begins teaching Tegan the ways of the Hedge Witch, in the process awakening memories–and demons–long thought forgotten.

Part historical romance, part modern fantasy, Paula Brackston’s New York Times bestseller, The Witch’s Daughter, is a fresh, compelling take on the magical, yet dangerous world of Witches. Readers will long remember the fiercely independent heroine who survives plagues, wars, and the heartbreak that comes with immortality to remain true to herself, and protect the protégé she comes to love.

Labyrinth Lost
Zoraida Cordova ~ Amazon ~ Kindle

Brooklyn Brujas on print!  Obviously I couldn’t pass this one up.  There were too many similarities with my own life and the fictional tale set up in Labyrinth Lost. I haven’t read it yet, waiting for the opportune moment.

BB:  The only way to get her family back is to travel to a land in between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland…

Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation…and she hates magic.

At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she’s not sure she can trust, but who may be Alex’s only chance at saving her family.

The Witches of East End
Melissa de la Cruz ~ Amazon ~ Kindle

This book takes place on Long Island.  Having lived there for 20 years, I couldn’t pass it up either.

BB:  The three Beauchamp women-Joanna and her daughters, Freya and Ingrid-live ordinary lives in mist-shrouded North Hampton on the tip of Long Island. All three are harboring a centuries-old secret: They are powerful witches forbidden to practice magic. Right before Freya’s planned wedding to Bran Gardiner, a mysterious and attractive man arrives in town and makes Freya question everything.

When a young woman turns up dead, it soon becomes clear to all three that it’s time to dust off their wands and fight the dark forces working against them.

A Secret History of Witches
Louisa Morgan ~ Amazon ~ Kindle

BB:  Discover a magical historical saga of mothers, daughters, and the power of witchcraft – perfect for fans of Alice Hoffman.

Brittany, 1821. After Grand-mère 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.

The Rose Labyrinth
Titania Hardie ~ Amazon ~ Kindle

While technically not a book about witches per se, the story carries enough thematic similarities with strong female characters that I decided to include it in this list.

BB:  Before his death in 1609, Queen Elizabeth’s spiritual consultant, astrologer, and scientific advisor John Dee hid many of his most astonishing written works.  He believed the world was not yet prepared to face their shocking truths.

For seventeen generations, his female descendants have carefully guarded the secret of his hiding place.  They were waiting for the right moment to bring Dee’s ideas to light. That time is now.  British author Titania Hardie blends historical fact & fiction, introducing us to Lucy King, a beautiful, young documentary producer based in London. With the help of a brilliant group of friends, Lucy races through London, France, and New York to decipher the clues that will eventually lead her to the hidden treasure of the Rose Labyrinth.

Along the way she finds true love with the doctor who saw her through a life-threatening heart condition and transplant. A sweeping adventure, The Rose Labyrinth is a decadent, romantic novel with a historical twist. It features a wonderful mix of literary references, from Shakespeare, to the Romantic poets, to Gabriel Garcia Marquez; the folklore and history of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Paganism; and of course, astrology and numerology, of which Titania Hardie is an expert.  As the Rose Labyrinth tells us, the world we think we know is not all that it appears to be.

Hope you pick one of these little beauties to fill your literary October nights.  If you do, drop me a line and let’s talk about it #Sisterhood!

Be Well!

Cynthia
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