Introduction

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF TWO GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS (Best Debut Novel & Best Historical Fiction)

An Indie Next March 2023 Pick • A LibraryReads March 2023 Pick • An Amazon "Best Books of the Year So Far" 2023 Pick

"A brave and original debut, Weyward is a spellbinding story about what may transpire when the natural world collides with a legacy of witchcraft." ––Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The London Séance Society

I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great-aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she suspects that her great-aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. When Altha was a girl, her mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence of witchcraft is laid out against Altha, she knows it will take all her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an astonishing debut, and an enthralling novel of female resilience.

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Excerpt

Prologue

ALTHA

1619

Ten days they�?�¢??d held me there. Ten days, with only the stink of my own flesh for company. Not even a rat graced me with its presence. There was nothing to attract it; they had brought me no food. Only ale.

Footsteps. Then, the wrench of metal on metal as the bolt was drawn back. The light hurt my eyes. For a moment, the men in the doorway shimmered as if they were not of this world and had come to take me away from it.

The prosecutor�?�¢??s men.

They had come to take me to trial.

Chapter One

KATE

2019

Kate is staring into the mirror when she hears it.

The key, scraping in the lock.

Her fingers shake as she hurries to fix her makeup, dark threads of mascara spidering onto her lower lids.

In the yellow light, she watches her pulse jump at her throat, beneath the necklace he gave her for their last anniversary. The chain is silver and thick, cold against her skin. She doesn�?�¢??t wear it during the day, when he�?�¢??s at work.

The front door clicks shut. The slap of his shoes on the floorboards. Wine, gurgling into a glass.

Panic flutters in her, like a bird. She takes a deep breath, touches the ribbon of scar on her left arm. Smiles one last time into the bathroom mirror. She can�?�¢??t let him see that anything is different. That anything is wrong.

Simon leans against the kitchen counter, wine glass in hand. Her blood pounds at the sight. The long, dark lines of him in his suit, the cut of his cheekbones. His golden hair.

He watches her walk towards him in the dress she knows he likes. Stiff fabric, taut across her hips. Red. The same color as her underwear. Lace, with little bows. As if Kate herself is something to be unwrapped, to be torn open.

She looks for clues. His tie is gone, three buttons of his shirt open to reveal fine curls. The whites of his eyes glow pink. He hands her a glass of wine and she catches the alcohol on his breath, sweet and pungent. Perspiration beads her back, under her arms.

The wine is chardonnay, usually her favorite. But now the smell turns her stomach, makes her think of rot. She presses the glass to her lips without taking a sip.

�?�¢??Hi, babe,�?�¢?�?� she says in a bright voice, polished just for him. �?�¢??How was work?�?�¢?�?�

But the words catch in her throat.

His eyes narrow. He moves quickly, despite the alcohol: his fingers digging into the soft flesh of her bicep.

�?�¢??Where did you go today?�?�¢?�?�

She knows better than to twist out of his grasp, though every cell of her wants to. Instead, she places her hand on his chest.

�?�¢??Nowhere,�?�¢?�?� she says, trying to keep her voice steady. �?�¢??I�?�¢??ve been home all day.�?�¢?�?� She�?�¢??d been careful to leave her iPhone at the apartment when she walked to the pharmacy, to take only cash with her. She smiles, leans in to kiss him.

His cheek is rough with stubble. Another smell mingles with the alcohol, something heady and floral. Perfume, maybe. It wouldn�?�¢??t be the first time. A tiny flare of hope in her gut. It could work to her advantage, if there�?�¢??s someone else.

But she�?�¢??s miscalculated. He shifts away from her and then�?�¢??�?�¢??

�?�¢??Liar.�?�¢?�?�

Kate barely hears the word as Simon�?�¢??s hand connects with her cheek, the pain dizzying like a bright light. At the edges of her vision, the colors of the room slide together: the gold-lit floorboards, the white leather couch, the kaleidoscope of the London skyline through the window.

A distant crashing sound: she has dropped her glass of wine.

She grips the counter, her breath coming out of her in ragged bursts, blood pulsing in her cheek. Simon is putting on his coat, picking up his keys from the dining table.

�?�¢??Stay here,�?�¢?�?� he says. �?�¢??I�?�¢??ll know if you don�?�¢??t.�?�¢?�?�

His shoes ring out across the floorboards. The door slams. She doesn�?�¢??t move until she hears the creak of the elevator down the shaft.

He�?�¢??s gone.

The floor glitters with broken glass. Wine hangs sour in the air.

A copper taste in her mouth brings her back to herself. Her lip is bleeding, caught against her teeth by the force of his hand.

Something switches in her brain. I�?�¢??ll know if you don�?�¢??t.

It hadn�?�¢??t been enough, leaving her phone at home. He�?�¢??s found another way. Another way to track her. She remembers how the doorman eyed her in the lobby: had Simon slipped him a wad of crisp notes to spy on her? Her blood freezes at the thought.

If he finds out where she went�?�¢??what she did�?�¢??earlier today, who knows what else he might do. Install cameras, take away her keys.

And all her plans will come to nothing. She�?�¢??ll never get out.

But no. She�?�¢??s ready enough, isn�?�¢??t she?

If she leaves now, she could get there by morning. The drive will take seven hours. She�?�¢??s plotted it carefully on her second phone, the one he doesn�?�¢??t know about. Tracing the blue line on the screen, curling up the country like a ribbon. She�?�¢??s practically memorized it.

Yes, she�?�¢??ll go now. She has to go now. Before he returns, before she loses her nerve.

She retrieves the Motorola from its hiding place, an envelope taped to the back of her bedside table. Takes a duffel from the top shelf of the wardrobe, fills it with clothes. From the en suite, she grabs her toiletries, the box she hid in the cupboard earlier that day.

Quickly, she changes out of her red dress into dark jeans and a tight pink top. Her fingers tremble as she unclasps the necklace. She leaves it on the bed, coiled like a noose. Next to her iPhone with its gold case: the one Simon pays for, knows the passcode to. The one he can track.

She rummages through the jewelry box on her bedside table, fingers closing around the gold bee-shaped brooch she�?�¢??s had since childhood. She pockets it and pauses, looking around the bedroom: the cream duvet and curtains, the sharp angles of the Scandi-style furniture. There should be other things to pack, shouldn�?�¢??t there? She had loads of stuff, once�?�¢??piles and piles of dog-eared books, art prints, mugs. Now, everything belongs to him.

In the elevator, adrenaline crackles in her blood. What if he comes back, intercepts her as she�?�¢??s leaving? She presses the button for the basement garage but the elevator jerks to a stop at the ground floor, the doors creaking open. Her heart pounds. The doorman�?�¢??s broad back is turned: he�?�¢??s talking to another resident. Barely breathing, Kate presses herself small into the elevator, exhaling only when no one else appears and the doors judder shut.

In the garage, she unlocks the Honda, which she bought before they met and is registered in her name. He can�?�¢??t�?�¢??surely�?�¢??ask the police to put a call out if she�?�¢??s driving her own car? She�?�¢??s watched enough crime shows. Left of her own volition, they�?�¢??ll say.

Volition is a nice word. It makes her think of flying.

She turns the key in the ignition, then taps her great-aunt�?�¢??s address into Google Maps. For months, she�?�¢??s repeated the words in her head like a mantra.

Weyward Cottage, Crows Beck. Cumbria. view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

Questions from the publisher - added by Pauline

1. Consider the evolution of the name “Weyward” and the way women in this novel receive it. Why
and how do the Weyward women grow to accept and proudly own this name? Why do you think
more recent versions of Macbeth have replaced “Weyward” with “Weird”?

2. “The Weyward women had lived safely in Crows Beck these last hundred years, and in that time
had healed its people . . . We could use our ability to heal without attracting too much suspicion.
The people were grateful for this gift” (page 279). How does the knowledge of other Weyward
women help Altha, Violet, and Kate heal when they need to? What role does nature play in
healing these three Weyward women?

3. Consider the ways that witchcraft shapes all three narrative threads. Who does society deem to
be a witch, and what are the factors that fuel that kind of accusation?

4. Violet spends a lot of time and energy in search of information about her mother. Similarly, Kate
seeks to understand who Violet was. Once they both find answers, how does this new knowledge
affect Violet and Kate moving forward? Does it change the way they view themselves at all?

5. Though we never hear from her directly, Elizabeth’s actions have repercussions that trickle down
to Violet, and eventually, Kate. What did you make of the choice to not include her narration?
How do she and Altha shape the present narrative, even though they’re both long deceased?

6. We learn that Kate “reread books she’d loved as a child” for the comfort of their familiarity
(page 22). How did the themes from various works of Shakespeare, The Secret Garden, and
Grimms’ Fairy Tales make an impression on both Kate and Violet? Do you have a book that you’ve
returned to over the years, and what about it makes you keep coming back? Can a familiar text
also be read in new ways?

7. Describe Violet and Graham’s relationship and its evolution throughout the novel.

8. Why do you think Simon, Rupert, Frederick, and John Milburn feel the need to establish
dominance over the women in their lives? How do Graham, Henry, and Adam Bainbridge differ
from these men?

9. Compare and contrast how Kate, Violet, and Grace feel about their pregnancies, which were a
product of toxic relationships. Do you think Kate’s decision to keep her baby was affected by
what she learned about the earlier Weyward women?

10. How do the traumas that Kate and Violet each experience affect how they view themselves?
How do they work through this, and how do they arrive at new perspectives by the end of the novel?
What role does forgiveness play in this evolution?

11. In Altha’s and Violet’s worlds, it is considered a “sin” for a woman to deliberately end her pregnancy,
and therefore, they can be punished by the law. Is this ideology still at work today? How do religious
beliefs play a role in U.S. lawmaking regarding women’s bodily autonomy? What are your thoughts
on how the concept of sin relates to our contemporary definitions of crime?

12. This novel follows the lives of three different women in three different time periods. How did
the movement between these perspectives affect your reading experience? In what other ways were
these women linked, aside from their familial ties?

13. Did you connect with one character more than the others? If so, why? What do the parallels in their
stories say about the female experience and/or the degree to which society’s treatment of women
has evolved?

14. In what ways does this novel nudge at the idea of a woman returning to her natural, most free state
of being? What does it mean to you to utilize the gift of your inner wild?

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