The Familiars: The dark, captivating Sunday Times bestseller and original break-out witch-lit novel

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Weber, Rachel (October 10, 2013). "Angry Birds film signs Disney director". Games Industry . Retrieved December 15, 2013. Fleetwood is pregnant again and is determined that this time round she will do everything she can to protect her baby. It is only at the end in the Historical Note that we discover the characters are real, albeit The Familiars is a work of fiction. Did this add an extra dimension to your liking of the book? What real life event would like to see as a setting to a book? A gorgeously written novel that I couldn't put down once I started it. . . I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, especially Laura Purcell's novels * Lyra Silvertongue Reads *

The novel is based on true events, Pendle Hill Witch Trials, and most of the characters did exist, although it was the Author's imagination that directed their actions. The story revolves around a noblewoman, Fleetwood Shutterworth who is expected to provide her husband with an heir. She miscarages several times, and one day, when pregnant again, she meets a local woman, Alice Grey, who has a knowledge of the herbs and skills which may help Fleetwood during her pregnancy. The story seems simple, but the Author managed mastefully to create a novel which I couldn't put down. There are several themes in the novel which I found interesting: position and fate of woman in the early 17th centrury, prejudice against wise women which in consequence led directly to the accusations of witchcraft and then to stake, and the role children played during the so-called witchhunt. A very good atmospheric novel which I would recommend to FH lovers.Fleetwood has tried so very hard to have a child but nature has been cruel and she has never carried a baby to full term. A few days later Fleetwood has a disturbing conversation with Roger Nowell, an older family friend of hers and Richard. He speaks to her of familiars and witchcraft. A witch, according to Roger, can assume animal identities, take on a familiar spirit: “This witch is a dog, but they can appear as anything—an animal, a child.” When Fleetwood questions Roger further, he brushes her off, saying they need to catch up with Richard, who “will not be happy with me for lagging behind indulging you. This is what happens when women come on hunts.” Is it, or does Roger want to shut down the conversation? Is his obsession with persecuting witches a way to prove his loyalty to King James? Roger tells Fleetwood that, “This corner of the kingdom with its Catholic heritage causes His Majesty a great deal of anxiety.” Fleetwood points out the obvious, that “Catholics and witches are not the same thing,” but Roger pays her no mind.

She discovers a letter sent to her husband Richard telling him that his wife is not to conceive any more children or she will die during childbirth, she is simply devastated and doesn't know what to do. I love the cover of this book, it's beautiful. It was fun to study the various elements of it before I started reading, and then smile as their relevance became clear. An outstandingly captivating book which weaves its magic around the reader throughout * Beady Jans Books *Fleetwood is consumed with worries about her pregnancy. Stacey Halls’s metaphors are earthy and dire. I cannot really believe in this is a debut novel because the story is so well crafted, detailed and smartly written. Well if it’s just first work of this writer, I voluntarily like to read her future works. What did you think of Richard? Was he a romantic hero? a villain? Could you forgive him as Fleetwood had by the end?

The lives of two young women intersect in a novel that imagines the story behind a famous 17th-century witch trial in northern England.The straightforward prose fits the style of Gothic fiction, I think, and compliments the characterizations, especially that of Fleetwood. The pacing it pitch perfect, never hurried, which is what creates that fraught, nervous, sitting on pin and needles sensation, and is where many young Gothic novelists flounder. I’m sure it is harder to pull off a slower, more balanced pace now, than in days past, with the limited word count required by most publishers. So, apparently, this author obviously understands this genre, has studied it, and appreciates the nuances that make it successful. Halls said: “Nothing excites me more than discovering women’s stories that have been consigned to a dusty drawer of history, and when I came across Urania Cottage, the ‘house of fallen women’, I knew I had to write about it. The Alchemist, an old man with a tortoise familiar named Edan. The two live high up on the Peaks of Kailasa. The Alchemist has used Edan's time powers to complete many potions and consequently has been alive for a very long time.

This book gets under your skin! So pacy and brilliantly creepy * Juliet West, author of THE FAITHFUL AND BEFORE THE FALL * The Familiars was shortlisted for the British Book Awards’ Debut Book of the Year and won the Betty Trask Award. It is currently in development for TV. There is none of the harrowing detail of the trial itself, none of the historical violence or threat of violence so prevalent in Sarah Moss's wonderful Ghost Wall, for example, or Martina Devlin's The House Where it Happened, an evocative reimagining of the Armagh witch trials. Aguirre, Natalie (September 25, 2013). "Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson Interview and Starbounders Giveaway". Literary rambles . Retrieved December 15, 2013. The fact that this novel was originally published soon after Doctor Who explored this time period last series seems like a happy coincidence, but this was the main reason why I wanted to read this debut novel.

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As Alice is drawn into the witchcraft accusations that are sweeping the North-West, Fleetwood risks everything by trying to help her. But is there more to Alice than meets the eye?