Book Review: A Westerly Wind Brings Witches

Witches have traditionally been outcasts, from the old woman living in her cottage on the outskirts of the ancient village to the young woman in this story, brought up in the seedier end of an already seedy suburb of London. This book is the story of that young woman and her life - her adventures, if you will - in finding herself. And what she does find turns out to be pretty witchy, with a large dollop of humor.

Her name, Moira, evokes fate goddesses of ages past. And her modern story frames a much older tale which is also hers. Actually, two much older tales, both of which weave deeply into the tapestry of her current life and the people she meets in the here and now.

I really enjoyed the point of view of this novel. We follow dumpy, dowdy, unpopular Moira from her beginnings in London to her break for freedom in Cornwall, all the while hearing her stream of consciousness narration about how she deals with the unpleasantness that life heaps on her because she’s neither pretty nor socially adept nor well-to-do. She moves from hopeless to hopeful and discovers that she has both a sense of humor and some real depth, aspects of her being that no one is interested in until she finds a handful of witchy like minds near the Cornish coast.

Moira is one of the most realistic characters I’ve ever read: honestly flawed and genuinely herself, with a sense of humor that helps her deal with all the crap life throws at her. Even the retellings of her past lives are believable. And the way she comes into her own is both satisfying and authentic: it takes years, often with two steps forward and one step back, with the members of the local Pagan moot boosting her morale and helping her find meaning as she meanders through a myriad of witchy and New Age ideas and practices.

In the end, she’s still an imperfect human being, but one who finally feels connected to others and valued for herself, for her innate magic and her sense of humor and her earnestness. While the official book description leans more toward the humor - which there is plenty of - I think it shortchanges the depth of this tale and the extent to which it will resonate for a lot of readers the way it did for me.

The final takeaway: maintain your sense of humor, be there for the others in your life, and allow yourself to be yourself. That’s where the magic ultimately lies.