Book Reviews
Brackston (The Witch’s Daughter) delivers an intimate paranormal romance that grounds its fantasy in the reality of a 19th-century Welsh farm. Widower Cai Jenkins needs a wife to qualify as a porthmon (head drover) and to help run Ffynnon Las (“Blue Well”) farm. Morgana Pritchard, mute by choice, is no blushing bride, however: she has Romany blood, an affinity for animals, and the growing power of a witch. Already an outsider, Morgana runs afoul of locals who blame her for unusual weather and sickness, as well as one who desires Ffynnon Las for the power of its titular well. Whether on a drive with Cai to take cattle and sheep to London or staying home to learn to be the new Witch of the Well, she is challenged by hostile groups who threaten her freedom and life. Brackston provides clear portraits of her protagonists and their lives on the farm, even if her villain veers a bit to the melodramatic and overweening.
Publishers Weekly
Shortlisted for the Crème de la Crime Search for new writers, Brackston debuted with The Witch's Daughter. She's back with a second work starring a young Welsh witch who has yet to master her magic.
Library Journal
Eighteen-year-old Morgana Pritchard, silent by choice since childhood, doesn't know the extent of her magical powers until new husband Cai's housekeeper, Mrs. Jones, a witch herself, starts to teach her.... What Morgana does know—because she can smell it—is that there is powerful evil in the community, soon identified as Isolda Bowen.... When Isolda curses Cai...the young witch must summon all her knowledge and resolve to fight for both their lives. Love of landscape and lyrical writing lend charm, but it's Brackston's full-blooded storytelling that will hook the reader.
Kirkus Reviews
Winter Witch (Brackston) - Book Reviews
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