How many of you can finish this quote: “Oh, look, another glorious morning….” Can you guess the journey that I took in my readings this past month? I have always enjoyed watching shows like Charmed, Sabrina the teenage witch (the original), The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, A discovery of Witches, and movies like The Craft, Hocus Pocus, and Practical Magic during this time of year. I’ve even added a few new witchy shows to my watchlist this year. I also noticed that my reading list has been quite lacking in witchy reads, and when I say lacking, what I mean is almost non-existent. Yes, I have read books with witches as sub-characters, but not usually the main character. Which surprised me a bit! Perhaps, I have watched so many witches on television and in movies I felt content.

As we move into the next season, I was looking for something a little different. I decided to go on a quest to meet some new witches. So, grab some of your favorite witch’s brew and come, let’s start our journey…

The Witch’s Daughter by Paula Brackston

The first witch I got to meet is, Bess Hawksmith. We first meet the young, carefree, spirited Bess in 1628 at the height of the witch hunts in England. After tragedy hits her family and village in the form of a deadly plague, she also has to watch her mother be tried and hanged as a witch. All alone, Bess is forced to go seek protection from a local warlock, Gideon Masters. Gideon teaches Bess how to use and awaken powerful magic. She is forced to make a deal with Gideon, not knowing all that it entails. Part of the magic makes her immortal. Bess knows that she does not want to be connected to evil, she makes a vow to never use magic in dark ways and flees to escape Gideon’s control. She then spends the next hundreds of years on the run.

We next meet, Elizabeth three hundred and eighty-four years later in modern day England. She has recently settled in a small English village; attempting to find the balance of being seen just enough not to draw attention to herself and trying to remain isolated and not draw attention to herself. Yes, you read that correctly. This is something that every time Elizabeth reinvents herself, she has to learn all over. Every society is different in what they will accept, and since she ages very slowly, staying in one place too long would bring too many questions and attention. Elizabeth knows the dangers firsthand of letting others get too close to her. So, when she meets Tegan, a new inquisitive teenage girl, she realizes just how lonely she truly is. Tegan is also lonely, and their relationship goes quickly from teacher/student to maternal. The teaching’s Tegan receives are how we get to meet the many different versions of Elizabeth’s throughout the years and history. We meet four in this book. Elizabeth is extremely protective of Tegan, almost to the point of smothering. So, when Gideon re appears after all this time, she is finally ready to fight him head on for the first time to protect the young girl that she has come to love and care so much for.

This book is a wonderful blend of my two favorite genres: Historical Fiction and Fantasy. The author did an amazing job including small details so that you were able to imagine yourself right there experiencing everything right next to Bess. Including the time that there was a certain infamous killer on the loose in England. This book will also make you hear a popular holiday song differently; I don’t think I will hear it now and not think of these characters. I felt the writing/story was easy to follow even though the timelines do jump around a bit. I really enjoyed this story, and I can’t wait to see how Bess and Tegan’s story continues in the sequel, “The Return of the Witch.”

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Days at the Torunka Cafe by Satoshi Yagisawa

Tucked away on a narrow side street in Tokyo is the Torunka Café, a neighborhood nook where the passersby are as likely to be local cats as tourists. Its regulars include Chinatsu Yukimura, a mysterious young woman who always leaves behind a napkin folded into the shape of a ballerina; Hiroyuki Numata, a middle-aged man who’s returned to the neighborhood searching for the happy life he once gave up; and Shizuku, the café owner’s teenage daughter, who is still coming to terms with her sister’s death as she falls in love for the first time.

While Café Torunka serves up a perfect cup of coffee, it provides these sundry souls with nourishment far more lasting. Satoshi Yagisawa brilliantly illuminates the periods in our lives where we feel lost—and how we find our way again.

As with many other Japanese novels I have read, the business in question has its solidified customer base that knows how to find it, and it is always hard to find except by those who need its mysterious healing powers and the camaraderie of its inhabitants. The Torunka Cafe happens to be down a narrow alleyway and there is always a cat to guide you to its door.

This book is as much about the nourishing properties of a well made cup of coffee as it is about the customers finding healing and the ability to forgive both themselves and others. Each chapter is written in the first person from the perspective of a different character. I found this perspective switch hard to follow at first, but quickly got used to it as the book went on.

In a particular conversation one of the characters tells another, “When things don’t go well, you might think ‘damn it’, but sooner or later what happened to you is going to become something that sustains you in the future. And when you start something new, there’ll be hassles too, but it’ll be exciting, won’t it?” This is a theme carried throughout the book with all three of the main characters.

There is also an interesting backstory on the cafe’s name that sent me down a rabbit hole, but I’ll leave you to discover that on your own, dear reader!

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