Book Review: "The Familiars by Stacey Halls

When I was younger and in my school days, one of my favourite books was Philippa Gregory's "The Wise Woman" which is basically the exact same concept as this book and the 'wise woman' even has the same name - Alice. (In "The Wise Woman" it is spelt in the older way, 'Alys'). However, I was still excited to read this particular book in order to see what it borrowed, what it stole and what it changed and the first thing I noticed is that it is told from the point of view of the woman who is going to have the child, which was interesting. Another thing I noticed is that there is far more dialogue than what I am used to but it never felt like the dialogue was put there for no reason - every conversation, every word said had some sort of purpose to push the story forwards.

Another thing I noticed about Stacey Halls’ writing style is that it was always interesting. As there was a large cast of characters, there was always someone trying to tell the main character (Fleetwood) how to live and what to do. We had her husband who, though loved her, did not give her the best advice, we have her mother who treats her like a child and we have Roger who is sometimes (in my opinion) passive aggressive. The characters have a direct impact on the mood of the story since it is narrated by the person who must receive their appraisals and their condemnations, their sadness and their happiness and also, their anger and distrust.

The book is about a woman called Fleetwood who is married and (though she does not like to say it this way) ‘lost’ three children so far. She is pregnant with another child and her husband Richard is desperate for an heir. She is adamant that this child will not die and employs a woman called Alice to help her. As time goes on, Fleetwood is starting to notice things - murders and witchcraft and since Alice is known as a witch, she obviously suspects things. When a murderer and her family is arrested and jailed for trial, Fleetwood must see to it that Alice is not harmed though she is not a part of that family. But a list turns up with Alice’s name on it and the question of whether Fleetwood will lose the baby hangs in the balance between that and saving the life of Alice who, seems to have no idea the weight of these accusations.

I loved the writing style as there were these moments of contemplation and atmosphere simply dropped into the action. It shifts the weight of the rhythm of the book and so, when we are going through something quite tense, they tend to pop up more and more. The language is beautiful in the way that Fleetwood thinks and behaves - it is not really influenced by her gender, but more influenced by her position. I think it was a great opportunity to use these paragraphs of setting, slow movements, strange happenings, descriptive imagery and much more. Between this and the dialogue, the book was an absolute pleasure to read in its several parts and see how each part moves the story to a different shift in reality. Each one more tense than the last and the split of the chapters making perfect sense as well. They are not just used to split up parts of the book because they are getting a bit long.

Everything in this book is done for a reason and so, when you’re reading it, you kind of get lost in the reality between the fantasies of witchcraft. We do not see the usual outrage at witchcraft but the very realistic sense that people who cannot understand it are rightly terrified and honestly, that was one of the best things about the book.