The Witchwood Knot

• Author: Olivia Atwater
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: November 28, 2023
• Publisher: Starwatch Press
• Series: Victorian Faerie Tales #1

Thank you to NetGalley and Starwatch Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Olivia Atwater returns to the world of Half a Soul with “a sharp and beautiful gothic romance” (Alix E. Harrow). Dive into The Witchwood Knot , and enjoy a dark faerie tale set in a magical version of Victorian England.

The faeries of Witchwood Manor have stolen its young lord. His governess intends to steal him back.

Victorian governess Winifred Hall knows a con when she sees one. When her bratty young charge transforms overnight into a perfectly behaved block of wood, she soon realises that the real boy has been abducted by the Fair Folk. Unfortunately, the lord of Witchwood Manor is the only man in England who doesn’t believe in faeries-which leaves Winnie in the unenviable position of rescuing the young lord-to-be all by herself.

Witchwood Manor is bigger than its inhabitants realise, however, and full of otherworldly dangers. As Winnie delves deeper into the other side of the house, she enlists the aid of its dark and dubious faerie butler, Mr Quincy, who hides several awful secrets behind his charming smile. Winnie hopes to make her way to the centre of the Witchwood Knot through wit and cleverness… but when all of her usual tricks fail, who will she dare to trust?

Olivia Atwater burst onto my radar with her Regency Faerie Tales series, and I’m so glad I read that before starting this. While it isn’t necessarily required reading beforehand, there are some characters and information that come in handy knowing for this book, even though it takes place many years later. 

First of all, I quickly grew to adore Winnie. She’s smart, cunning, keeps her head in stressful situations, and resourceful. It becomes obvious very fast that Winnie is more than simply a governess, as she has extensive knowledge of the faeries. I loved watching her interact with Mr. Quincy, someone who is more than what he appears to be. There’s a romance subplot that I was expecting to see, and loved watching it play out. Both Winnie and her love interest are a bit out of the ordinary, but somehow they manage to make it work with each other.

While the setting is creepy, it falls a bit short of gothic and Victorian. This is more of what I’d expect from a story involving the presence of faeries, where there’s a different side of the area that’s dark, enchanting, and even a little dangerous. I did like seeing how things differed between the regular side of the mansion and the faerie side of it.

The side characters were just as enchanting as Winnie was. Oliver, in particular, stole my heart, as the fearsome feline familiar at Winnie’s side. But the one I was most curious about had to be Mr. Quincy, the mysterious butler who was clearly keeping secrets. 

This is a much darker story than Atwater’s previous ones. One character is learning how to express their autonomy and sexual desires after sexual harassment and assault, and healing through that process on their own terms. The other character is learning how to cope with their own loss of autonomy and facing the conflict of their desires with that that of the being controlling them. Seeing these two process their own trauma and start the healing process was a beautiful thing.

Overall, this was a fantastic story. I loved the fantasy elements and the romance, the plot and the characters, and the way this sets up further books in the series. I do wish that Winnie’s magic was further explored, because it was so interesting about how her magic was forbidden as dark arts by the current Lord Sorcier, but that wasn’t really delved into in this book. Overall, this is a wonderful start to the series, and I really hope that we get to see a bit more of Winnie’s sisters as well as an appearance from Winnie and Mr. Quincy in the next book!

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