The Witch of Willow Sound

• Author: Vanessa F. Penney
• Genre: Horror
• Publication Date: September 30, 2025
• Publisher: Dreamscape Media

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

For readers of Our Wives Under the Sea and The Once and Future Witches comes a feminist gothic tale with a tough-as-nails female protagonist who must find her elderly aunt, long suspected of being a witch. A spooky, atmospheric, and fast-paced feminist tale about women called witches and the parts of our history we’d rather forget.

Madeline is missing. Ordered to find her, Madeline’s estranged niece, Fade, must return to the lonely forest of Willow Sound, Nova Scotia. There, Fade discovers her aunt’s once-cozy cottage empty and rotting. The ominous smell of something burnt hangs in the air.

In her search for answers, Fade clashes with the people of Grand Tea, a nearby village struggling under the shadow of a massive, looming rock that could tip and crush them all at any time. For generations, they’ve invented bizarre lore about Madeline, calling her a witch and blaming her for their misfortunes. They’ve had more misfortunes than ever lately. And a hurricane is coming.

Inspired by real East Coast traditions and witch lore, The Witch of Willow Sound is a modern gothic tale that explores family lost and found and throws firelight on dark truths about what societies do with the people, and the past, they don’t want.

As a person who happens to love gothic, feminist novels, and really enjoyed The Once and Future Witches, this book appealed to me immediately. Plus, now that it is officially spooky season, I couldn’t pass up a chance to read this, especially since it featured a long-assumed witch.

Kicking off my autumn witchy reads with this one was a good choice, and the audiobook narrated by Robin Siegerman was fantastically done. Her voice is ideal for this type of story—she has a soft voice and does really well with the staccato bursts of speech that Fade seems to favor, similar to steam-of-consciousness. There is also an almost childlike way that Fade lapses into when confronted with people or situations that she’d rather avoid, or maybe she’s neurodivergent or just an extreme introvert. But either way, it was interesting to listen to.

Fade, short for Phaedra, is an unhoused woman who has some quirks, like sleeping in a graveyard. I mean, I guess it is likely that no one will come and disturb you there? But when her mother instructs her to go to Nova Scotia to find out what happened to her missing aunt, she is directed not to trust anyone, not even the police. She packs up and heads to Willow Sound, where her estranged aunt had a cottage filled with happy memories of years past. But when Fade arrives, the cottage is cold and dark, and there’s a strange scent. There’s no trace of her aunt but there’s a burnt body in the basement, and when Fade follows up, she finds out that no one has seen Madeline for three months.

She also discovers that the townspeople of neighboring Grand Tea have a lot of prejudice and judgments about Madeline, and have labeled her a witch. Fade isn’t as interested in the reasoning for the label as she is in finding clues to help her find Madeline. Unfortunately, few people are interested in helping her as the town closes ranks. There are a couple of exceptions to this, one of them being Nish, the dramatic and hilarious archivist who came to the town to research.

A lot of the important information is slowly revealed over the course of the story, and the setting is perfect. The bleak and harsh landscape of Nova Scotia, the desolate and abandoned cottage, and even the town of Grand Tea, located under a precariously balanced boulder shaped like a teacup all contribute to the gothic atmosphere. This is only strengthened as a hurricane is headed for Willow Sound, Fade can’t stay at the cottage that has become a crime scene, yet as soon as anyone sees her last name, they refuse to deal with her, including at the one nearby hotel, so she’s back in her car for a while. 

There are real elements of witch lore woven through the story, and I think this was one of the most fascinating elements of the read for me. I also really appreciated the way family relationships are explored in the story—the strained relationship between Fade’s mother Doreen and her much older sister Madeline, along with Fade’s unquestioning obedience to her mother’s instructions—and they’re rendered beautifully. Fade doesn’t have the same life experience as her mother, but she does trust and listen to Doreen.

It was difficult to tell who had ulterior motives and who was genuinely being helpful to Fade as she does her best to uncover what happened to Madeline. The behavior of the people from Grand Tea is so casually cruel and juvenile, particularly when considering this story is set in the modern day and not the days of the Salem Witch Trials. But long-held beliefs stand firm even in the face of facts.

The story leans a little farther into the horror genre than I was expecting. It never really tipped over into terrifying territory, but it was more than a little creepy once more of the story was revealed and we got to see what the townspeople think, as well as what people are willing to do to protect themselves.

Now for the things that didn’t resonate as deeply for me. To start with, the word ‘frig’ was incredibly overused, and it struck me as strange that an adult woman would use that word every time she would normally have cursed in anger, fear, or frustration. Fade has a good sense of self and trusts her instincts, although she doesn’t fit in well with most, yet she still manages to read as immature—impulsive and reactive—which feels more suited for a YA character. Additionally, it felt more like the author didn’t have a clear idea of where the story would go, making it unpredictable and not as smooth as it could have been. 

Overall, the story was an interesting one that kept me engrossed for days. I didn’t read it as quickly as usual, since I got a little nervous reading this one at night. Although there were a few things that I didn’t enjoy as much about the reading, for the most part it wasn’t a bad read by any stretch. I could predict the major plot twists well in advance with the exception of a couple, so it wasn’t as much of a revelation when they happened. I could see what the author was aiming for, but it just didn’t feel like she hit the mark with this one. 

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