EMILIA HART

THE AUTHOR WANTS TO INSTIL HOPE THROUGH HER DEBUT NOVEL

At the height of the pandemic, British-Australian author Emilia Hart began hearing about the increasing rates of domestic violence in England, as women were stuck in lockdown with their male abusers. This was the spark for her rst novel, which weaves the stories of three women across ve centuries, dating back to the 1600s and the witch hunts. “The misogyny that led to the witch trials had not disappeared, but morphed into something insidious, hidden away behind closed doors. I wanted to interrogate this tradition of male control and also showcase the resilience of the women who ght back.” Hart hopes that readers will feel inspired and empowered by the characters in the book, and the ways in which the three women collide across time. “For me, the novel is ultimately about the power that comes when women connect with and learn from each other,” she says. “We’re stronger together.” Of the characters she’s created, Hart says that she has most in common with the modern-day Kate, but the world of 1940s Violet was her favourite. “Her voice was always really vivid in my mind,” Hart shares with WHO. “She’s also much braver than I am. Violet is obsessed with insects. I’m secretly quite frightened of them.”The writer explains that she intended the magic portrayed in Weyward to be a “metaphor for the power that women draw from each other when they share experiences and stories”, and that she considered the idea of being a witch and what that “says about gender politics”. Hart says she was staying in Cumbria, England when she began creating her novel, where she loved exploring the rugged fells and the mysterious woods, and discovering the area’s past. “I learnt that the local area had a dark history. In nearby Lancaster in 1612, eight women were executed in one of the most notorious witch trials in English history, the Pendle Witch trials.” (Out now)