Weyward

Weyward, published in March 2023, is the debut novel of Australian author Emilia Hart. Upon publication, it immediately became a New York Times bestseller and made multiple pick lists for best book on Indie Next, LibraryReads, and Amazon’s 2023 Best Books.

Hart was originally a lawyer before turning to fiction writing. Her inspiration for Weyward came from two sources. The first was the global increase in domestic violence during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which struck her as anachronistic. She felt that civilization should have evolved enough to have discarded such behavior by the 21st century. Hart was also influenced by her research into the Pendle Hill witch trials in 1612 when community healers were targeted for persecution. The trials took place in Lancashire, close to the book’s setting in Cumbria, England. Both violence against women and the persecution of witches feature prominently in the novel. Weyward falls into the categories of women’s historical fiction and historical literary fiction.

This study guide and all its page citations are based on the Kindle edition of the novel.

Content Warning: Weyward contains descriptions of violence against women, rape, abortion, and suicidal ideation.

Plot Summary

The story follows three women who share a common ancestry but are separated by several centuries. They are Altha Weyward, Violet Ayres, and Kate Ayres. Their chapters alternate throughout the book. Altha is a 21-year-old healer who lives in Crows Beck, Cumbria, in 1619. Her story is told using a first-person narrative technique as she describes her trial for witchcraft.

Violet lives in Orton Hall, only a few miles away from Altha’s cottage, but she has been told nothing about her Weyward relatives. She is 16 when her story begins in 1942. Her tale is told using third-person narration and describes her efforts to find her lost Weyward heritage and escape a repressive family.

Kate is 29 and living in London in 2019. Her story is also told using a third-person narrator, but events in her life are described in the present tense as they unfold. Unaware of her link to the Weyward family, Kate escapes from an abusive boyfriend and goes on a voyage of self-discovery. As the stories of all three Weyward women converge, the novel explores the themes of Gendered Oppression and Power Struggles Under Patriarchy, The Power of Female Solidarity, and Love Versus Fear.

Although the women’s stories unfold concurrently throughout the novel, they are summarized here individually for the sake of clarity.

Altha—1619

Altha lives alone in Weyward Cottage, Crows Beck, England. She is accused of witchcraft when a local farmer is trampled to death by his own herd of cattle. Like her mother, Altha is a folk healer whose methods run contrary to conventional medicine and draw the attention of local authorities. The misogyny of her culture causes Altha to be regarded with suspicion for her independent ways and lack of reliance on a man for survival.

Like all the women in her family line, Altha has a strong connection to nature, which allows her to communicate with birds and insects. She uses this power to help her friend Grace, who is married to an abusive farmer. Summoning a crow to startle the farmer’s herd, Altha orchestrates the stampede that causes his death and frees her friend. After a tense trial, she is cleared of the charge of witchcraft. Later, she returns to her cottage and writes down her experiences, locking her journal away in a drawer and passing the key down to her descendants.

Violet—1942

Violet is the 16-year-old daughter of Lord Rupert, the master of Orton Hall. Her mother was a Weyward woman who used her power to help Rupert gain his viscount title after his family was killed in a carriage accident. She later realized that Rupert exploited her, and he locked her way, indirectly causing her death through a botched hysterectomy. Violet only learns these facts years later. When her cousin rapes her with the intention of forcing her to marry him, allowing him access to her family fortune, Violet is banished to Weyward Cottage to conceal her pregnancy. While there, she finds Altha’s secret journal, along with an herbal folk remedy that allows her to abort her rapist’s baby. After freeing herself from her oppressive father and a potential marriage to her cousin, Violet pursues a career as an entomologist. In her will, she leaves the cottage to her grandniece, Kate.

Kate—2019

Kate is 29 and living in London when the novel opens. She is involved with an abusive boyfriend named Simon, who has taken control of her life and gotten her pregnant. After inheriting Weyward Cottage, Kate flees to Cumbria, hoping Simon will never find her. In the cottage, she stumbles across documents proving that she is also a Weyward and possesses the same power over nature that her ancestors had. When Simon finally tracks her down, intending to drag her back to London, Kate unleashes a swarm of birds and insects. Crows peck out one of Simon’s eyes, and he flees in terror. Later, he is arrested, but Kate no longer fears him. She now knows how to take care of herself and her new baby girl, whom she names Violet Altha.