The Once and Future Witches
core novel 2020 The Once and Future Witches
Record
| First published | 2020 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.02 (113,315 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| Page count | 517 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780316422048 |
Synopsis
Set in the city of New Salem in 1893, in a world where witchcraft has long since vanished into legend, the novel follows three estranged Eastwood sisters, James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth and Beatrice Belladonna, who come back together in the city and become drawn into the local suffragist movement fighting for women's right to vote. Their reunion takes an unexpected turn when a piece of half-remembered spellwork actually works, revealing that fragments of witching knowledge still survive if the sisters can recover them. Rather than abandon the cause of women's rights, the sisters begin to fold their search for lost magic into it, hoping to turn a movement for the vote into one that also restores witchcraft to women more broadly.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Once and Future Witches
- Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
- Author: Alix E. Harrow
Awards (verified)
- Locus Award (Fantasy Novel), 2021: finalist; Placed 5th in sfadb.com's own 2021 Fantasy Novel poll results; registered per this canon's no-cutoff Locus-poll convention.
- British Fantasy Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2021: nominated; Per Wikipedia only, not independently re-verified against britishfantasysociety.co.uk.
- Dragon Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2021: nominated; Per Wikipedia only, not independently re-verified against the award's own results.
Notes
- Three estranged sisters reunite in 1893 New Salem to bring witchcraft back into the world, weaving suffrage-movement history with fairy-tale magic. Alix E. Harrow's second novel, a separate, unrelated standalone from The Ten Thousand Doors of January (admitted 2026-08-11).
Sources
← The Once and Future Witches dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.