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The Winter Witch: A Novel
Unavailable
The Winter Witch: A Novel
Unavailable
The Winter Witch: A Novel
Audiobook14 hours

The Winter Witch: A Novel

Written by Paula Brackston

Narrated by Marisa Calin

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

New York Times bestselling author Paula Brackston transports readers to the windswept mountains of Wales inThe Winter Witch, an enthralling tale of love and magic.

In her small early nineteenth century Welsh town, there is no one quite like Morgana. She is small and quick and pretty enough to attract a suitor, but there are things that set her apart from other girls. Though her mind is sharp she has not spoken since she was a young girl. Her silence is a mystery, as well as her magic—the household objects that seem to move at her command, the bad luck that visits those who do her ill. Concerned for her safety, her mother is anxious to see Morgana married, and Cai Jenkins, the widowed drover from the far hills who knows nothing of the rumors that swirl around her, seems the best choice.

After her wedding, Morgana is heartbroken at leaving her mother, and wary of this man, whom she does not know, and who will take her away to begin a new life. But she soon falls in love with Cai's farm and the wild mountains that surround it. Here, where frail humans are at the mercy of the elements, she thrives, her wild nature and her magic blossoming. Cai works to understand the beautiful, half-tamed creature he has chosen for a bride, and slowly, he begins to win Morgana's affections. It's not long, however, before her strangeness begins to be remarked upon in her new village. A dark force is at work there—a person who will stop at nothing to turn the townspeople against Morgana, even at the expense of those closest to her. Forced to defend her home, her man, and herself from all comers, Morgana must learn to harness her power, or she will lose everything in this beautifully written, enchanting novel.

"An enthralling tale of love and magic." –USA Today

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 29, 2013
ISBN9781427232823
Unavailable
The Winter Witch: A Novel
Author

Paula Brackston

PAULA BRACKSTON is the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch's Daughter and The Little Shop of Found Things, among others. Paula lives with her family in the historical border city of Hereford in the beautiful Wye valley. When not at her desk in her writing room, she enjoys long walks with the dog in a sublime landscape filled with the imprints of past lives and ancient times.

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Reviews for The Winter Witch

Rating: 4.142857142857143 out of 5 stars
4/5

14 ratings10 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a great story to curl up with on a rainy winter’s day. It’s the story of Morgana, a young lady with mysterious, magical powers that she does not quite understand, who is married off by her mother to a widowed drover, Cai. While it is not a love match, the marriage is aimed at getting Morgana away from the whispers of her town, and at equipping Cai with a wife, which is a requirement of his becoming head drover. Cai takes Morgana to his home at Ffynnon Las, where she is enchanted by the wild beauty of the setting.Morgana does not speak, and so there is no dialogue involving her at any point, despite her being the protagonist. The story is narrated alternatively between Morgana’s first person perspective, and in the third person with a focus on Cai. Initially, Morgana’s narration seems somewhat affected and overdone, but becomes more natural as the story progresses. The lack of dialogue with Morgana is something of a risk, but is well-played, as her reactions and feelings are evident in her interactions with others even though she doesn’t utter a word. In particular, the development of her relationship with Cai, even in the absence of words, is sweet and sometimes comical. For all her lack of words, Morgana turns out to be a much feistier wife than Cai bargained for.Written with a strong sense of setting, a well-paced plot, and a sweet (if somewhat fumbling at first) and believable romance developing between Cai and Morgana, this story was captivating. The supernatural elements and the reaction of the town, and Cai, to Morgana’s abilities, add tension to the plot. A sense of danger mounts as someone wants Morgana out of town and off of Ffynnon Las, for very dark reasons. As the story progresses, Morgana develops into a gutsy heroine whose vulnerability and artlessness make her endearing.A fast-moving, suspenseful and romantic tale that swept me away to a long-ago Wales, where tales of witches and spells are told by the hearth and ghost stories shared even between men; this kept me up late turning the pages.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I knew when I read the bbb…(back book blurb) I would very much enjoy this book and so I have! The young witch Morgana lost her voice the day she lost her beloved father. When her mother becomes ill she realizes she must find a husband for her daughter soon. Cai Jenkins is just the man she is looking for, he is a widower and he needs a wife to be head Drover. They marry and as they start their new life together in the beautiful Welsh countryside Morgana’s new husband soon realizes his young, quiet wife has some very mysterious “gifts” indeed.The people of the village welcome Cia’s new bride, that is all except The beautiful and deadly Isolda who is very disappointed Cia did not chose her as Mistress of Ffynnon LasAlmost too late Morgana realizes that everything she has come to love is in danger and she must use her gifts to fight those who would destroy her, her home and she realizes that "It really will not do, really, it will not…"So come meet The Winter Witch Morgana, Mistress of Ffynnon Las & keeper of the Grimoire of the Blue Well…if you dare!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was one of those instant want to reads. The cover and the name of the title had me signing up for the giveaway without even reading the description (which is not something I do all too much). I was very intrigued about figuring out the reason behind Morgana’s muteness. Well I found out soon enough, that her not being able to talk really wasn’t too important to the story. And not important to who Morgana was. I really loved Morgana’s character. She was head strong and willful and had her own mind. She didn’t let people’s judgement of her muteness (which most assumed meant she was also slow and dumb) get to her. I loved how she interacted with the world and with the animals mostly.I also loved Mrs. Jones (the housekeeper). She was the type of person that would have none of your crap. There was no escaping the friendly and willful eye of Mrs. Jones. Cai Jenkins, on the other hand, annoyed me various times. Mostly because it I felt that he was a bit slow on the uptake. So needless to say this book made me connect with the characters and the story, which I think is an aspect of a good book.The plot wasn’t as adventurous as I had expected but even some of the small scenes had me gasping in shock or horror. The last few pages was where the real action came in and I think Brackston did a wonderful job of writing it out.My only issue with this book is that it was written in present tense. I’m not a big fan of that type of writing and I don’t see it often, so some sentences sounded weird when I tried reading them. There were also a few types and grammatical errors, but I’m assuming those will be gone in the published copy. I also just noticed there was a last minute name change because on my copy and in the Goodreads book description it says Cai Bevan, but it was changed to Cai Jenkins. All in all, I enjoyed reading this book, even if it took me longer than I was expecting.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Although this book is well written I felt like I had read stories like it many times before. There is a good witch, a bad witch, an totally clueless man who can not distinguish the difference and an elderly woman help the good witch figure out the powers that she doesn't realize that she has. She conveniently (the good witch) for a reason we really are not clearly told can not speak. If she could speak there probably wouldn't be much of a story. Virtually everything that happens along the way are pretty pretty predictable. So, I really don't think there is all that much to grab the reader - ie. not much surprising takes place along the way.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was the Disney version of The Little Mermaid, except swap witches for mermaids. Morgana who is mute (just like Ariel) marries Cai (Prince Eric). They suffer through misunderstandings because Morgana can't talk. Eventually love wins out and Morgana does battle with Isolda (Ursula) to save her true love Cai (Eric). It was a pleasant enough story but lacking in originality. Even Morgana's name is a rip off of the greatest witch of all time, King Arthur's Morgan le Fay. I found myself skimming pages because not enough was happening to engage me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston

    Challenges read for: Goodreads, EBook, Historical Fiction, Witches Reading Challenge

    Book Cover: Loved it--just the merest hint of a lovely dress.

    Good vs. Evil, a love story, and witches!! I really enjoyed this witchy book. Our heroine, Morgana, is of course a witch, but a witch that cannot speak! Her marriage is arranged by her mother to a widower named Cai, who is a drover (cattle driver for short). I really learned a lot about moving cattle and livestock from one point to another for sale and how important it was for smaller villages for the times. Paula Brackston writes with great attention to detail, so we enjoy a great history lesson as a bonus. But the real story lies within Morgana, who comes to this lovely village as Cai's wife only to discover the village seems to be under the spell of evil in the shape of Isolda Bowen, who wants something that Cai has and will do ANYTHING to get it. The anticipation of Morgana and Isolda's imminent final confrontation made my palms sweaty, but kept me riveted to the end! Does Morgana finally speak? You will have to read this fabulous tale to find out!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Morgana’s mother marries her to Cai Jenkins. She does it out of love. She worries about Morgana and who will take care of her. Morgana is a nice girl but she has a slight flaw. She does not talk. Morgana has not spoken a word in years. In the beginning Morgana did not care for Cai. Over time, she came to love Cai and their home together. Morgana meets a woman who helps her unlock the magic within Morgana. Later strange things start happening in town. People grow anxious and blame Morgana for the cause. I read The Witch’s Daughter but I remember thinking this book was good but I did struggle some with it. I did not have this problem at all with The Winter Witch. In fact, I had devoured the first half of the book before I made myself put it down. There was something spellbinding about Morgana and Cai. The way that Morgana and Cai interacted with each other, I thought brought them closer as Morgana did not talk. Cai is a very caring and patient husband. The way that he cared for Morgana made me fall in love with his more. Morgana turned out to be a very intriguing character. She started out quiet and I don’t mean this literally. What I mean is that I wondered how this story was going to play out with Morgana not talking. It turned out just fine. I liked that Morgana gained her strength learning magic and with Cai’s love. While Morgana did not display her magic talents often. As she progressed they did get stronger. The ending put a smile on my face. The Winter Witch is a magical journey that you will not want to end!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was the type of book I've been looking for of recent. An engaging (quick) read that captured my attention and kept it throughout. I finished this in (almost) one sitting - yes it's a plot that has been told before : bad witch, good witch, witch persecution, some sort of male in the middle, but even with all that said, I still really enjoyed. I'm bumping it up an entire star just based on the simple fact that CORGIS were featured, although it was too much for me when the Reverend RAN OVER one of the corgis on purpose with his carriage I may have gone about reading the authors books backwards - this one first, now I'll have to go back and read her debut. 3.5 stars
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not a bad story, but it took way too long to get me involved.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I've been (really) meaning to read Paula Brackston's The Witch's Daughter for years and I keep getting distracted. So when I saw The Winter Witch I was excited because hey, distract myself with a book I've literally been meaning to read for years with a new one by the same author.This book hits a lot of boxes for me - Historical Fiction, specifically Celtic History, Fantasy, Magic, Witches and more importantly, latent Witches. A part of life that anyone from that culture gets. It's also a YA book, and recently I'm loving them - part work related, part they're just plain good. I love the 500 Kingdom's books, and it wasn't until after I read them I found out they were a) YA books and b) put out by Harlequins' teen branch. I've touched on this before. Still baffled. Either way, so YA books. I like them.So here's the good - I read a lot of Historical Fiction, I got my undergrad degree in it so I have a general at least latent knowledge of history and I like it. The book was spot on for where a historical fiction book should be - it was written in a way that didn't make it seem like Brackston was throwing in historical facts just because, the details were woven in beautifully and as a HF book, it was very well done. Morgana was a lovely character, with depth and excellent character development. Cai was also well done and gave a fascinating prospective. The writing itself was also generally solid, and it was a very readable book.The less good is that I actually didn't love the book. The characters other than Morgana and Cai were slightly on dimensional and it felt like some of the details were a bit thrown together. I delayed writing this review because I wasn't entirely sure why the book didn't grip me and I think it's because (this kills me to say because I hate trilogies) but I kind of wonder if this should have been book one of a trilogy. Brackckston is clearly a fantastic writer, with creative lovely ideas and fantasic plots. I think if there had been a bit more character development for the other characters, and a little more time given to the ending it would have been an amazing read. *** I won this book through Goodreads - all opinions are my own.