Hester Fox (The Orphan of the Cemetery Hill) returns to historical New England in her fourth novel, A Lullaby for Witches, a haunting story full of long-buried secrets and narrated by two determined women. Told in two timelines, the novel follows Augusta Podos, a museum worker in the present, and Margaret Harlowe, the only daughter in a wealthy family in the 1870s.
Fox lets readers know from the start that Margaret fell in love with a young man, became pregnant out of wedlock and ultimately was murdered, but the circumstances of her death are unclear. When Augusta takes a position at historic Harlowe House in Tynemouth, Mass., she's drawn to a portrait of a woman who can be only Margaret, a woman seemingly lost to time and record. While Augusta slowly pieces together Margaret's past, Margaret describes her life as an independent, wealthy outcast, pregnant and trying to find a path forward for herself and her unborn child.
While A Lullaby for Witches is a gothic mystery at its heart, Fox cleverly weaves in elements of class difference, prejudice, eating disorders, grief and even romance. Margaret is a complicated character, and the magic at work is decidedly unfriendly, but the decisions and obstacles both women face will be recognizable to readers. Fans of Louisa Morgan and Susanna Kearsley will want to pick this up. --Suzanne Krohn, librarian and freelance reviewer