Within a strict, walled, religious cult adjudicated town named Bethel is the constant threat of witchcraft. Both witchcraft itself, and the horrifying consequences that may exist if women and girls do things like read or think for themselves. To keep control, a prophet marries young girls, encourages women to keep sweet, and doesn’t hesitate to torture or execute by fire anyone who doesn’t fall in line.

Emanuelle is a child born of sin — daughter of a witch and her affair partner, adopted and raised by a disgraced family. She does her best to mean it when she prays, to do right by her family, to stay out of the forest.

Eventually, of course, Emanuelle begins to really look behind the curtain, and realizes she has the fate of Bethel in her hands.

This was a rough read — the imagery is fantastic, but the treatment of women here strikes very close to home for me. Much of the plot resolves around the moral conflict inherent in victims getting revenge and returning to mete out punishments.

I wish the book was angrier. There’s glimpses of it — moments where Emanuelle spots the monster-making cycle their religion has constructed to keep itself whole. I don’t necessarily believe in the idea of meeting cruelty with kindness, of rising above.

That said, I did enjoy the lore and the characters, particularly Emanuelle’s unlikely ally. The boogeymen of the book, a coven of undead witches, were beautifully and horrifically depicted and I wished we saw more of them than we did.

Overall I’d recommend it, and I’ll be reading the sequel.