The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

The sense of place and real physical needs of the characters created a grounded, beautiful world, which made the more fantastical elements of the story feel all the more realistic. I love books that encourage me to learn about a new thing, and this one spurred me to seek out more Norse mythology. I loved the characters, the plot, and the writing. While I want to warn readers that violent and sad things occur, this was one of the most seamless, absorbing books I’ve read in a very long time. The book also deals with LGBTQIA relationships in a positive manner and it places friendships between women front and center. When there is a fight scene, it is vivid and suspenseful. Almost all of the main characters are women and their relationships are complex and powerful. The characters in the book are fascinating, and several go through intense and interesting arcs. I felt inspired by the beautiful writing and the main character’s resilience, and touched by the evolution of the various relationships, and warmed by the hope implied in the final pages. I did not feel depressed by this book, although I was often worried about the characters and felt sad and angry on their behalf. And yet it is also a profoundly optimistic book, in which crimes are (eventually) forgiven, enemies become friends, a friend becomes a lover, and generations of violence and trauma have the opportunity to start over in a happier light.

It is a tragic book in which almost all of the romances and other relationships are doomed. This is a harrowing book which includes violence towards women (but not sexual violence), animals, and children. Fans of Norse mythology might not get the same sense of surprise, but I think they will share my enjoyment of the rich world and characters. But to those readers, Gornichec offers this: instead of fighting the end, focus on the details and savor the life-and the change-that can be built in the cracks that fate has neglected. After all, this story is not what we have been told to expect of tales of Vikings and witches. For some readers, the small scale of Gornichec’s novel and the focus on the inevitability of Ragnarök might be frustrating. She never denies the tragedy that is inevitable in any story of Norse mythology. And this is where the beauty of Gornichec’s work lives. invites us to swim in these details, lulling us with descriptions of a family dynamic that we know can’t possibly last. Rather, it is a character study of a woman whose story has otherwise been relegated to but a few sentences of mythology. Gornichec’s work is not a book of swashbuckling Viking adventure. In their stead, Gornichec highlights the overlooked witch Angrboda, Loki’s mate and the mother of monsters. Gone are the death-defying feats of Odin and nearly invisible is the quick-tempered Thor. both staggering in its beauty and delicate in its execution as it takes the Norse characters and stories we are so familiar with and shoves them to the background.

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec