Sanctuary is a small town in Connecticut which, like the rest of the country, has legal protections and rights in place for witches. Of course there are also rules and restrictions on witchcraft and what is legally permitted for witches to perform. Sarah Fenn and her daughter, Harper, live in Sanctuary where Sarah has a small business and Harper goes to school. The small town is their home, where they have made a life and have a circle of friends. However, when a graduation party ends in tragedy with one of the town’s most popular and well-known teens dead, the old prejudices and fears about witchcraft begin to re-emerge. What will happen to Sarah and Harper if there is a modern-day witch hunt in Sanctuary?

I am late to the party on this one. Sourcebooks Landmark kindly offered me a digital copy to review, now that the book has been made into a series about to premiere in January! Wow – I just loved this modern era cautionary tale about mass hysteria and witchcraft. The novel is told from multiple perspectives and has a large cast of characters, but the primary ones are Sarah, Harper, Abigail (as the mother of the dead teen and one of Sarah’s friend circle) and Maggie, the detective in charge of investigating the teen’s death and whether witchcraft was actually involved. The real magic in this story lies in the relationships between the characters, where we see the complex friendships between the women in Sarah’s coven, the lengths that parents will go to defend and protect their children, and the conflicted decisions they must make between family and friendship. The author very effectively demonstrates how quickly common sense and public order can deteriorate in the face of rumours, superstition and fear. The ending is morally ambiguous but also satisfying.

Many thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and I am definitely watching this in January!