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A review by caoilo
Cunning Women by Elizabeth Lee
5.0
Thank you to Random House UK, Cornerstone, Penguin and NetGalley for giving me an e-copy for review.
Sarah's woes are not the typical ones of a teen age girl living in 1620's Lancashire. In fact they are a dire as possible. Living a shunned life with her brother, mother and younger sister, they are in desperate need of money. But the towns folk are not so giving and the family rely on their mothers cunning to make money. She sells her potions and curses for what ever she can but they would make more if Sarah just gave in and joined her. Just gave in to "him", Sarah's mother told her it was inevitable, "he" had already marked her. Such a fear Sarah has of what the mark means that every morning she checked her sister Annie for "his" mark. Perhaps Sarah would have given in and stopped fighting the darkness within, had she not met Daniel. Sarah would give anything to be just another village girl. Could Daniel be the answer to her hopes?!
!!!! Trigger Warning for Sexual Assault, Rape, and Pedophilia!!!
I don't know where to begin to dissect this book. I would say that it showed the cruelty faced by women even in today's society. Take away the element of magic and it is actually possible to see the treatment of Phyllis happening today. How those closest to a person can turn on them if popular opinion is against them. The level of victim blaming was perfectly mirrored, showing that even in today's society victims are still asked inappropriate questions or are made accountable in some way when the offender literally gets to move on. And in some ways the worst offenders of victim blaming are other women.
Poverty was also a major theme of this book as well as gluten. Though Sarah never seems angry about the social gathering she does comment on how long she and her family would last on such an amount of food. While reading these scenes I was angry at how little the village gave to Sarah's family. It felt as if I was almost there and wanted to steal some food for her. I'm sure that had it been real the village folk would have rather see the farm animals eat the left overs than give any to the cunning family.
The village was also rampant with hypocrisy. The towns people didn't think anything of ignoring Sarah, Annie and John when they looked for work or begged, but if they wanted a blessing or curse they would call to their mother. Honestly for a village that prided it's self on being holy there didn't seem to be a commandment they didn't brake.
While Lee kept the words to a minimum I felt like I was there, every page felt real and doing that with as few words as possible is difficult. Trust me I've tried, the writer tends to either describe too little or way too much. Some how Lee manages to get the balance just right. Not only with their description of places but also with events and aftermath. The Parson's murder scene was haunting.
There is too much for me to analyse in this review, I can only say I hated what happened to Phyllis not just because she was female but also only 14, hated that Daniel was so easily swayed and the decisions he made, which did not only affect him. I hated Gabriel full stop! and if I ever met someone who read this book and did not feel for Sarah and her situation then I would know what kind of person they were.
In life in general I hate not knowing, which at the end of the book there are a lot of questions for me. I both hate and love that I don't get all the answers. Something unexpected I like about the book, though it was set in Lancashire I found myself reading it in an Irish accent which I found made it even more accessible as I am Irish. I didn't even stop to think about that fact until I heard and extract of the audio book. I'm not really an audio book user but I do recommend it, just on the few minuets I listened to.
I may, and I say this with caution, have a new favorite writer.
I would warn readers that there are a lot of triggers in this book, those mentioned above and also, though it is not described in any great detail, infanticide.
Sarah's woes are not the typical ones of a teen age girl living in 1620's Lancashire. In fact they are a dire as possible. Living a shunned life with her brother, mother and younger sister, they are in desperate need of money. But the towns folk are not so giving and the family rely on their mothers cunning to make money. She sells her potions and curses for what ever she can but they would make more if Sarah just gave in and joined her. Just gave in to "him", Sarah's mother told her it was inevitable, "he" had already marked her. Such a fear Sarah has of what the mark means that every morning she checked her sister Annie for "his" mark. Perhaps Sarah would have given in and stopped fighting the darkness within, had she not met Daniel. Sarah would give anything to be just another village girl. Could Daniel be the answer to her hopes?!
!!!! Trigger Warning for Sexual Assault, Rape, and Pedophilia!!!
I don't know where to begin to dissect this book. I would say that it showed the cruelty faced by women even in today's society. Take away the element of magic and it is actually possible to see the treatment of Phyllis happening today. How those closest to a person can turn on them if popular opinion is against them. The level of victim blaming was perfectly mirrored, showing that even in today's society victims are still asked inappropriate questions or are made accountable in some way when the offender literally gets to move on. And in some ways the worst offenders of victim blaming are other women.
Poverty was also a major theme of this book as well as gluten. Though Sarah never seems angry about the social gathering she does comment on how long she and her family would last on such an amount of food. While reading these scenes I was angry at how little the village gave to Sarah's family. It felt as if I was almost there and wanted to steal some food for her. I'm sure that had it been real the village folk would have rather see the farm animals eat the left overs than give any to the cunning family.
The village was also rampant with hypocrisy. The towns people didn't think anything of ignoring Sarah, Annie and John when they looked for work or begged, but if they wanted a blessing or curse they would call to their mother. Honestly for a village that prided it's self on being holy there didn't seem to be a commandment they didn't brake.
While Lee kept the words to a minimum I felt like I was there, every page felt real and doing that with as few words as possible is difficult. Trust me I've tried, the writer tends to either describe too little or way too much. Some how Lee manages to get the balance just right. Not only with their description of places but also with events and aftermath. The Parson's murder scene was haunting.
There is too much for me to analyse in this review, I can only say I hated what happened to Phyllis not just because she was female but also only 14, hated that Daniel was so easily swayed and the decisions he made, which did not only affect him. I hated Gabriel full stop! and if I ever met someone who read this book and did not feel for Sarah and her situation then I would know what kind of person they were.
In life in general I hate not knowing, which at the end of the book there are a lot of questions for me. I both hate and love that I don't get all the answers. Something unexpected I like about the book, though it was set in Lancashire I found myself reading it in an Irish accent which I found made it even more accessible as I am Irish. I didn't even stop to think about that fact until I heard and extract of the audio book. I'm not really an audio book user but I do recommend it, just on the few minuets I listened to.
I may, and I say this with caution, have a new favorite writer.
I would warn readers that there are a lot of triggers in this book, those mentioned above and also, though it is not described in any great detail, infanticide.