The Witch's Heart

The Witch's Heart- Genevieve Gornichec

Berkley

Release Date: February 9, 2021

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Angrboda’s story begins where most witches' tales end: with a burning. A punishment from Odin for refusing to provide him with knowledge of the future, the fire leaves Angrboda injured and powerless, and she flees into the farthest reaches of a remote forest. There she is found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into a deep and abiding love.

 
Their union produces three unusual children, each with a secret destiny, who Angrboda is keen to raise at the edge of the world, safely hidden from Odin’s all-seeing eye. But as Angrboda slowly recovers her prophetic powers, she learns that her blissful life—and possibly all of existence—is in danger.
 
With help from the fierce huntress Skadi, with whom she shares a growing bond, Angrboda must choose whether she’ll accept the fate that she’s foreseen for her beloved family...or rise to remake their future. From the most ancient of tales this novel forges a story of love, loss, and hope for the modern age.

__________________________________________________________________

Recent interest in telling the classic myths from the women's point of view and telling the stories of little know Greek women, like Madeline Miller has done in Circe, now enters the world of Norse myths with Genevieve Gornichec's excellent The Witch's Heart.

We all know Loki and his children Hel, the ruler of the Norse underworld, and Fenrir, the wolf. We all know Norse Mythology included a snake who circled the world, though we sometimes forget his name is Jormungand and he is also one of the children Loki had with his giantess wife.  But the myths only mention the name of Loki's giantess wife and the mother of his children once. Genevieve Gornichec imagines what life was like for Angrboda, the Ironwood Witch: wife of Loki, mother of Hel, Fenrir, and Jormungard, and otherwise unremembered in the stories.

Gornichec imagines Angrboda as a woman trying to rebuild a life that has been taken from her over and over by the gods. She may be a powerful witch, but she isn't a warrior and isn't looking for glory or fame- just peace. When she meets Loki she is drawn back into the world of Asgard and the gods, if only on the edge.  She hears tales from Loki and her friend Skadi that anyone reading Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology, or any other version of the tales, would be familiar with. Tales of Thor and Odin, Baldur and Freyja, but from a different point of view- the giant's view. The view of the 'monster'. It's a fascinating tale with the twist that perhaps it isn't the events themselves that matter, but why they happen. Anyone vaguely familiar with the stories knows what will happen to Loki and his sons. But why? Angrboda herself has visions about the what, but not the why. Her questions become what can be prevented and what can be changed. What does eternity mean and who are gods who aren't remembered? Are we our actions, or the hidden reasons behind them? These are questions all the main characters struggle with, with varying degrees of success in answering them. 

The Witch's Heart is a beautiful story of deep love and sacrifice and (like the myths themselves) pain and joy.  Gornichec's debut novel is a complex, emotional masterpiece that will have you reading it again and again to discover new nuances every time. 

An excellent story for those interested in twists on well known myths and seeing new women's voices soaring.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review