A Southern Enchantress- Deborah Trahan

Firstly, thank you, NetGalley and Atmosphere Press, for giving me a copy of this beautiful book in exchange for an honest review.

A beautiful combination of magic realism and complex multigenerational tragedy, A Southern Enchantress is a dual timeline novel charting the lengths a legacy clairsentient and enchantress will go to in order to right the pain of the past.

At first, the dual timelines were a little confusing, but once the story really got going, they really helped to develop the generational heartbreak that is at the heart of this novel. The real highlight for me was the sheer volume of vivid imagery of both New Orleans and the Gulf Coast created by the author. You can clearly tell Deborah Trahan has done her research in developing this novel because I really felt like I was in the deep south of America from cover to cover; I could smell the saltiness of the sea, feel the warm late summer breeze and hear the call of the sea birds so deeply.

The generational heartbreak explored throughout hit me like very few other books have. It really felt that up until Suzanne, history was doomed to just keep repeating itself through the power that money and status held and continue to hold over people. It really stood out to me that whether in 1945 or 2013, the Lafountain women's lives revolved around the money and status held by their male relatives and was used as a form of control which I felt was explored really tactfully.

Overall, this novel is a beautiful, vividly colourful journey of one woman's quest to put an end to the heartbreaking generational trauma thrust upon her female ancestors for generations told with care, warmth and a ending leaving the reader with a lasting sense of satisfaction.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐