The Once And Future Witches by Alix Harrow

 

Once there were three sisters.  Bella was the oldest and loves books and learning.  Agnes is the middle sister, beautiful and strong.  Juniper was the youngest, wild and unafraid.  They grow up in the woods and mountains, left there with a cruel father by the death of their mother in Juniper's birth.  But they do have their grandmother who teaches them how to be strong and the stories and rhymes that all children should hear.

The sisters are separated when Juniper is still a small girl.  The two older sisters are sent away and leave Juniper as the only target of their father's rage and cruelty.  When Juniper finally runs away, she is warped by those years and full of bitterness at her sisters for going away and never returning.

But the three are reunited and they realize that the power of witches is within them.  They gather other women who have the same beliefs that they do, that magic is the distance between what you need and what you have.  They find the way to restore the Lost Way of Avalon but there's danger.  A man named Gideon Hill is powerful in the town, New Salem, where the women have settled.  He is determined to stamp out all witches and especially the three sisters.  Who will survive?

Alix Harrow grew up in the same mountains she writes about here.  She is known for writing marvelous modern fairy tales based on the old stories.  Her writing is mythical, drawing the reader along wherever her characters go.  Each reader will probably relate to one of the sisters best and that is one of the strengths of this story, along with the message that women are strong and can accomplish whatever they need to do.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.