In 17th century England, Abitha’s father sells her off to pay his debts; the end result is that she is shipped off to the American colonies to become the bride of Edward, a man she has never met. Edward turns out to be kind and generous, if meek in the face of his boorish cheat of an older brother, Wallace. The Puritan community that Abitha and Edward live in expects women to be consistently timid and obedient, never heard and seen only in the pursuits of approved activities (mainly: church). When Wallace tries to make up for own unwise financial gamble by bargaining away Edward and Abitha’s farm, Abitha can’t bite her tongue any longer; she speaks out and encourages her husband to do the same, making an enemy of her powerful brother in law.
Lurking in the background, or literally the cave in Abitha and Edward’s back farmyard, is something supernatural and possibly sinister- a sentient goat named Samson with magical abilities. Is Samson-soon-to-be-known-as Slewfoot really a devil? Or is he a natural force out to reclaim his rightful place in the world? When his path crosses with Abitha and Edward’s, events are set in motion for a magical, witchy explosion that will rock their Puritannical village.
Brom is a cartoonist and Slewfoot is peppered with his dark, moody portraits of a number of the characters, an adult fairy-tale of sorts. These portraits are beautiful if unsettling, which is exactly the mood he is going for.
I love a good grown up fairy tale, so this was right up my alley. I also loved that despite aligning our sympathies with certain characters, Brom did not whitewash some of their moral ambiguities. Wallace started and finished a stereotypical villain but Abitha and Slewfoot both contain multitudes. I’m not telling you any more or it would ruin the story, and where is the fun in that with a fairytale?
Cannonball Book bingo 14 Monster because who is the real monster here- Slewfoot, the devil who saves Abitha? Abitha, the witch who brings destruction? Wallace, the selfish coward who would murder Abitha to save his own finances? Or the Puritan settlers and culture, that would murder the old gods and punish women for saving themselves?
cbr14bingo