This is my second read from Jessica Dodge and I just love the way she weaves magic into her stories. The imagery is so vivid I always feel as if I am right there in the story. In The Forgotten Witch, Fernbeg Cottage is my dream home in Scotland! Jessica gave it a heart and soul, just as I have always imagined old homes having. The connection, the pull towards Fernbeg that Helen felt, drew me in like a moth to a flame. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
“After a few minutes, she came across a picture that caught her eye. It was a very old white stone cottage nestled snug against a lush green mountain.”
“Then something came over her, an unexplained feeling of need for this place she had never even seen before. It was a feeling like an integral part of herself was being separated and she couldn’t let go of it…”
“Helen looked down at the most enchanting place she had ever seen. There, at the bottom of a lush green hill, was a little white stone cottage sitting snug in its valley. It looked out over rolling fields and then upon a loch reaching out to the sea. As they drove closer, she could see the little stone walls that bordered the lawn of the house, or what they called the garden. The sight of it made her breath catch in her throat, leaving her speechless.”
These remind me of some of my favorite quotes regarding the magnetic attraction towards a house that I found when I read Marcia Willett’s A Week in Winter:
“Melissa came upon the house quite by chance.”
“She was enchanted.”
“It was set back a little from the lane, settled well in, comfortable, solid; an old farmhouse.”
“It wasn’t particularly large or architecturally beautiful, but she felt quite simply, that it was hers.”
I thought of these lines immediately upon Helen coming across the cottage on the auction site, and upon her arrival to Fernbeg. I understand how she felt because I felt something similar when I found my house.
The story itself is beautifully told, switching back and forth between timelines. I knew there was more to Helen than what we originally see when we meet her, but I really didn’t see the twist coming!
I encourage you to read The Forgotten Witch if you like magical tales, dual timelines, and beautiful scenic Scotland.