Book Review: ‘We Call Them Witches’ by India-Rose Bower (sapphic post-apocalyptic Eldritch horror)

I’m not really a witchy reads kind of girl so the title of this didn’t immediately grab me, but the cover really did, so I decided to read the summary anyway. To my surprise, it was actually sapphic Eldritch horror set in a apocalyptic England and, well, that’s a bit of me.

Sara and her family must keep moving.

Every few months, they’re discovered, and they have to pack up and get out quick. For the twins it’s all they’ve ever known, for Danny, Noah and Ma, it’s a reminder of all they’ve lost. For Sara, it’s just another day.

In yet another abandoned house, one they surround with Pagan wards – the only thing that protects them – Sara and her family think they might be safe, for a while at least. And then they find a strange girl in the garden. Parsley can’t remember where she came from or how she got here. The family sees only a threat, but Sara sees hope.

But outside they are waiting. The eldritch creatures. The ones they call Witches. The ones who already stole everything. And now, just days after the Parsley arrives, they steal something even more valuable: Noah. It's time to stop running. It's time to leave the safety of the wards, and try to find Noah in the witches' lair. It's just that no-one has ever done that and come out alive...

I’m a wuss when it comes to horror movies, but literary horror really works for me and India-Rose Bower’s debut is genuinely scary at points; I thought it was brilliant.

Underlying the witches (aka the Eldritch horror creatures), is the apocalypse their arrival created in what I think is England, but specifically up in North of England. When horrifying creatures whose appearances mimic a distorted, horrifying version of their environment along with mismatched human elements, screaming and calling in the voices of loved ones to lure out humans to eat, they infiltrate the cities and homes in search of food. A lot of the population are devoured quickly, especially in the cities, and most of the humans left behind are scared, alone, and desperate.

I do sometimes get a little frustrated when the end of the world is unexplained, but it’s so recent in ‘We Call Them Witches’ and we know exactly as much as Sara does, which isn’t much, because why would she? It all felt natural and authentic, especially with the discussions of what really happened, the lack of notice and why the witches are terrorising them that Sara and her family had every evening as a game. Eldritch horror itself is unknowable and incomprehensible horror by definition so it all fit and I wasn’t expecting to know everything.

I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to have a post-apocalyptic world and an eighteen year old heroine where the survival of her family and the world isn’t on her shoulders. She’s a kid and she’s treated as such by her family; she’s someone to be looked after by the adults. While the situation changes and evolves throughout the novel, it didn’t feel like the traditional older YA or early adult post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction. It felt fresh.

Although Edlritch creatures are not anything new, it’s been an established sub-genre of horror for over a century, but I’m still relatively new to weird fiction so every time I come across it, it feels fresh and new to me.

‘We Call Them Witches’ is original, beautifully written, and genuinely scary tale of family, love and duty in a world determined to finish you off.

Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for the review copy.