A Witch in Time

A young witch is cursed to relive a doomed love affair through many lifetimes, as both troubled muse and frustrated artist, in this haunting debut novel.
In 1895, sixteen-year-old Juliet LaCompte has a passionate, doomed romance with the married Parisian painter Auguste Marchant. When her mother -- a witch -- attempts to cast a curse on Marchant, she unwittingly summons a demon, binding her daughter to both the artist and this supernatural being for all time. Juliet is fated to re-live her affair and die tragically young lifetime after lifetime as the star-crossed lovers reincarnate through history. The demon -- who appears to Juliet in all her reincarnations as a mysterious, handsome, and worldly benefactor-has been helplessly in love with her since 19th century France, even though she forgets him each time she dies. He falls for her in 1930s Hollywood, in 1970s Los Angeles, and finally in present-day Washington D.C. -- where she begins to develop powers of her own. In this life, she starts to remember her tragic past lives. But this time, she might have the power to break the cycle...
A Witch in Time is perfect for fans of A Secret History of Witches, Outlander, and The Time Traveler's Wife.

Title: A Witch in Time

Genre: Historical Fiction / Fantasy

Author: Constance Sayers

Format: Kindle e-book

File Size: 1569 KB

Print Length: 448 pages

Publisher: Redhook

Publication Date: February 11, 2020

Sold by: Hachette Book Group

Language: English

ASIN: B07RKW28HG

My Review

The muse.

The actress.

The musician.

The witch.

There is only one novel in which you can live your life four times, in different ways, through two centuries, trapped in a deadly curse with a demon at your heels. If you are a fan of time-travel books like me, then the blurb alone at the back of the book should have you hooked in an instant.

Washington, DC, 2012 - After divorcing Roger, an art collector and “wunderkind in the philanthropy world” Helen is on a blind date with Luke Varner, who is terribly out of place with his sense of fashion as if lost in time. Their conversation starts off with labored small talk about her job at the influential magazine “In Fame” and it doesn’t take long for Luke to speak in riddles and drop some strange hints about her family’s life history.

“You haven’t changed. I mean you have changed…the hair mostly. It is more of a copper color now".
“I hate this moment.” He rubbed his legs, looking nervous. “I go about thirty years hating this moment, and then you call me and we do this all over again.”

Challans, France, 1895 - Juliet LaCompte is sixteen years old and promised to marry the Bosson boy, Michael in a year who will inherit the farm of his parents. Her father works on the Busson Farm and her mother runs the house and makes special herb remedies and pastes to sell at the town apothecary. Juliet dreams of a life in Paris despite their current financial status. When a local artist, August Marchante is painting a series on children, he offers much coin to paint Juliet and her little brother. What begins so innocently on that fateful day will have tragic consequences that ripple through time and space, making Helen, in Washingon DC, contemplate murder in 2012.

New York City, 1932 - Nora Wheeler, a 19-year-old dance theater girl, is in an arrangement with Clint who “cleans up problems” at the theater. He promises her a connection to Hollywood and MGM and expects her to be his girl for all his needs. But Clint is a drunk and abusive, and after setting money aside, she leaves him one night in a risky maneuver, by train, heading West. Hollywood isn’t as welcoming until she makes drastic changes in her appearance and works even harder for her dream. Unexpected talents garner her some attention, but her fortunes run out when Clint comes into town to “clean up" a murder. Imbued with the same talent, Helen, in Washington DC, is haunted by Norma’s story and knows her own demise is coming up.

Los Angeles, May 1970 - Sandra Keane, a 22-year-old student at UCLA comes from a middle-class family. Her parent’s wanted her to major in something practical, like nursing. Secretly though, she switched into a music performance major and gigs around with friends. It’s the time of the Vietnam draft and many of her old friends have left but in LA, the hipster bell-bottoms, drugs and rock music are in full bloom. A big wig producer has invited Sandra’s band to his ranch to cut their first album. Her talent is uncanny but it’s an unseen force that makes her even more special when she rescue’s her friend in a tragic accident. There are forces and powers from long ago that seep into her existence, the same ones that begin to haunt Helen, in Washington DC, in 2012.

A curse that was cast in 1895 has haunted three woman through time and landed on Helen’s doorstep. Vivid dreams make her relive the lives of Juliet, Nora and Sandra and turns this riddling curse into a mystery she must solve in order to live beyond her 34th birthday. Entangled in the sticky web of a demon, she has to be clever and battle her ever-growing feelings for a man who has shared the miseries of each woman’s past, watching, helpless and deeply in love as they were followed by the destruction of the deadly curse.

In a culminating arch, one star crossed lover has to die to free the other. In an intimate moment never meant to be, hearts desire tragically ends the overwhelming love that began in 1895 most true and heart-wrenching.

***

This novel is not a brief affair but a spellbound journey cursed through time.

Talk about traveling through time!

Each time period depicted is almost a novel in itself, rich in its historically detailed setting and character development. Though I did not anticipate such depth in the respected time periods, I found myself looking up events, actors, artists, and paintings mentioned. I especially adored the detailed descriptions of the Latin Quarter in Paris, which is where I love to stay on my visits for the myriad of art vendors, markets, restaurants, cobblestone streets and all over flair. This culminated undertaking of the novel is respectively huge in scope and it came together with the underlying bonds of the once cast spell, uniting time and characters most lingering and tragically beautiful.

Through a large portion of the book, the novel stays within the pov of Juliet and the inception of the curse. Unknowing the connection of events, Juliet’s life unfolds without her command in charge as she ends up in Paris, but is bound by constricting circles that have a hold on her most suffocating. The story picks up the pieces of her life and the loss of love and continues blended in succession with the other narratives, while Helen dreams about these events. The ultimate clues will come from Juliet’s life as the tellings are infused throughout the entirety of the novel and Helen’s new friend Luke Varner aids her in the realization of a connected past before her life will run out of time due to the curse.

Many events in time take part in this story, including those of Helen’s present. It took me some time to warm up with Helen as a character and her profession. She seemed more a matter of fact type personality at first but softened later on making her more relatable. I found Nora to be the bravest character with the most perseverance. Reading in her pov and spending time among the 1930’s glamorous movie stars was splendid as well as cutthroat.

The component of the curse with its bindings isn’t one that is understood right away but its meaning spreads like crumbs through the maze of narratives to figure out. Sometimes I could not decide if I was more fascinated by the settings and characters or the mystery of the curse in itself. Though I wasn’t let down by the end of the novel, I was certainly emotionally drained and left all stirred up.

When reading A Witch in Time you will receive more than you may have bargained for by looking at the beautiful cover. Its rewards lay in the strong historical details and engrossing events the characters navigate. With a bit of endurance, this is a uniquely rich novel to appreciate.