Daughters of Nicnevin
With its men off to war, a Highland community is protected by witches in Shona Kinsella’s propulsive historical novel Daughters of Nicnevin, set during the time of the Jacobite rising.
Mairead, a lonely witch, wanders Scotland alone doing odd jobs for her keep. She is pulled north to Constance, a mother of three, by the internal ping of their mutual magic. She makes the acquaintance of Nicnevin, the fae queen of witches, and receives a gift from a will-o’-the-wisp along the way.
In Kilmartin, Mairead is welcomed by Constance, who conceals her magic out of caution. Others are not keen having witches in their midst. Still, the villagers become reliant on witchcraft in the absence of their husbands: Mairead and Constance use it to rescue a mother and child; infantrymen come and are sent away via enchantments; and, after raiders start stealing livestock, Nicnevin herself is summoned for help. She offers Kilmartin’s people a favor: if the villagers construct men of “mud and straw and clay and stone, grass and sticks and moss,” she will animate them for aid and protection.
Weaving the language of fae and feminine power into its story of historical turmoil, this is a moving, involving novel about found family, consent, releasing fear, and community grit. As Constance comes into her powers, and as Mairead learns to settle into a place as she’s never dared to do before, “something beyond friendship” grows between them, too. But love without trust proves fragile, and outside threats and old fears threaten to rend their bond. The return of the fae queen to address broken bargains and collect what she is due drives the novel toward its electric, hopeful ending.
Two women combine their innate powers to protect a community in Daughters of Nicnevin, an arresting historical novel with a sapphic twist.
Reviewed by
Michelle Anne Schingler
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