![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/074-LimitsEnchantment.jpg?resize=188%2C300&ssl=1\")
By Graham Joyce\n\u00a9 2013, Black Dust Creations Ltd
\nASIN: B00F66Q8TK
\nKindle version; file size 1104 KB\n
<\/p>By Graham Joyce
\n\u00a9 2013, Black Dust Creations Ltd
\nASIN: B00F66Q8TK
\nKindle version; file size 1104 KB\n
In every way that matters, Fern Cullen is daughter to Mammy Cullen, who sees to the needs of village women in rural England around 1960. It\u2019s Mammy who helps them regulate their bleeds. Mammy who blesses the wedding cakes. Mammy who helps birth\u2014and sometimes save\u2014the babes. And it\u2019s Mammy they call when they accidentally get in the family way. Mammy who can\u2019t read or write. Mammy who has no \u201cofficial\u201d title. Mammy who knows The Ways, and can make things happen.<\/p>\n
All her life, Fern has worked by Mammy\u2019s side. Learned by doing. Prepared to take Mammy\u2019s place one day. Fern sees not just Mammy\u2019s compassion and skill, but the hatred and fear some villagers hold toward both Mammy and Fern. When one of them acts on those feelings, Fern\u2019s life takes a turn for the odd, and suddenly \u201cOne Day\u201d is here much sooner than Fern had expected.<\/p>\n
This is a wonderful tale, dark and light in turns, weird in the ways of the old wise women. There is magic here. On every page, Joyce gives us glimpses of country practices that should never have been forgotten. The arrival of \u201cmodern medicine\u201d heralded the end of women like Mammy in most places. Yet we see the tenacity of these folk, and those they catered to, and the lengths to which they would go to maintain their practice and safety from those who would harm them. In this story, Mammy was one of \u201cthe few,\u201d a term foreshadowed and demonstrated, but never exactly explained. It came clear to me, though, that she was a witch in the old sense, one who whispered love into the baking of a wedding cake, or healing into a poultice. She dwelled apart and lived close to the Earth and its cycles, marking the passage of time with seasonal changes rather than a calendar. Wise woman, witch, healer\u2014all terms apply.<\/p>\n
Having spent some time among witches, healers, and herbalists, there were details here I recognized. But as the story takes place in an earlier time, and in rural England, I also found practices, not to mention language, unfamiliar to me. Most is understandable given the context, but it did trip me up a time or two. While the story is fictional, the tale it tells is not. The Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking festivities that play a role in the story are an actual custom in Hallaton, England that dates back over 300 years. The practices of midwifery and herbal magic, too, are taken almost word-for-word from the real world. It\u2019s details like these, as well as Mammy\u2019s and Fern\u2019s unique character portrayals, that give this book so much charm. (Pun definitely intended.)<\/p>\n
True, too, are the portrayals of Mammy\u2019s enemies, men who were threatened by Mammy, Fern, and others like them, women who stood their ground against the power of their detractors who were determined to push them out. I despised the males in this story that thought themselves better than Mammy, and who hurt her in an effort to stop her. In Mammy, and then in Fern, we see wonderful portrayals of strong women, as unstoppable in their own ways as any storm.<\/p>\n
This is the first book I\u2019ve read by Graham Joyce, but I\u2019m certain it won\u2019t be the last. The Limits of Enchantment<\/em> is an excellent tale by a peerless storyteller. If you love tales of magic, of the unique ability to see through the veil between this world and the next, add this book to your list. You won\u2019t want to miss it.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Graham Joyce \u00a9 2013, Black Dust Creations Ltd ASIN: B00F66Q8TK Kindle version; file size 1104 KB In every way that matters, Fern Cullen is daughter to Mammy Cullen, who sees to the needs of village women in rural England around 1960. It\u2019s Mammy who helps them regulate their bleeds. Mammy who blesses the wedding…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n0kX-NF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5338,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/19\/ragged-alice\/","url_meta":{"origin":3079,"position":0},"title":"Ragged Alice","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"February 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Gareth Powell \u00a9 4\/23\/2019 by Tordotcom File Size 5324 KB ASIN: B07HF2Q1CV I have read and enjoyed other Gareth Powell books, all of which were science fiction. 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