The Last Witch in Edinburgh by Marielle Thompson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Last Witch in Edinburgh is a novel I went into wanting to know as little as possible about the plot. I had heard it had incredible atmosphere, and that was enough to sell it to me.
As the story began, I was fully immersed. It actually kicked off on my birthday, the 18th of September, but in 1824. Obviously, we are in Edinburgh and we are following Nellie Duncan, a young woman at a perilous time in her life.
Her mother is gone, she lives with her father, a drunkard, and her younger brother, who she tries her very best to care for. She’s the responsible adult in their household.
Unfortunately, Nellie loses her job after a misunderstanding with the lady of the house, who she once considered her surrogate mother. After that, Nellie is set adrift.
Not only is Nellie’s personal life in turmoil, but society itself is also a dangerous mess, with witch hunts and hangings going on left and right.
Nellie’s misunderstanding with her past employer, and her growing beauty, make her afraid of attracting the wrong attention. She keeps very much to herself, just hoping to avoid any unwanted attentiveness.
It’s while under the cover of darkness that she first comes into contact with the women from Rae’s Apothecary. Nellie ends up finding purpose and place within their shop, and maybe a little more with the enticing Jean Rae.
Thinking she’s finally found a home, Nellie’s heart is shattered when disaster strikes. She spends the next two centuries fleeing from the world.
Okay, so the initial set-up, I was so into it. I loved the setting of 1820s Edinburgh and all the dangers that Nellie was facing within her day-to-day life.
I enjoyed learning about her family and felt real empathy for her position. Once she became enmeshed in the Apothecary, things began to slow down for me. I was still enjoying it, but didn’t feel quite as engaged.
Then the shift. I didn’t know the two centuries part. It is in the synopsis, I’m not spoiling anything by telling you this, but for me, I did not anticipate that time jump.
Once I was no longer in 1820s Scotland, the magic completely disappeared for me. I appreciated the feminist topics explored, but while in the first half they were incorporated smoothly into the overall narrative, for me, the 2nd-half felt forced and too heavy-handed.
The experience for me was so split as to feel like two different stories. The first-half of the book was a solid 4-star read. The second-half, I was straight-up bored, NGL.
If I had to rate the second-half of this book on its own, it would be a 2-star. Hence why I have decided on the 3-star rating. This seems the most fair way to explain it.
I will take the blame for this. I wanted the entire thing to be atmospheric and historic, full of lush settings and period-specific dangers. When it wasn’t that, I couldn’t help but be disappointed.
I do think the author did a great job of creating the lore around this tale though. There are many strong attributes, so please don’t let my slight disappointment derail you from picking this up.
Even though this one let me down a little in the end, Marielle Thompson’s writing is beautiful and I would absolutely be interested in picking up more of their work.
Thank you to the publisher, Tantor Audio, for providing me a copy to read and review. I would highly recommend the audiobook, if you do choose to pick this up. It’s fabulously narrated by Siobhan Waring.
