The Working

"This is a wonderful book. The characters are modern-day witches, and they’re all part of a coven. The story takes place around a fracking protest – there’s a new fracking pipeline that they’re trying to put in, and it goes across one of these characters’ land. So they’re trying to prevent the fracking pipeline, and at the same time, they’re battling a larger conflict that they learn about on a spiritual plane. They’re in contact with some ancestral spirits who are warning them that what’s happening with this pipeline is not just an isolated incident, but has much larger implications for the whole world. So they’re using their collective action in the real world to fight, and they’re also using their collective action in the spiritual world to fight the larger fight. When magic is incorporated into climate fiction, it runs the risk of being an unrealistic solution, a naïve “Everything will work out” story. This one really is pragmatic, and really personal. The magic that’s happening is manifest in reality as well – it’s not just, “Let’s cast a spell and hope everything works out.” This magic is very real, and it manifests in a way that feels real to the readers as well."