Witchborn by Nicholas Bowling (review)

After the witchfinders come for her mother, fourteen-year-old Alyce flees to London with instructions to find John Dee, who is an advisor to Queen Elizabeth and, like Alyce, her mother, and the queen herself, a witch. Now the witchfinders are seeking Alyce, but mission is not to destroy her but to take her to Mary Stuart, who wants Alyce's help in her scheme to usurp Elizabeth and become the first queen to openly practice witchcraft. The conflict between Elizabeth and Mary is the backdrop to Alyce's adventure, which takes her from Bedlam to Whitehall to the Tower of London in a series of captures and daring escapes. She's accompanied by Solomon, a young actor whose mother was imprisoned in Bedlam for witchcraft, and who seeks to understand his own heritage. Their friendship warms believably into romance without overshadowing Alyce's character development, as she comes to understand her growing powers and her place in the world of witches and politics. Alyce plays a secondary role in the climactic confrontation between the two queens, but she has her own difficult choices to make when Solomon is caught in the middle, with no satisfying solution. The novel takes a nuanced approach to the temptations of power, leaving a current of uneasiness in the hopeful ending that will have readers thinking long after they finish the book. A short historical note sketches the context for the novel, and interested readers will be motivated to seek more information about the period. SS