#WitchesOfMoonshyneManor

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor By Bianca Marais

House in the Cerulean Sea meets The Golden Girls in this funny, tender, and uplifting
feminist tale of sisterhood featuring a coven of aging witches who must unite their powers to
fight the men determined to drive them out of their home and town.

A coven of modern-day witches. A magical heist-gone-wrong. A looming threat.

Summoned by an alarm, five octogenarian witches gather around Ursula when danger is revealed to her in a vision. An angry mob of townsmen is advancing with a wrecking ball, determined to demolish Moonshyne Manor and Distillery. All eyes turn to Queenie—as the witch in charge, it’s her job to reassure them—but she confesses they’ve fallen far behind on their mortgage payments and property taxes. Queenie has been counting on Ruby’s return in two days to fix everything. Ruby is the only one who knows where the treasure is hidden, those valuable artifacts stolen 33 years ago on the night when everything went horribly wrong. Why didn’t clairvoyant Ursula see this coming sooner? Wasn’t Ivy supposed to be working her botanical magic to keep the townsmen in a state of perpetual drugged calm, all while Jezebel quelled revolts through seductive bewitchment?
The mob is only the start of the witches’ troubles. Brad Gedney, a distant cousin of Ivy, is hellbent on avenging his family for the theft of a legacy that was rightfully his. In an act of desperation, Queenie makes a bargain with an evil far more powerful than anything they’ve ever faced. And things take a turn for the worse when Ruby’s homecoming reveals a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.

In a race against time, the women have nine days to save their home and business. The witches are
determined to save their home and themselves, but fear their aging powers are no match against
increasingly malicious threats. Thankfully, they get a bit of extra help from Persephone, a feisty
TikToker eager to smash the patriarchy. As the deadline approaches, fractures among the sisterhood
are revealed, and long-held secrets are exposed, culminating in a fiery confrontation with their
enemies.

Funny, tender, and uplifting, THE WITCHES OF MOONSHYNE MANOR explores the formidable
power that can be discovered in aging, found family, and unlikely friendships. Marais’ true power is
her clever prose that offers as much laughter as insight, delving deeply into feminism, identity, and
power dynamics while stirring up intrigue and drama through secrets, lies and sex. Both heartbreaking and heart-mending, it will make you wonder: why were we taught to fear the witches, and not the men who burned them? Above all, it will make you grateful for the amazing women in your life.

Thoughts

I have read both of this authors previous books and absolutely adored them so when I saw she was releasing a witchy book I knew I had to have it!

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor is about a group of pensioner witches who live together in Moonshyne Manor but this may be torn down because they are behind on the mortgage payments. The witches hope the return of Ruby will save them but they will all need to pull together.

I adored all the witches, and Persephone, the TikToker. The book was so fun and full of heart, found family, female friendship, a really enjoyable read, think golden girls but with magic! I hope this is the start of a series as I would love to read more from this loveable bunch!

If you have never read a Bianca book, you’re missing out on something incredible.

Thank you @randomttours and @harper360uk for my spot o the blog tour.

About the Author

Bianca Marais is the author of the beloved
Hum If You Don’t Know the Words and If You
Want to Make God Laugh (Putnam, 2017 and
2019). She teaches at the University of
Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies
where she was awarded an Excellence in
Teaching Award for Creative Writing in 2021.
A believer in the power of storytelling in
advancing social justice, Marais runs the
Eunice Ngogodo Own Voices Initiative to
empower young Black women in Africa to
write and publish their own stories, and is
constantly fundraising to assist grandmothers
in Soweto with caring for children who have
been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. In 2020, Marais
started the popular podcast, The Shit No One
Tells You About Writing, which is aimed at
helping emerging writers become published.