Trevor Jones, Liz Williams.
Diary of a Witchcraft Shop.
NewCon Press. 2011
rating : 3.5 : worth reading
review : 2 February 2020
In 2005, fantasy and SF author extraordinaire Liz Williams took the plunge, moving from her beloved Brighton to Glastonbury to live with her partner, Trevor Jones. Trevor ran a witchcraft shop. Liz’s life would never be the same again…
Diary of a Witchcraft Shop is bursting with surprise, delight and humour, but also has its darker moments, as we share twelve months in the company of Liz and Trevor, complete with visits to the Houses of Parliament, Ireland, and Brittany, not to mention Shetland ponies interrupting druidic ritual and a Tardis manifesting in the most unlikely of places… No, this isn’t fiction… honest!
This starts off like reading an fantasy history, in an alternate world where Wicca and Christianity are equally dominant religions. After a while, you realise you are simply reading a modern day diary set in places where where Wicca and Christianity are happily coexisting, mostly in the small West Country town of Glastonbury.
This is a gentle diary, a tale of weird happenings and rituals that seem normal to everyday Wiccan folk, along with some events that seem weird even to Wiccans. It’s not always possible to tell if it is Jones or Williams writing a particular entry, unless there is a specific reference that makes it clear. But I got the feeling most is by Williams. And she comes across as a rather sceptical down-to-earth Wiccan, although maybe somewhat over-interpreting coincidences.
