Island Witch

September 1, 2023

The third novel from ITW Debut Award winner Jayatissa, Island Witch features Amara, the daughter of a demon-priest in a 19th-century Sri Lankan village heavily under the sway of colonizers, who intervenes when villagers blame her father after something deep in the forest threatens them. Prepub Alert.

Copyright 2023 Library Journal

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 4, 2023
Jayatissa (You’re Invited) goes gothic in her third book, a glacially paced but grim and gristly tale of demonic possession and secret violence against women in 19th-century Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka). Amara Akki is the only daughter of Thaththa, the local Capuwa, a spirit worker who is “mostly called upon to bless houses, cut limes to ward off the evil eye, administer tonics.” However, the British have introduced the idea of witchcraft to Ceylon, and allying with them means adapting to their ideas and converting to Christianity. So when a series of men are attacked in the jungle, Amara’s father is branded a “demon worshiper” and becomes the chief suspect. Amara can’t believe her father is guilty and instead suspects that one of the aides to the village headman may have a personal axe to grind against Thaththa. With the help of her new friend Bhagya, Amara sets out to investigate. Meanwhile, her sleepwalking grows increasingly out of hand and she begins to have horrifying dreams of a “demoness” who bears a striking resemblance to the being said to have attacked the men. Jayatissa successfully conjures a spooky atmosphere, but the central mystery is lacking and the plot twists are telegraphed too early. The non-European setting is a welcome break from the norm, however, and the slow, eerie revenge plot offers some chills. It’s not perfect, but this will likely find its fans. Agent: Melissa Danaczko, SK Agency.

January 1, 2024
When village men start getting attacked, one young woman finds herself caught in the middle. Amara is an 18-year-old who lives in a Sri Lankan village with her mother, a talented seamstress whom she calls Amma, and her father, a spiritual leader and demon exorciser whom she calls Thaththa. Despite the influence of British colonialism and Christianity, Amara's father holds fast to his traditional ways, causing him to be looked down upon by the community, which is rapidly Westernizing in order to gain access to power and wealth. Therefore, when local men start getting mysteriously and brutally attacked, villagers cast a skeptical eye toward Thaththa, whom they believe may be summoning demons to ambush innocent men. When the situation becomes more dire, Amara--herself something of an outcast, teased by her former schoolmates and called a witch--decides it's her duty to figure out what the attacked men have in common so she can find out who (or what) is responsible. Along with Bhagya, an enigmatic new friend she met in the jungle, Amara sneaks around the village gathering insight into the men's lives. But Amara has a nagging secret. Many nights in her sleep she finds herself the one vividly attacking, only to startle awake with the taste of blood on her tongue and the voice of a demon saying "You're mine now" ringing in her ears. Jayatissa's novel is slow to get going, and her characters feel a little flat. But the twists and turns to this fantastical mystery, as well as the author's commentary on colorism, colonialism, and feminine outrage, shine through: "He would suffer as I once did. Suffer for everything he had done. Suffer for the wrongs that were committed before him and those that would no doubt come after him. That was all I wanted. For them to all suffer as I have." A cautionary tale for men who wrong women.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2024
In a nineteenth-century Sri Lanka beset by colonization, a na�ve teen fights to clear her father's name after a series of supernatural attacks devastates her coastal village. The daughter of the local Capuwa, Amara is no stranger to demons and exorcisms. When someone--or something--begins luring men to their deaths in the jungle, Amara finds herself plagued by prophetic dreams. The villagers, torn between their traditional beliefs and those of their colonizers, scapegoat and ostracize her father. Desperate to prove his innocence (and perhaps her own), Amara begins investigating the island's strange goings-on, unearthing secrets that will change everything she thought she knew about herself and her family. Weaving in elements of folklore from her native Sri Lanka, thriller author Jayatissa's (You're Invited, 2022) lush historical horror depicts Amara's heady coming-of-age with plenty of gothic atmosphere and page-turning suspense, evocatively capturing a girl--and a country--at a crossroads. Island Witch offers a compelling addition to the growing body of horror novels exploring the evils of colonization, like Isabel Ca�as' Vampires of El Norte (2023) and Victor LaValle's Lone Women (2023).

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.