The Bitterwine Oath

by Hannah West

Overview

Every fifty years, a cult claims twelve men to murder in a small Texas town. Can one girl end the cycle of violence - and save the boy who broke her heart?

"A richly woven tale of magic and murder and vengeance. This book kept me up all night! One of the best stories I've read all year." - Shea Ernshaw, New York Times bestselling author of The Wicked Deep

San Solano, Texas, is a quaint town known for its charm, hospitality, and history of murder. Twice now, twelve men have been brutally killed, and no one knows who did it. A shadowy witch? A copycat killer? Or a man-hating murderess?

Eighteen-year-old Natalie Colter is sure that the rumors about her great-great-grandmother's cult of wronged women are just gossip, but that doesn't stop the true-crime writers and dark tourism bloggers from capitalizing on the town's reputation. It's an urban legend that's hard to ignore, and it gets harder when Nat learns that the sisterhood is real. And magical. And they want her to join.

The more Nat learns of the Wardens' supernatural history, the more she wonders about the real culprits behind the town's ritualistic murders. Are the Wardens protecting San Solano from even darker forces? There are shadows in the woods, bones on the outskirts of town, and questions Nat needs answered.

But everything becomes more urgent when people start getting "marked" as new victims--including Levi Langford, the boy whose kiss haunted Nat for a year. With Levi in danger, doing nothing would be harder than fighting back.

Nat knows that no one is safe. Can she and the sisterhood stop the true evil from claiming their town?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823448753
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	12/01/2020
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Hannah West is a freelance writer with a French degree she wishes she had more occasion to use. Her debut novel, Kingdom of Ash and Briars, received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and was named a Kirkus Best Book of the Year. She lives in Texas with her husband and their two rambunctious rescue dogs. Find her at hannahwestauthor.com or on Instagram @hannahwestya.

Read an Excerpt

Lillian Pickard

I did not regret befriending Malachi Rivers until the night we invoked her magic to seek revenge.

Four of us sat in a circle on the floor of an abandoned cabin in the Piney Woods, twine looped around our girlish wrists, binding us together. A grimoire lay open upon tender sprigs of herbs and bones of woodland creatures. Segments of text had been violently crossed out and revisions crammed into the margins.

Malachi Rivers was indeed that powerful; her edits and improvisations increased the potency of every charm, hex, curse, and conjuration.

Until that fateful night in the summer of 1921, our foursome, led by Malachi, had performed harmless magic for entertainment and empowerment. Dorothy Hawkins, Johanna Mead, and I revered Malachi’s magic and wanted to participate. While we were bound together, we could channel it. The powerless could become powerful.

We called ourselves "Pagans of the Pines" in a spirit of cheeky rebellion. The magic had been a girlhood game to me, the grimoire nothing more than a mass-produced, curious collectible pilfered from the parlor of my cosmopolitan aunt.
But everything changed that night. Childish rebellion turned to sinister retribution.

Dorothy, Johanna, and Malachi had endured trials I could not fathom. Malachi’s father was controlling and oppressive. Johanna Mead’s abusive father and uncle had beaten the boy she loved nearly to death out of a twisted sense of protectiveness. A lynch mob had murdered Dorothy Hawkins’s older brother over a false accusation that he had attempted to murder a white man. Her sharecropper father had lost his land, and the family relied on charity from their church to scrape by.

Now that Malachi had nearly mastered her magic of earth, bone, and blood, the three of them wanted to claim vengeance commensurate to their suffering.

We did not mean to kill. Malachi concocted a curse that would reveal the deep evil within the hearts of the men who had wronged them, so that society would no longer accept, respect, or enable their dark deeds. Malachi had spoken the curse over the Communion wine in the sanctuary of her father’s church. We watched her, witnessed her slender body rocking with power, her wrists and hands trembling. She dusted the wine with herbs, dipped her fingers into the chalice, and painted her mark on the white cloth of the Communion table—the mark we had created to represent the three elements from which she drew her power.

"The Devil’s supper," I recall her whispering in the candlelight.

We returned to our consecrated ground—the cabin nestled in a forgotten forest glade—to finish our work. We would use magic to lure the men to Communion at the witching hour. They would drink the cursed wine, and their darkness would be known to all.

But as soon as we split the flesh of our fingertips and dripped blood over our preparations, I felt Malachi’s magic spinning out of control, like a toy top whirling fast enough to lift off the ground and bounce about unpredictably. The other girls’ anger fueled it, giving it a will of its own.

I was afraid. I wanted to stop it. But our hands were already bound, and to break the bond before our work was complete would be far more dangerous than even the darkest conjuration.

I have undoubtedly lost many a reader already with my earnest talk of magic. But I have no other pen with which to write this biography.

Any tale about Malachi that excludes magic is not about Malachi at all.
Excerpt from Pagans of the Pines: The Untold Story of Malachi Rivers,

Editorial Reviews

10/19/2020

West (the Nissera Chronicles) packs the thrills of the Vampire Diaries series and Buffy into a smart, wry supernatural novel set in East Texas. In 1921, teenage witch Malachi Rivers and three friends botched a spell to expose their abusers—fatally poisoning 12 men by mistake—and unleashed a haunting that claims 12 boys every 50 years. A century later, Malachi’s 18-year-old descendant Natalie Colter’s biggest problems are nosy tourists and her awkward kiss with poet Levi Langford. When cult symbols and decapitated deer appear around her house, Natalie discovers that her town’s women secretly protect the town’s men from dark possession with hereditary magic—and that they need Natalie’s powers to prevent another tragedy. Despite blind spots on race, West’s nuanced handling of gender politics and cycles of misogyny avoid easy answers, and Natalie and Levi’s kind romance is one to root for. This fun, chilling, and sincere gothic novel keeps its head—and its heart. Ages 14–up. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

"This action-packed story of sisterhood will suck readers in from the first page. . . . West's propulsive supernatural tale keeps the story grounded in female friendships, the struggle to process change, and a second-chance romance."—Booklist 

"This book has a little bit of magic, a little bit of thriller, and a little bit of romance. And amid all of this there is an overarching theme of female empowerment and standing together while fighting for what is right. . . . A solid magical thriller perfect for fans of witchcraft and slightly darker YA books."—School Library Journal


"West (the Nissera Chronicles) packs the thrills of the Vampire Diaries series and Buffy into a smart, wry supernatural novel set in East Texas. . . . This fun, chilling, and sincere gothic novel keeps its head—and its heart."—Publishers Weekly

"A richly woven tale of magic and murder and vengeance. This book kept me up all night! One of the best stories I've read all year."—Shea Ernshaw, New York Times bestselling author of The Wicked Deep

"Evocative writing enhances the horror with a chilling atmosphere. . . . Female empowerment at its fiercest."—Kirkus

"Witches and spells blend with everyday anxieties in this supernatural murder mystery centering on a powerful group of women who claim their strength."—Foreword Magazine

"the horror hits hard"—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

From the Publisher

01/15/2021

Gr 9 Up—This tale takes place on the 100th anniversary of a curse created by a group of witches who tried to take revenge on the men who wronged them. Set in San Solano, TX, the novel tells the twisted story of murder in a small town. Natalie Colter's great-great-grandmother's past as the local "cult" leader seems to haunt her when strange events start occurring—hinting that the ritualistic murders of the past might begin again. This book has a little bit of magic, a little bit of thriller, and a little bit of romance. And amid all of this there is an overarching theme of female empowerment and standing together while fighting for what is right. The plot is dark and contains mature themes of animal and human violence, supernatural possession, and cults. While the story is paced slowly throughout, there is a constant sense of urgency, making the slower moments feel all the more pressing. The writing is descriptive and flows throughout the passages, adding to the thriller aspect of the story, though the romance is underdeveloped. The main characters come from multiple ethnicities and backgrounds. VERDICT A solid magical thriller perfect for fans of witchcraft and slightly darker YA books.—Zoe Leonarczyk, Florida State Univ., Tallahassee

School Library Journal

2020-09-10
A 100-year-old act of revenge continues to torment a Texas town.

In 1921, four young women cast a spell to reveal the evil in the hearts of 12 men who committed horrible crimes. The curse went awry, killing its targets. The girls’ involvement was never proven, but suspicions remain. Another massacre 50 years later left a dozen local boys and men dead, the deaths unsolved. As the semicentennial approaches, the town is filled with tension: Is another mass murder on the horizon? Natalie Colter plans to spend the summer before college working and hanging out with friends, but her plans are canceled when Nat discovers, as a last living descendant of the original spell’s creator, she’s inherited a burgeoning, powerful magic. Nat is a Warden, one of a group of spellcasting, gun- and knife–wielding maidens, mothers, and elder wise women, descendants of the original four. Only the Wardens know that the 1971 murders were committed by Woodwalkers, terrifying creatures inhabited by the souls of the original 12 victims; it’s the Wardens’ mission to destroy them. Narrator/protagonist Nat retains her cool even when facing death, and the satisfying conclusion hints at the possibility of another adventure. Evocative writing enhances the horror with a chilling atmosphere. Natalie is White; one Warden is of Mexican descent and another is Black.

Female empowerment at its fiercest. (Horror. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews