The Year of the Witching

by Alexis Henderson · 2020

In the austere settlement of Bethel, where the Prophet’s word is law and women are expected to be silent, Immanuelle Moore lives a life of strict obedience. Her family’s disgrace—born of a forbidden interracial union— forces her to cling to Holy Protocol and hide any hint of rebellion. A chance misstep drags her into the forbidden Darkwood, a forest haunted by the spirits of four witches the first Prophet slaughtered. There, the lingering witches gift her a relic: her dead mother’s diary, revealing a hidden history of witchcraft, dissent, and the Church’s darkest secrets. As Immanuelle reads the diary, she discovers her mother’s secret alliances and the true source of Bethel’s oppression. Empowered by newfound, unsettling powers, she must decide whether to remain a compliant servant or become the catalyst for a rebellion that could shatter the town’s rigid order. "The Year of the Witching" is a haunting, feminist fantasy that blends folk horror with a fierce quest for personal and societal transformation.