A Review of The Stone Witch of Florence by Anna Rasche

Trigger warnings: death, pandemic/plague, descriptions of sick/dead people

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It is officially spooky season, so it’s time to start reading about witches and magic and all things dark and creepy… assuming you don’t already read that stuff year ’round. We here at Feminist Book Club know there are a lot of offerings in the magical story realm. Unfortunately, there are only so many hours in the day, some of which you probably aren’t even allowed to spend reading! The horror! Let me help you get the most from the hours you have.

The Stone Witch of Florence

The Stone Witch of Florence is set in Medieval Italy during the height of the Great Plague. We meet our main character, Ginevra, in the small village where she is living after having been publicly exiled from the city of Florence, ostensibly for being a stone witch. Ginevra is able to heal people with gemstones, which makes certain folks uneasy. As we later come to learn, there are ulterior motives for expelling Ginevra, and they are ultimately what is leveraged against her to bring her back.

Back in Florence, where Ginevra is tasked with using her gemstones to hunt down a thief of ancient relics, she meets Lucia, a well-to-do Florentine whose cowardly husband has run off and left her to die. Initially, Lucia is fearful of Ginevra, knowing what she is. But throughout the course of their dealings, they form a fast friendship, which enables Lucia to become brave and independent.

Throughout the book, we follow both women in split perspective as they try to solve the mystery of who has been stealing the religious relics of Florence. Ginevra is promised that if she solves this mystery, she will be given a reprieve and recommendation for entry into the physicians’ guild, a hitherto exclusively male, upper class establishment she had long since given up on joining.

My Thoughts on The Stone Witch of Florence

While I did enjoy The Stone Witch of Florence, I did feel the story was gratuitously macabre around its use of plague victims. Still, the time period and setting are extremely well researched and Rasche’s expertise in gemology shines through.

Many themes—from feminine ambition to are cleverly tied together throughout the book, though I would have loved if the healing aspect and the lore of gems could have been delved into much more deeply. After all, the stone witch is specifically a healer. Yet while she’s in plague-ridden Florence, she heals very few people. There is some brief context given for Ginevra’s reluctance to use her healing powers, but these details don’t seem to mesh with her defiant personality and her need to help others, especially as her ultimate goal is to join the physicians’ guild and use her magic to heal people. Besides, everyone already knows she’s a stone witch due to her exile. Still, The Stone Witch remains pretty firmly in the territory of historical fiction, with only a small amount of magical realism. Instead of taking the opportunity to explore her powers, the focus of the plot stays on the mystery of the stolen relics and the conspiracy around Ginevra’s invitation to return to Florence.

What Makes This Book Feminist?

There are very strong themes of feminine ambition throughout The Stone Witch, with strong women and a strong female friendship acting as catalysts to the plot. The women of the story are successful in spite of the men around them, not because of them. This is despite the restrictions traditionally placed upon women in this time period.

Ginevra and Lucia engage in a battle of wits and bravery with people much more powerful and callous than themselves, and even encounter women who through ignorance or self-preservation seek to subdue them. And yet they persist.

Grit, ambition, and tenacity are given representation in a time setting where history would have you believe that these traits were largely unheard of in women, especially independent and lower class women. Despite all of this, both Ginevra and Lucia are written as three-dimensional, fallible people with human flaws and clear character development.

Who Would Enjoy This Book?

I would recommend this book to fans of historical fiction, fans of European culture, and to those who don’t need their magical stories to be all magic all the time. If you enjoyed Kindred, you’ll likely enjoy this, as in its dedication to historical realism, it doesn’t shy away from the unpleasant. Like Kindred, The Stone Witch of Florence also reverberates with a strong will for justice and dedication to putting right the mistreatment of the main character (though the injustice enacted in Kindred is much more visceral).

If books like The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches are more your jam—because you dig strong themes of magic, found family, and cosy vibes—this one may not be the right fit for you. Despite touching on some of those themes, they aren’t central to the plot in the same feel-good way. So if a cosy read or a magic-heavy story is what you desire in a fall read, definitely seek out some of our other seasonal recommendations.

Mhairie Robb