Weyward: Discover the unique, original and unforgettable fiction debut novel of 2023 – a BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club Pick and #2 Times Bestseller

The glass wall she’d built around herself was disintegrating – she could almost see it happening; the fragments winking in the light like tiny mirrors.

It was hard to tell if Father loved her. Often, it seemed that all he cared about was whether or not he could mould her into something pretty and agreeable, a present to be given away to some other man.

Sight is a funny thing. Sometimes it shows us what is before our eyes. But sometimes it shows us what has already happened, or will yet come to pass.

There’s no way her hearing is that good. She’s imagining things, like she used to as a child. ‘Come down from those clouds,’ her parents used to say, catching her in one of her reveries.

Altha. A strange name. Soft and yet powerful. Like an incantation.

Perhaps one day, she said, there would be a safer time. When women could walk the earth, shining bright with power, and yet live. But until then I should keep my gift hidden, move through only the darkest corners of the world, like a beetle through soil.

Sometimes, Violet wondered whether Father wasn’t trying to protect her from the village. Whether it was, in fact, the other way around.

As if Kate herself is something to be unwrapped, to be torn open.

Weyward. A strange name for a house. The familiar word with the odd spelling, as if it’s been twisted away from itself.