I read White is for Witching by Nigerian-born author Helen Oyeyemi for A More Diverse Universe, an event organised by Aarti. It takes place this week and aims to promote authors of color who write speculative fiction. Make sure you visit the other participants, there is a list here.

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This is a book to be savoured. It’s a story that will surprise you often, with its twists and turns and unlikely plot lines. You will come to care about some of the characters and to detest some others. You’ll be drawn into a poetic, lyrical painting of a family broken by tragedy. As I read, I felt completely immersed in the strange world created by Helen Oyeyemi. Though I admit I didn’t want to stay there for long, it’s far too creepy to live in!

White is for Witching shows us a family of four – Dad Luc, Mom Lily (who was recently killed but is still very much present and can’t be ignored) and twins Miranda and Eliott. Miranda, Eliott and Luc are trying to find their way in a world without Lily, both as individuals and as a family. It’s not very easy since Lily was and remains an integral part of the family fabric.

Miranda is really the focus of the book and the character I want to talk about most. She is frail in body, as she won’t eat real food, only things her medical condition, called pica, will allow, like chalk. But she is a strong character and stays put in this world far longer than I thought she would – and even when she disappears, it is courage that takes her to battle the family’s ghosts.

There are so many interesting things that the book touches on – the refugee problem in Dover, teenage angst and cruelty, sexuality, lesbian relationships, image and how what you wear makes a statement about who you are.

And the language… oh the language! Here are some of my favorite passages:

Miranda shopping for a dress: “It was the sort of dress to be worn by the sort of girl who’d check that no one was looking, then skip down a quiet street instead of walking, just so the fun of it was hers alone.” (p. 38)

The only mention of the title within the book: “White is for witching, a colour to be worn so that all other colours can enter you, so that you may use them. At a pinch, cream will do.” (P. 117)

I love this image in my head: “The University Library is a mouth shut tight, each tooth a book, each book growing over, under and behind the other.” (p.154)

About a mythical woman, but can be about so many things: “She is a double danger – there is the danger of meeting her, and the danger of becoming her.“(p. 155)

This is such an important question in so many teenage – but not only – relationships: “I mean, do you want to be with her, or is it that you want to be her? (…) Look at yourself. You’re disappearing.” (p. 185)

And there are lovely parts where the title of a section is a word which is both the ending of a sentence/section and the beginning of one. And the two sentences are not connected. It’s a wonderfully creative use of language.

Had you heard of this book or author before?
Did I convince you to read White is for Witching?