Our August Book | Chapters & Chai Book Club
The vote was close, but this book is getting a second chance... you voted for Her Majesty's Royal Coven as our August read!
About the Book
Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson [First in a series]
If you look hard enough at old photographs, we're there in the background: healers in the trenches; Suffragettes; Bletchley Park oracles; land girls and resistance fighters. Why is it we help in times of crisis? We have a gift. We are stronger than Mundanes, plain and simple.
At the dawn of their adolescence, on the eve of the summer solstice, four young girls--Helena, Leonie, Niamh and Elle--took the oath to join Her Majesty's Royal Coven, established by Queen Elizabeth I as a covert government department. Now, decades later, the witch community is still reeling from a civil war and Helena is now the reigning High Priestess of the organisation. Yet Helena is the only one of her friend group still enmeshed in the stale bureaucracy of HMRC. Elle is trying to pretend she's a normal housewife, and Niamh has become a country vet, using her powers to heal sick animals. In what Helena perceives as the deepest betrayal, Leonie has defected to start her own more inclusive and intersectional coven, Diaspora. And now Helena has a bigger problem. A young warlock of extraordinary capabilities has been captured by authorities and seems to threaten the very existence of HMRC. With conflicting beliefs over the best course of action, the four friends must decide where their loyalties lie: with preserving tradition, or doing what is right.
Juno Dawson explores gender and the corrupting nature of power in a delightful and provocative story of magic and matriarchy, friendship and feminism. Dealing with all the aspects of contemporary womanhood, as well as being phenomenally powerful witches, Niamh, Helena, Leonie and Elle may have grown apart but they will always be bound by the sisterhood of the coven.
Genre: Fantasy, Witches, LGBT
Average Rating (Goodreads): 3.82
Pages: 448
About the Author
Juno Dawson is a #1 Sunday Times best-selling novelist, screenwriter, podcaster, and a former columnist for Attitude Magazine. Juno’s books include global bestsellers 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' and 'CLEAN'. She won the 2020 YA Book Prize for 'MEAT MARKET'. Her first adult fantasy trilogy 'HER MAJESTY’S ROYAL COVEN' launched in 2022, becoming an instant best-seller.
Juno Dawson was born in Yorkshire, but now lives locally to our book club - in Brighton!
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Many of you have expressed your excitement for this book, so I'm glad it's getting a second chance. I can't wait to read it with you! I hope you love it.
Happy reading,
Keeley