Her Majesty’s Royal Coven follows a group of witches—Helena, Leonie, Niamh and Elle—who grew up as childhood friends and became Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, a covert government department established by Queen Elizabeth I when they were teens. Now, decades later, the friends find themselves driven to reunite when a dreaded prophecy about a warlock of extraordinary capabilities seems to threaten the very existence of the HMRC. With conflicting beliefs over what’s the best course of action, the four friends must decide where their loyalties lie: with preserving tradition or doing what is right.
Talk about a gut punch of a novel. Her Majesty’s Royal Coven is sure to have readers who love witchy stories— and the queerer, the better—salivating from the very first page. Dawson invites readers into a provocative narrative by transporting them into a fantastical world that clearly echoes the societal and political issues of our own.
The characters are in huge part what made this story so intriguing. We have four friends who haven’t all been together in ages (for different reasons) and each of them is dealing with their own struggles. We have Niamh, a witch who has become a country vet who uses her powers to heal sick animals, Leonie, who defected to start her own more inclusive and intersectional coven, Diaspora, Elle who is trying to pretend she is a normal housewife with mediocre success and lastly Helena, the reigning High Priestess of the secret organisation. Through alternating POVs, we get to see the story unfold and learn what has brought these women together— and what has torn them apart in recent years. Here, Dawson manages to weave an intricate tale and introduce the characters through the conflicts they are facing and have created—for example the fact that Helena thinks Leonie has betrayed her by creating her own intersectional coven whereas Leonie just finally wanted a safe space to practice magic that wasn’t seemingly feminist but really upholding rigid and heteronormative traditions. It’s hard to summarise all of the different conflicts in this book in a few sentences but let me tell you, this book has more twists, betrayals and drama than a Desperate Housewives episode and I lived for that.
The highlight of this book for me was Theo. Getting to know this incredibly powerful and feared teenage warlock who is really a fluffy, scared and skittery teenager who’s trying to find her place in the world was so heartwrenching. And then to see her grow not only her powers but also feeling accepted in Niamh’s care and getting to meet a Latina trans woman was marvellous and showcased just how much representation—in fiction but also in real life—can mean when you’ve been brought up with antiquated rules about your identity.
And with Theo, we come of course to the main themes of the novel. Admittedly, while I wasn’t a huge fan of the somewhat dry writing style, I still found myself flipping the pages and that’s down to Dawson’s compelling exploration of gender, power and intersectional feminism in Her Majesty’s Royal Coven. Let me just say that the depiction of transphobia in perceived “feminist circles” in this book is devastatingly realistic. The reader spends quite a few chapters in Helena’s head and it’s as aggravating as it is terrifying to listen to the justifications this woman has for wanting to get rid of Theo just because she identifies as trans. If this reminds you of a certain British figure in the media, let me tell you that the parallels are staggering. Obviously, it’s absolutely no fun being in Helena’s head but you gotta give credit where credit’s due—Dawson deserves all the kudos for managing to write Helena’s TERF POV without wanting to burn stuff down because let me tell you, sitting on the other side as the reader, I was beginning to feel murderous because I couldn’t stop this woman myself—which, if you think about it, is an absolutely brilliant way of showing readers how powerless queer people can feel when our rights are taken away from us based on ancient, outdated traditions and institutions—and the people that preserve them time and again. It’s a clever allegory that must have cost the author a lot to explore and for that alone, this novel should be on your TBR.
While I won’t spoil too much about how the story goes—you can guess that friendships are bound to break and people will be facing off to protect Theo from Helena who’s so desperate to get her clutches on her to “preserve the order of things”—I will say that, since this is a first instalment in a trilogy, the cliffhanger is nothing short of brutal, so fair warning. You’ll itch to get your hands on the next instalment. As for me, I’m excited to see where things go from here—and whether certain people get what’s coming for them.
A provocative exploration of intersectional feminism, loyalty, gender and transphobia, Dawson’s Her Majesty’s Royal Coven is an immersive story about what it means to be a woman—and a witch—and invites readers into an intricately woven web of magic, friendship and power.
Her Majesty’s Royal Coven is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of May 31st 2022.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
A Discovery of Witches meets The Craft in this the first installment of this epic fantasy trilogy about a group of childhood friends who are also witches.
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 organization. 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.
