We Were Witches
We Were Witches is a 2017 novel by Ariel Gore. It is a first-person narrative of a fictionalized version of the author, of her life as a teen mom and budding feminist, from the birth of her daughter when she was 18 years old, to her graduation from Mills College. Background The main character is named Ariel Gore—the author's own name, and her story closely follows a period of several years in the author's real life, covered in her earlier memoirs, Atlas of the Human Heart and End of Eve. The story begins when Gore gives birth to her daughter at the age of 18, in rural Italy, and is subjected to obstetric violence, and closes after her graduation from Mills College. However, the author said that We Were Witches is a novel and not a memoir. Reception Kirkus Reviews calls the book "Inventive and affecting", and "a welcome addition to Gore's oeuvre". The review characterizes Gore's choice to present a protagonist with her own name and similar biography as a novel as "provocative", concluding that this provides cover for the more fantastical elements of the book (such as characters turning into animals and providing Gore with guidance); and that