SuitabookThe Scratch Daughters
H.A. Clarke
- Reading
- Read the first Scapegracers book beforehand if possible: this sequel explains some backstory, but assumes earlier witch-worldbuilding. Allow space to discuss friendship rupture, identity, prejudice and unresolved future consequences.
- Themes
- Chosen family and friendship: Sideways’s coven remains central, but her independent pursuit of Madeline stresses the group and leads to a painful argument and temporary fallout. The relationships are portrayed as fiercely loving while still allowing anger, hurt and disagreement.
- Queer identity and belonging: The story follows a lesbian witch and includes queer and gender-related characters, with a new storyline about gender and a queer person leaving a hostile family culture. Queerness and community are treated compassionately, while the story acknowledges difficult, unsettled positions within queer life.
- Leaving a hateful ideology: Chantry children are raised to hate witches and purify them; one deviates from those norms, but leaving does not erase learned beliefs or the harm caused. The treatment is described as empathetic but complication-aware, holding compassion alongside the injured characters’ reluctance to forgive.
- Worth knowing
- Pay attention to the combination of supernatural peril and distress.