Belinda Vasquez Garcia came across a photograph of a Native American girl standing between her mother and aunt. All three were witches, and she was intrigued by the haunted eyes of the young witch. She thought about a girl being forced to follow in her mother’s magical footsteps and join the family business, so to speak…”Sticks and stones may break my bones, but humanity will never break me,” — so claims the witch, Salia, but she was born with a soft, all too human heart that even being an outcast won’t harden. Salia is a sister, granddaughter and daughter of witches. And she is a half-breed.

Salia longs to be ordinary like her only friend, but when Marcelina is threatened, Salia must use magic to save her. Revealing her powers leaves Salia vulnerable to the fanatical Catholic society, the Penitentes, whose aim is to bring back the Spanish Inquisition to New Mexico, to a time when witches were hung or burned.

The Land of Enchantment shines with the little-known world of Southwestern witchcraft, which gives this historical series a compelling twist and a refreshing breath of originality. This first book in the series begins in the Roaring 20’s, a time when illegal liquor flowed like oil and women’s hemlines were shockingly shortened.

• About 80% of the magic in The Land of Enchantment series is practiced by Southwest witches.
• Witches in New Mexico really can turn into fireballs as recorded by witnesses in witch trials. A family friend claims he saw his grandmother flash into a fireball.
• La Llorona is a legendary witch called “the weeping ghost”, who is known throughout the Americas by tens of millions. She has been seen by many as she haunts the rivers, lakes and drainage ditches. As a teenager, Belinda heard her crying from the ditch behind my house.
• The Penitentes have held power as a secret Catholic society for centuries in New Mexico.
• The Spanish Inquisition set up shop in Santa Fe in 1626, and was hunting witches in New Mexico as late as the mid-1800s.
• Albuquerque has been the site for the annual witches’ convention.
• Hey! New Mexico’s nickname is Land of Enchantment for a reason. The magical words are on all the license plates.

Reviews

“Reincarnation brings history and magic to life.”–Albuquerque the Magazine August issue