The bestselling author Ami McKay discusses her latest, The Witches of New York (Knopf, 2016), feminism, life in 1880’s Manhattan, magic & more, with Joseph Planta.

The Witches of New York by Ami McKay (Knopf, 2016). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: The Witches of New York

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

With her anticipated new book, Ami McKay’s latest The Witches of New York has gotten a lot of good notices. She joins me now to talk about it, and the characters and setting she has put together. It’s 1880, and we read of the lives of three young women who have to contend with the Gilded Age in New York City. There’s tea and witchcraft. I’ll get Ms. McKay to tell us about Beatrice Dunn, a young woman who shows up at the door of Adelaide Thom, Moth from Ms. McKay’s bestselling The Virgin Cure, looking for work, and Eleanor St. Clair, another character. I started reading the book and I rather enjoyed the people I’ve encountered thus far. I like the writing a lot, and the setting of New York in this remarkable era is just so evocative and an enigmatic character itself. Ami McKay’s debut novel, the number one bestseller The Birth House won a number of awards, and is a book club favourite around the world. She was born and raised in Indiana, and now lives in Nova Scotia. The website for more is at www.amimckay.com. The book is published by Knopf. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, in Vancouver this week, Ami McKay; Ms. McKay, good morning.

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