Bringing Down the Flowers
The Hedge Witch Series, Book 1
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Bringing Down the Flowers
Buy Now for £14.99
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Narrated by:
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Victoria Meakin
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By:
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Denise Critchley
About this listen
DO THE RIGHT THING – SAVE THE NATION
It’s 2063 and the UK is facing a fertility crisis. The law states that every woman must conceive and give birth to two babies from the small number of fertile men left.
But Cedar Sweyn doesn’t want to get pregnant. Nor do the other women she secretly supplies the illegal contraceptives to prepared by her hedge witch mother, Myrcia.
In denial of her magick heritage, Cedar prefers to ground herself in the scientific reality of herbalism. That is until she finds herself accused of killing a pregnant woman and her unborn child using a toxic herbal remedy. Fighting for her freedom, Cedar must do everything she can to prove her innocence and learn to embrace her mystical abilities if she is to protect those she loves.
For fans of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Children of Men, this futuristic witch story explores what it means to have a choice and the lengths people will go to when that choice is taken away.
Note: Due to the nature of the content of this book it should not be listened to by anyone below the age of 16+.
©2025 Copper Ink Ltd (P)2025 Copper Ink LtdListener received this title free
Bringing Down the Flowers is an interesting blend that intrigued me from when I first read about it. I love dystopian but was not sure how magic would fit into that genre as it's generally based in real or semi real worlds. I am glad to say that the book blended the two worlds perfectly. The book is set in a near future dystopian Britain where due to plummeting fertility, there is a birth quota that must be met by most women who are able. They are forced to undertake ceremonies (which are essentially the R word) and made to bear two children who are taken from them and given to another family under the reasoning of ensuring genetic diversity. Our protagonist Cedar and her mother help women to avoid getting pregnant who do not want to and the story follows some of the fall out when someone dies and the blame is placed on Cedar. Plots and schemes start to appear as Cedar tries to prevent her conviction and cracks in the system start to show.
This book is well paced, the world building is adequate without being overbearing and the character development and arcs are well formed. We meet a lot of people from different walks of life and discover that not everyone from every class is the same which is refreshing given some modern narratives. I also want to credit the author with not being overtly political one way or the other. Whilst it is very easy to make your book a veiled version of your political views especially in this sort of book, it does not do this. The government does not come across as particularly left or right but rather standard authoritarian which is how it should be IMO.
The narrator was great and I enjoyed her pace. Whilst I listed at between 1.3x and 1.7x depending on the book, I still appreciate a narrator who goes at a good pace and has good differentiation with voices which this narrator did. It helped me feel more immersed in the book and made listening to it very enjoyable.
I am looking forward to ARC reading book 2 when it's ready and think Denise is at the start of great things!
fantastic first book in dystopian series
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