A Secret History of Witches

by Louisa Morgan

“Because men believe it’s their right to tell women how to live. They tell us who to marry, what to wear, when to go out and when to stay. Some men beat their wives, and no one speaks a word about it. But despite all the power they hold over us, they feel powerless against our kind. We resist. We cause things to happen. We interfere with their plans, with what they think is the natural order. That frightens them. Men hate being afraid, so they hate us instead.”

“You would think they’d be grateful for women with knowledge.” “It’s rarely true. Men are vain.”

We have to be clever. We have to let men think they are stronger, smarter, wiser than women.”

“Knowing things makes you powerful,

Your father, like most men, is terrified of a woman who doesn’t fit his ideal of womanhood, because he doesn’t know how to control her. You need to remember that any frightened man is a dangerous one.”

“Morwen, this is the way life is. It is both too long and much too brief, sometimes sweet, often bitter.

They’re afraid, and that makes them dangerous.”