The Bog Wife started out with little "introduction" to the story or it's characters. The reader is given the legend of the story and immediately put into the activity of its actors. It is a dark and strange family tale about an isolated group of siblings that have lived their entire lives away from the outside world. One daughter, who left 10 years before, has been summoned to return for the death of her father and complete an ancient ritual.
It took me some time to make sense of the story, which kept drawing me back in at moments when I was not sure I wanted to continue. Given the book's initial description, I did not enjoy the story as much as I thought I would have. The story was confusing especially where Wenna and her relationship with her family was concerned. The relationship with her husband was confusing especially when Nora got involved and it became unrealistically strange. The story seemed to be supernatural and then seemed to be an elaborate falsehood and then back to the supernatural. The family members were all rather disconnected and unlikeable. The point of the story was never made clear by the end and it felt like the author just ended the story.

The story concept is intriguing but I could not picture the characters well. I define a good story by being able to clearly see the people as real people. I kept trying to picture the sisters, the mother and the older woman. Maybe they were left vague so each reader can weave their own description.I know Sheila was troubled and shackled by the rope either as a possible suicide attempt or a threat of imprisonment and death. I do like stories like this as I am a Stephen King fan and others of that genre but the story kept missing the mark. I would encourage the author to keep at it because I really kept hoping for more. Keep going!! You will do it and I will look for more from this author.

The story begins with 2 sisters living in the wilderness hidden from people by their grandmother when their mother was burned as a witch in the village where they lived. The sisters practice magic but each has a particular kind. The older sister Kaija practices calm spells that keep things even and managed to help their survival in the wilderness, but her younger sister is more impetuous and unpredictable. They describe themselves as having inner witches like they are separate entities from themselves. Kaija has good memories from her life in the village and misses the community of people and does not like the isolation and solitude of the wilderness. The younger sister, Minna practices a darker form of magic with more dramatic outcomes and seems to be more out of control. Her inner witch seems impatient, unpredictable and seeking revenge from the outside world over the death of their mother.
It was an interesting story. I liked the Nordic setting and the time period. The story itself was fairly basic and predictable. There could have been more details about their life in the village and about their mother and how she was suspected of witchcraft. I would have liked more character definition. I could not easily picture the people. With a bit more tweaking of the plot it could be a very good story. It needs more detail and definition to make the characters more distinct and identifiable. The timeline was confusing. It was hard to tell if the events happened in days, weeks, months…events moved very quickly All said it was a good first novel.