By Mary Ann Zehr, contributor
A monthly column in 2025 by a local teacher and reader about connecting with books and taking in Harrisonburg’s literary scene.
~Miller, Keith. The Witch’s Journey. Elsewhen Press, 2025~
In the fairy tale of The Witch’s Journey, Harrisonburg author Keith Miller immerses readers in a quaint and magical world that on the surface may seem only fantastical.
Mira, the 13-year-old protagonist of the novel, lives in a town by a river in an unnamed era and country. In her free time, she embroiders “an emerald frog on yellow linen,” she steps into a garden where, the narrator says, “bees scrabbled and butterflies swung,” and she observes bottles lined up in an inviting kitchen that contain “liquids and powders the colors of inks and flamingos, gooseberries and apple mangos, olives and full moons.” The novel is brimming with delightful language that describes the whereabouts of a curious and high-spirited girl.
Words I don’t recognize send me on quests. I learn that a reticule is a small handbag, and an aerie–the name that a character gives to her personal library–is a huge nest of a bird of prey, such as an eagle. Mira meets a djinn, which I find out is an invisible spirit otherwise known as a genie in some fairy tales translated from Arabic to English.
The Witch’s Journey, Miller’s fourth novel, is a coming-of-age story about a good witch. Mira grows in awareness that she is not at all like her peers. She unintentionally causes strange things to happen that put her family and townspeople on edge. Under the wise tutelage of an experienced good witch, Mira learns to harness her magical powers.
I’m steeped in fantasy until I learn that in Mira’s close-knit community, demons are snatching away children. No one knows where the demons are taking them.
Suddenly, I’m on hyper alert, no longer taking in The Witch’s Journey as fantasy. The events in Mira’s town mirror events I’ve been hearing about in my own close-knit community.
In Harrisonburg, to my knowledge, children are not being snatched away from their homes, but some children’s mothers are being detained.
In late August, agents of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained the mother of an eight-year-old. Soon after that, ICE detained a mother while she was transporting her five-year-old child in Harrisonburg. Family members and staff of Harrisonburg City Public Schools stepped in to support these families. (Sal Romero, Jr., Chief of Staff for Harrisonburg City Public Schools, confirmed that these events reported in the community are true.)
Speculative fiction is the genre of The Witch’s Journey, but when I reflect on what is happening in Mira’s surroundings and my surroundings, it appears that what is speculative and what is real are trending toward each other.
In the fairy tale, leaders use the fear of the threat of demons to suppress freedom of speech and individuality. Ordinary people feel compelled to regularly attend church, read the Bible, pray, and otherwise conform to the instructions of the leaders to stay “safe.” Religion is used by the power elite to keep control. (I note that the love of God–or even a mention of the name of God with a capital “G”–is not present anywhere in the story).
I trust Mira to grow in using her magical powers for good because she is kind to the core. Kindness is so much underrated, and it’s a joy to trace the journey of a protagonist who honors the humanity of people–even if some are cruel to her. Although Mira is a young teenager, her kindness is influential.
Something else about Mira that causes me to trust her is that she celebrates books. She lives in a society that disparages any book but the Bible. Still, on two occasions, Mira is invited by an enlightened character to explore a secret library of books with captivating words and illustrations. Among books, Mira is in her element. It is fitting that The Witch’s Journey also has captivating ink drawings that Miller created. Images of Mira feature her hurricane of curls that symbolize her free spirit.
In the depiction of the banning of books as a bellwether for a society’s demise, The Witch’s Journey shares a theme with other works of speculative fiction or science fiction. In Fahrenheit 451, a 1953 novel by Ray Bradbury, for example, intellectuals memorize the words of books before authorities destroy them so that they might be preserved. When I first read Fahrenheit 451 for an author’s report in 8th grade, I could not grasp its themes. (I regret that I didn’t save the letter that Bradbury’s agent sent to me in response to one I had penned to the author.) Decades later, after I had lived for two years in a country with a totalitarian government, I reread Fahrenheit 451 and easily understood its portrayal of the dangers of suppression of free speech and individuality.
Mira of The Witch’s Journey is curious and kind–and also brave.
I wonder what acts of curiosity, kindness, and bravery you and I might be called to as we understand and confront realities in our close-knit community.
Keith Miller will be signing books from 10 am to noon on Saturday, September 27, at Parentheses Books, 76 West Gay Street, in Harrisonburg.
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