VenCo by Cherie Dimaline: A Spellbinding Celebration of Witches, Bloodlines, and the Bonds That Save Us (We Can(ada) Read)

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VENCO

Author: Cherie Dimaline

Series: N/A
Source: Purchased from Libro.fm
Publisher: Random House Canada
Publication Date: February 14, 2023

Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:
Representation: Métis main characters, elder representation, Black characters, queer characters, gender fluid characters

Summary:

From the bestselling author of Empire of Wild, a wickedly subversive, deliciously imaginative, deeply feminist novel of contemporary witches on the rise—a book that only the supremely gifted storyteller Cherie Dimaline could write.

Lucky St. James, orphaned daughter of a bad-ass Métis good-times girl, is barely hanging on to her nowhere life when she finds out that she and her grandmother, Stella, are about to be evicted from their apartment. Bad to worse in a heartbeat. Then one night, doing laundry in the building's dank basement, Lucky feels an irresistible something calling to her. Crawling through a hidden hole in the wall, she finds a tarnished silver spoon depicting a story-book hag over letters that spell out S-A-L-E-M.

Which alerts Salem-born Meena Good, finder of a matching spoon, to Lucky's existence. One of the most powerful witches in North America, Meena has been called to bring together seven special witches and seven special spoons—infused with magic and scattered to the four directions more than a century ago—to form a magic circle that will restore women to their rightful power. Under the wing of the international headhunting firm VenCo, devoted to placing exceptional women in roles where they can influence business, politics and the arts, Meena has spent years searching out witches hiding in plain sight wherever women gather: suburban book clubs, Mommy & Me groups, temp agencies. Lucky and her spoon are number six.

With only one more spoon to find, a very powerful adversary has Meena's coven in his sights—Jay Christos, a roguish and deadly witch-hunter as old as witchcraft itself. As the clock ticks toward a now-or-never deadline, Meena sends Lucky and her grandmother on a dangerous, sometimes hilarious, road trip through the United States in search of the seventh spoon. The trail leads them at last to the darkly magical city of New Orleans, where Lucky's final showdown with Jay Christos will determine whether the coven will be completed, ushering in a new beginning, or whether witches will be forced to remain forever underground.

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Content Warning: Violence against women (past and referenced, including historical violence tied to witch hunts), Death and grief (mentions of parental loss, on-page death of a character), Racism and colonial violence (including against Indigenous people, Métis-specific experiences, and cultural erasure), Ableism and ageism (both challenged and depicted in character interactions), Drug and alcohol use, Mild sexual content, Mentions of past abuse and trauma

I knew from the first minute that VenCo would be special, but I didn’t realize just how deeply it would root itself in my heart. Cherie Dimaline has crafted a gorgeously gritty modern witch story infused with love — not just romantic love, but familial love, community love, and the kind of fierce tenderness that binds generations of women together. It’s rich with magic, grounded in Métis identity, and driven by characters who feel both powerful and profoundly human.

This was everything I want in a story: witches with purpose, found families that feel like home, and a plot that lets women reclaim what was always theirs. I loved every minute of it.

At the heart of VenCo is Lucky St. James — a Métis millennial trying to keep her life afloat — and her fiercely loving, wonderfully sharp grandmother Stella. Their relationship is the soul of the novel. Stella isn't just comic relief or a background presence — she’s a full, vibrant character with her own arc and grit. Their intergenerational love feels real, complex, and absolutely radiant on the page.

I cried, I laughed, I wanted to call my own grandmother. Their bond is the kind that carries you through hard things and reminds you why we fight for better.

As Lucky is drawn into a hidden world of witches and prophecy, she finds herself swept into a quest to reunite the long-lost VenCo coven. What unfolds is part road trip, part mystery, part reclamation. The witches she meets along the way — each distinct, each deeply rooted in different communities and cultures — represent the spectrum of what womanhood, power, and resistance can look like.

The found family that emerges is glorious. These women are fierce and flawed, full of laughter, rage, and healing. They bicker, they protect, they choose one another — and I would follow them anywhere.

What makes VenCo truly shine is how deeply it’s grounded in Métis culture and storytelling. Dimaline weaves it into the very bones of the book. From Lucky’s worldview to the cultural references and the spiritual texture of the magic, everything feels intentional, layered, and full of her culture.

This isn’t a story that flattens identity into metaphor. It’s proud, rooted, and joyful — a reclamation of space in a genre that often erases Indigenous presence.

The witchcraft in VenCo isn’t about flash or spectacle. It’s quiet and powerful, grounded in knowledge, lineage, and resistance. Dimaline uses witchcraft as a metaphor for community strength, cultural survival, and the inheritance of power. And in doing so, she gives us a story that feels both deeply ancient and fiercely modern.

You don’t need to be a witch to understand what it means to carry the strength of the women before you — and VenCo reminds us how precious and dangerous that strength truly is.

VenCo is a love letter to women, witches, aunties, grandmothers, and every person who’s ever felt like the world didn’t have a place for their kind of magic. It’s about carving that space anyway. And filling it with love.

If you’re looking for a witchy, empowering, beautifully written read with Indigenous magic and a warm, unbreakable heart — VenCo is the book for you.