We Were Witches

By: Ariel Gore

Narrated by: Ariel Gore

Buying into the dream that education is the road out of poverty, a teen mom takes a chance on bettering herself, gets on welfare rolls, and talks her way into college. But once she's there, phallocratic narratives permeate every subject, and creative writing professors depend heavily on Freytag's pyramid to analyze life. So Ariel turns to a rich subcultural canon of resistance and failure, populated by writers like Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Gloria Anzaldua, Tillie Olsen, and Kathy Acker. Wryly riffing on feminist literary tropes, We Were Witches documents the survival of a demonized single mother. She's beset by custody disputes, homophobia, and America's ever-present obsession with shaming strange women into passive citizenship. But even as the narrator struggles to graduate - often the triumphant climax of a dramatic plot - a question uncomfortably lingers. If you're dealing with precarious parenthood, queer identity, and debt, what is the true narrative shape of your experience? Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.

©2018 Blackstone Publishing (P)2018 Ariel Gore

This was the best book I read in 2022! I loved it

An honest, painful , joyful ,and beautiful rollercoaster of raw womanhood. I could not stop reading , and the consecutively, could not stop listening. The journey the author took me on was SO relatable. I highly recommend .

Very relatable memoir for the modern woman

This was a delightful memoir of a woman who lived to the beat of her own drum. It chronicles teenage pregnancy, motherhood as a single woman, struggling to push through poverty, and living against the grain.

If I could give it more than five stars I would!

Truly stellar storytelling and lovely narration. Deep, introspective, and so very real... this book nailed life and parenthood from the birth-givers perspective. It spoke my truth. Never has fiction felt so personal or so raw, and the writers named were the who's who of feminist poetry... all my favorites from University! I can't wait to share this book with my wife!

A poignant reminder, perfect timing

What an incredible story. A reminder of what it means to be an artist, a woman, a mother - in the face of society dictating those definitions. It’s often a slow, difficult path with a lot of doubt, but when you get through the hardest parts - you can see it made you and your art. I appreciate that the author is the narrator, it feels more personal and real.

Not a princess book

I adore this author. This book has one of my favorite quotes about having to pretend to be a princess, when we were meant to be witches.