Colorful book cover displaying the title "A Circle Outside" and the author's name "Linda Rosewood," featuring purple-black stones on a teal background.

A Circle Outside

by Linda Rosewood

Available for pre-order
from Eye Books

A comedy of manners set in a commune of lesbian witches


It’s the early 1980s, and a coven of eight women establish a lesbian commune in a Californian redwood forest. It seems a perfect place to practise the ritual magic that helps them function harmoniously as a group. By getting back to the land, the witches can also live more authentically and give the finger to the Patriarchy.

That doesn’t stop jealousies arising, as artist Wren nurses an unrequited crush on Robin, the land’s ultra-generous owner. Robin claims to have had thousands of lovers in countless past lives, but in this one she is mainly interested in Kelsey, the household’s cook. Meanwhile the masculine energy of a diesel-spewing tractor causes conflict, and manipulative Gloria, the spiritual leader of the coven, has an agenda of her own. Will the blessings of the Goddess be enough to ensure the group’s survival?

Warm, funny and harking unashamedly back to a more idealistic era, A Circle Outside is a seductive vision of a utopian dream, where the real magic is self-transformation.

AUGUST 2025 * PAPERBACK * £9.99 *

ISBN: 9781785634284

“Rosewood has written a wild, witchy, and whimsical book with engrossing and complex characters. This novel is nearly impossible to put down.” 

— Irene Reti, author of Out in the Redwoods

“With enthusiasm, good humor and fellowship, the women of A Circle Outside break new ground. The fresh growth on this farm is joyfully rampant, in so many ways.”

—Roger Swain, host of PBS’s The Victory Garden

“The story touched me deeply and showed me part of life that I would have never experienced. I loved the coven and even love-hated Gloria.”

—Milda Jensen, writer

“A stylish and entertaining debut. … I found it funny and full of heart — but also wise in its resistance to easy conclusions about whether the sexes can or can’t share a planet and a history in harmony.”

—Polly Clark, author of Larchfield

Witches, lesbians, psychedelic trips, and political activism set among the redwoods of California is a bubbling cauldron of interpersonal strife, love affairs, and feminism—all dished up with a side order of wisdom and humour. A Circle Outside is a cracking read which is sure to appeal to anyone who ever had a misspent youth or an ideal or two.

—Sally North, Holythorn Press

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