A review by fireye
A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan

Small vignettes of a family history through the views of the witch of the family is an interesting premise that is only successful to a point. These women seem to be naturals at using herbs and roots for natural remedies and sometimes a little bit more. But for generations these women rarely use their "power" and when they do, they only use this "power" for their own personal needs but
Spoilerthen all of a sudden they are powerful enough to influence the allies during WWII leading to victory in Europe?! Oh and Queen Elizabeth is a witch?! Oh and they were able to prevent bombs from exploding?! I don't buy it - not that I'm not willing to suspend my disbelief in witchcraft (I love Deborah Harkness' "A Discovery of Witches", for example) but that all of a sudden we're influencing history and using the "power" to help humanity as a whole?!
Read this if you like small micro-histories of fictional matriarch families or the idea of witches but go in knowing the beginning is more successful than the end.