BOOK REVIEW: The Naked Witch by Fiona Horne

Shane | 23 August 2017 | 2 Replies

BOOK REVIEW: The Naked Witch by Fiona Horne

Rockpool Publishing
July 2017
Paperback, $29.99
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

Non-Fiction / Music / Biography

8/10

As frontwoman of electro-rock pioneers Def FX, Fiona Horne became a role model empowering women that they could mix it with the blokes at a time when sexism was still rife in the Australian music industry.

Horne went on to become a celebrated author about her experiences as a witch, and a regular face on TV both at home and in The States.

Little did most of us know at that time that she was dealing with enormous self-doubt and personal issues stemming from an unhappy childhood, sexual abuse, bullying and abusive relationships.

Some of this had been touched on in Horne’s previous books – now long out of print – and sad to say, there’s not a lot of focus given to her rock and roll career or Def FX. In fact, Sean Lowry is referred to in the book merely as “the co-founder” of the band rather than by name, and recent cancelled tours aren’t referred to at all (though they may have missed the print deadline rather than been swept under the carpet).

There’s also a couple of rookie mistakes early on that should have been picked up at the fact checking stage – Split Enz sang I See Red, not Skyhooks; The Moody Blues song is referred to erroneously as Knights In White Saturn.

But overlooking these glitches and we get a lot more of the good and bad in Horne’s life. The abuse at the hands of her adoptive grandfather is harrowing, as is her subsequent self-loathing and self-destructive behaviour. Auditioning for modelling jobs with Elle MacPherson, a tour dalliance with Tom Jones, flirting with KISS, and her passions for Wicca, yoga, skydiving and flying planes are all fascinating – even when mired in new age rhetoric.

Most scary of all is Horne’s struggle to remain relevant, assure an income and do something productive with her life, all the while slipping deeper into alcoholism.

Horne now lives in the Caribbean, flies charter planes and humanitarian missions, reads Tarot, does Yoga and Fire Dances, and has just recorded a new single with Def FX and, 50 and sober, seems in the happiest place of her life and glowing.

The Naked Witch is Horne being just that – baring her soul, and she admits she wanted to quit writing the book more than once. She faced her demons, though, doesn’t preach to anyone, just says, ‘this is me.’ That may be the most important life lesson any of us ever learn.