The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones

“A moving meditation on friendship and trust, class and power, the terrible choices that do not have to define us. It’s my favorite fantasy novel I’ve read all year.” –New York Times Book Review

Dark academia meets contemporary fantasy in this timely page-turner about a student who fails to gain admission to the UK's only school of magic but then gets a job there years later and unearths the ugly secrets hiding behind its ancient walls.

For as long as they can remember, Briar Jones dreamed of attending the Temple School of Thaumaturgy. Behind its ornate gates, the elite boarding school—the place that has produced the most CEOs and Prime Ministers in British history—is whispered to be magical.

Briar's best friend, Sebastian Wolfe, never cared about Temple. He just wanted them to stay together forever.

When, at age eleven, Seb gets an acceptance letter and Briar doesn't, their childhood friendship is shattered. Seb vanishes onto Temple's grounds and Briar resigns themself to a mundane life. But they can't completely forget their yearning for Temple, to be one of the chosen in the ivory tower.

Then, seven years later, Briar secures a temp job sorting through the junk in Temple’s attics. And they discover that quiet, sensitive Seb, the boy they once loved more than anything else in the world, has become Bastian: a beautiful, arrogant villain feared by the entire school. And worse, the secrets Temple is hiding might not be so enchanting after all.

Discover why your favorite authors are raving about The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones!
"Croucher's blend of light and dark, humor and trauma, is so refreshing, as is their taut, evocative prose. The pages flew by, and I didn't want my time with Briar and Seb and the crew to end." -V.E. Schwab"I feel dreamy and half in love just thinking about the chance to return to it, even though I know what sinister turns yet await." -Olivie Blake "A wondrous book not just about magic and mayhem but also about love and hurt and how we survive it all together." -John Green"A delicious and diabolical feast for lovers of dark academia, romantasy, complex queer romance." -Casey McQuiston"Fans of The Magicians and Ninth House have found their new obsession." -Laura Steven