A Spell for Change
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3.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
In this sumptuous, atmospheric historical fantasy set in post-World War One Appalachia, three outcasts with misunderstood magical gifts search for their place in the world while battling the dark forces that circle their community.
Perfect for fans of Katherine Arden and Susanna Clarke.
Kate Mayer has always been troubled by visions of the future. No matter what she does, her disturbing premonitions come to pass—often with terrible consequences. But Kate has a secret: swirling, romantic dreams of a strange boy, and a chance meeting in the woods.
Oliver Chadwick Jr. returned from the Great War disabled, disillusioned, and able to see the dead. Haunted by the death of his best friend, Oliver realizes that his ability to communicate with spirits may offer the chance of closure he desperately seeks.
Nora Jo Barker’s mother and grandmother were witches, but she has never nurtured her own power. Always an outsider, she has made a place for herself as the town's schoolteacher, clinging to the independence the job affords her. When her unorthodox ideas lead to her dismissal, salvation comes in the form of a witch from the mountains, who offers her a magical apprenticeship. Yet as she begins to fall for another woman in town, her loyalties pull her in disparate directions.
Rumors of a dark force stalking the town only push Kate, Oliver, and Nora Jo onwards in their quest to determine their own destinies. But there are powers in the world stronger and stranger than their own, and not all magic is used for good...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Demons, star-crossed lovers, and weedy gardens fill this helter-skelter fantasy from Jarvis (A Portrait in Shadow). In the backwoods of 1920s Tennessee, 18-year-old Black girl Kate repeatedly has visions of a handsome white stranger. When she encounters her dream man, Oliver, in the flesh, the two bond over their unusual talents: Kate can see the future, while Oliver can see the dead, a gift he acquired after his best friend died in his arms in a WWI trench. A third narrator, Nora, is a schoolteacher recently dismissed from her post under suspicion of being a witch. Those accusations prove correct, and almost every other chapter is an account of her daily magic lessons with a traveling wizard. Kate and Oliver fall in love, but there's little hope for this interracial bond—especially when Oliver is betrothed to a white girl who happens to be Nora's flame. This heartbreak takes a dark turn after the trio's powers call forth forces of evil. The chaotic climax pushes the underdeveloped real-life threats of racism and homophobia to the side in favor of 100-plus pages of nonstop demonic action, which feels distinctly out of whack with the leisurely Appalachian charm that oozes from the preceding pages. The result is a disjointed narrative that fails to stick the landing.