The Lost Coast
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
The spellbinding tale of six queer witches forging their own paths, shrouded in the mist, magic, and secrets of the ancient California redwoods. Danny didn’t know what she was looking for when she and her mother spread out a map of the United States and Danny put her finger down on Tempest, California. What she finds are the Grays: a group of friends who throw around terms like queer and witch like they’re ordinary and everyday, though they feel like an earthquake to Danny. But Danny didn’t just find the Grays. They cast a spell that calls her halfway across the country, because she has something they need: she can bring back Imogen, the most powerful of the Grays, missing since the summer night she wandered into the woods alone. But before Danny can find Imogen, she finds a dead boy with a redwood branch through his heart. Something is very wrong amid the trees and fog of the Lost Coast, and whatever it is, it can kill. Lush, eerie, and imaginative, A. R. Capetta’s tale overflows with the perils and power of discovery — and what it means to find your home, yourself, and your way forward.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this haunting contemporary fantasy set in a small town nestled among California's redwoods, a young woman comes into her own power as a witch. After Danny relocates from Michigan, she finds that she may have responded to a summoning spell cast by a local coven, the Grays, which needs her help. Danny, who "kiss a lot of people. Mostly girls," finds unexpected kinship with the ethnically diverse and proudly queer group, which includes "bisexual black witch" Hawthorn; nonbinary, asexual Lelia; and "Fat. Queer. White" synesthete Rush. With their aid, Danny unlocks her ability as a dowser, able to find that which is lost or missing. But as the group seeks to restore their former leader's powers, they discover something dangerous in the mists and trees that has already claimed several victims. With lush prose, atmospheric descriptions, and nonlinear storytelling (segments intertwine present and past), Capetta (Echo After Echo) crafts an accomplished tale with a wide range of representation. Frank discussions of sexuality and identity intertwine with an almost raw emotionality as the characters wholeheartedly embrace their true selves, and an underlying current of suspense supports the overarching mixture of intrigue and interpersonal development. Ages 14 up.
