The Moonsingers
A Cozy Fairy Tale
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Jul 14, 2026
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
In a quiet glen beyond the reach of the railway lives a peculiar family who knows the best magic is the kind found in ordinary moments.
When Ismay Gebhardt is dismissed from yet another teaching post after an unfortunate accident (which everyone survived!), she accepts a last-chance job as a private tutor in sleepy Glenmaidens village. The town is brimming with natural beauty, uncanny traditions, and earnest locals, none more unusual than her three young pupils—the Underhill sisters—and their puzzling father.
Determined to make herself useful after several catastrophic lessons with the unbiddable girls, Ismay writes to the transport bureau suggesting an extension to the train line, hoping to bring Glenmaidens into modernity. As usual, Ismay’s good intentions lead to chaos with the arrival of the bureau’s frustratingly thorough officer, Hamish Breck, whose railway plans threaten not only the glen’s tranquility, but also the ancient oak tree at its heart. Amidst a mess of her own making, Ismay unearths Glenmaidens’ enchanted secret: the Underhills, like many villagers, are fairies who settled in the mortal world in search of a gentler life, and the oak is their only bridge back to the moonlit realm of the fantastic.
As summer heat rises, Ismay schemes with her magical neighbors to prevent the extension, each day finding herself more entangled with the charming, persistent bureaucrat. With her newfound family, the way between worlds, and her heart all at risk, Ismay must decide how much she would bargain to finally embrace the wonder and belonging she’s always wished for.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pritzker debuts with an endearing cozy fantasy full of empathetic takes on familiar tropes. Schoolteacher Ismay Gebhardt's reputation is in tatters following her disastrous firing. Her only prospect is a gig in a tiny village tutoring the mysterious Diarmid Underhill's three wild daughters. She plans to stay just long enough to get a respectable reference letter from Diarmid before splitting. As long as she's there, however, Ismay decides to make herself useful to the villagers by requesting a long-needed extension to the nearby railway. But her plan has a fatal flaw: the most logical route would go through the glen where the Maiden Tree, an enormous oak, has stood for a thousand years. Without that tree, the Underhills lose something unspeakably precious: their gate to fairyland, their secret ancestral home. Unfortunately, by the time Ismay learns these stakes, she's already sent the letter, and summoned the Transport Bureau's most dedicated representative, handsome young Hamish Breck. Hamish will do anything to get the railway built, and Diarmid will do anything to stop him, leaving Ismay caught between the new life she's building and the sneaking suspicion that she wants Hamish to be a part of her life, too. Pritzker's deep compassion for these outsiders finding each other lends the story an impressive amount of heart. This hits all the right notes.