Michelle Harrison: A Pinch of Magic (Simon & Schuster Ltd. 2019)
Michelle Harrison has two sisters, just as the Widdershins girls do in her book. Tales have always played an important role in her life, as her sisters often read to her in her childhood and also invented their own stories, illustrated with their own drawings. Michelle Harrison studied illustration at the university and after graduation, she wrote her first middle grade novel (The 13 Treasures), which was published in 2009 after many rejections and won the prestigious Waterstones Children’s Book Prize that same year.
In the first volume of the trilogy about the adventures of the Widdershins girls, the three girls, Betty, Fliss and Charlie, realize that they are being held captive by a terrible family curse. The only positive thing is that special objects are inherited also with the curse. With the help of these, the girls try to break the curse that weighs the female members of their family, but first they even have to find out how they deserved this punishment.
The story is incredibly exciting. We can never know what turn the writer has in store for us. I read it almost in one sitting. If you haven’t read it yet, the fall season is ideal to start it: the story itself begins on Halloween night and the island of Crowstone in the middle of the ominous marsh fits into the mood. In spite of the curse and magical objects, the importance of family and cooperation play the major role in the story.
The final volume of the trilogy was published in Britain in February this year, and in Hungary, we can read the second part entitled A Sprinkle of Sorcery in November.
If you are curious about the books and/or the writer, visit the website: https://www.michelleharrisonbooks.com/.
