This is the debut novel by Sasha Peyton Smith and I enjoyed this well plotted, well characterized and atmospheric story of a young woman coming into her magical powers in early 20th C New York City. The protagonist, 17-year-old Frances Hallowell, is toiling away in a dress maker's sweatshop as the book opens. Working late one night, the shop's owner, drunk and abusive, comes to the shop and attacks her, only to end up dead with a pair of scissors--Frances' of course--embedded in his neck. But Frances, who is mourning the death of her recently murdered brother, the subsequent loss of her mother to an insane asylum, and hence her home, has absolutely no idea how they got there from across the workshop. When the police come to investigate, Frances is the obvious suspect, but, just as she is about to be hauled away to jail, two women in nurses'capes, driving a battered old ambulance, show up. They declare Frances has been diagnosed with TB and is being taken to Haxahaven Sanitarium. Thus is Frances introduced to a haven for women with witching powers, where she makes friends, makes enemies, and figures out that Haxahaven is a prison of sorts as well as a shelter.
When Frances starts receiving dream messages from a former friend of her brother's, Finn, she discovers ways to practice larger magic than the director of Haxahaven allows. And he promises to help Frances find and avenge the murder of her brother. The magic is not limited to women in New York City; an exclusive men's club also shelters and cultivates their members' powers, and the head of that organization wants Frances to join her powers to his in order to control the city.
Kirkus calls the book "intriguing" in it's examination of pushing back against the limited roles allotted to women. Publishers Weekly calls the book "gritty" but also "affectionate" in it's treatment of grief and empowerment. Booklist calls it "spellbinding" and says it offers a "feminist twist" to the "familiar vibes of a magical boarding school."
No comments:
Post a Comment