Lessons in Magic and Disaster

From the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Lambda Literary, Crawford and Locus Award-winning author of All the Birds in the Sky comes a heartfelt and intimately drawn portrait of a young trans woman witch who teaches her mother magic, following the death of her wife. Perfect for fans of Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susannah Clarke. Jamie's mother, Serena, has been hiding in an old one-room schoolhouse for several years, since her life fell apart. The death of her wife, to cancer, proved too much for Serena. And Jamie, well Jamie hasn’t been doing too well either. But Jamie has a secret: she's a powerful witch, and now she's decided to teach Serena to cast spells, so her mother can get her life back. Her magic is a question of exchanges, of creating the world you want to live in. As the strains of her grief start to affect her marriage to Ro, Jamie realises she doesn’t know the whole story of what happened to her mothers all those years ago. With Serena heading down a destructive path with her magic, and the secrets Jamie is keeping from Ro piling up, it’s only a matter of time before something gives. Desperately trying to hold it all together, Jamie seeks to understand the secrets of a three-hundred-year-old magical book, her mother and her wife, before it all falls apart.

From the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Lambda Literary, Crawford and Locus Award-winning author of All the Birds in the Sky comes a heartfelt and intimately drawn portrait of a young trans woman witch who teaches her mother magic, following the death of her wife. Perfect for fans of Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susannah Clarke. Jamie'smother, Serena,has been hiding in an old one-room schoolhouse for several years, since her life fell apart. The death of her wife, to cancer, proved too much for Serena. And Jamie, well Jamie hasn’t been doing too well either. But Jamie has a secret: she's a powerful witch, and now she's decided to teach Serena to cast spells, so hermothercan get her life back. Her magic is a question of exchanges, of creating the world you want to live in. As the strains of her grief start to affect her marriage to Ro, Jamie realises she doesn’t knowthewhole story of what happened to her mothers all those years ago. With Serena heading down a destructive path with her magic, and the secrets Jamie is keeping from Ro piling up, it’s only a matter of time before something gives. Desperately trying to hold it all together, Jamie seeks to understandthesecrets of a three-hundred-year-old magical book, her mother and her wife, before it all falls apart.

In the vein of Alice Hoffman and Charlie Jane Anders's own All the Birds in the Sky comes a novel full of love, disaster, and magic. A young witch teaches her mother how to do magic--with very unexpected results--in this relatable, resonant novel about family, identity, and the power of love. Jamie is basically your average New England academic in-training--she has a strong queer relationship, an esoteric dissertation proposal, and inherited generational trauma. But she has one extraordinary secret: she's also a powerful witch. Serena, Jamie's mother, has been hiding from the world in an old one-room schoolhouse for several years, grieving the death of her wife and the simultaneous explosion in her professional life. All she has left are memories. Jamie's busy digging into a three-hundred-year-old magical book, but she still finds time to teach Serena to cast spells and help her come out of her shell. But Jamie doesn't know the whole story of what happened to her mom years ago, and those secrets are leading Serena down a destructive path. Now it's up to this grad student and literature nerd to understand the secrets behind this mysterious novel from 1749, unearth a long-buried scandal hinted therein, and learn the true nature of magic, before her mother ruins both of their lives.

In the vein of Alice Hoffman and Charlie Jane Anders's own All the Birds in the Sky comes a novel full of love, disaster, and magic. A young witch teaches her mother how to do magic--with very unexpected results--in this relatable, resonant novel about family, identity, and the power of love. Jamie is basically your average New England academic in-training--she has a strong queer relationship, an esoteric dissertation proposal, and inherited generational trauma. But she has one extraordinary secret: she's also a powerful witch. Serena, Jamie's mother, has been hiding from the world in an old one-room schoolhouse for several years, grieving the death of her wife and the simultaneous explosion in her professional life. All she has left are memories. Jamie's busy digging into a three-hundred-year-old magical book, but she still finds time to teach Serena to cast spells and help her come out of her shell. But Jamie doesn't know the whole story of what happened to her mom years ago, and those secrets are leading Serena down a destructive path. Now it's up to this grad student and literature nerd to understand the secrets behind this mysterious novel from 1749, unearth a long-buried scandal hinted therein, and learn the true nature of magic, before her mother ruins both of their lives.