Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
March 1, 2019/in Fiction 10-14 Middle/Secondary /by Ellie
BfK Rating:
BfK 235 March 2019
Reviewer: Clive Barnes
ISBN: 978-1471124297
Price: £7.99
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's UK
Genre: Fiction
Age Range: 10-14 Middle/Secondary
Length: 368pp
Buy the Book

A Pinch of Magic

Author: Michelle Harrison

Crowstone is one of the Sorrow Isles: places of shadows, marsh and sea mists. The nearest other island is a prison, a further one a deserted cemetery; and, over all the isles, the weight of a dead woman’s curse. The Widdershins sisters are the particular victims of this curse, for any Widdershins daughter that seeks to leave Crowstone faces certain death beyond its perimeter to the sounds of crows screeching in her head. Adventurous middle daughter Betty would have found any restriction on her aspiration onerous, let alone one so draconian. So this is the tale of how Betty, teenage Fliss, and little Charlie risk everything to lift the curse. Luckily, they begin with the help of their tavern keeping Gran, who presents them each with a magic heirloom: a carpet bag for Charlie that can take them anywhere instantly; a mirror for Fliss in which she can “face time” anyone wherever they are; and a set of Russian dolls for Betty herself whose properties can confer invisibility, as long as you remember the proper procedure. This is a fine piece of dark fantasy, in which, as in the tales that are its models, the human capacity for cruelty, sometimes visited by children on children, or sister on sister, is exceeded only by the strength of love. Michelle Harrison maintains the sense of doom, lightens it with flashes of humour, and creates a careering plot and interesting characters, gradually unravelling the secrets of the curse, as the sisters lurch from one perilous situation to another.  It’s an ingenious and compelling tale.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Ellie http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Ellie2019-03-01 16:03:102021-03-22 16:39:26A Pinch of Magic

Search for a specific review

Author Search

Search







Generic filters




Filter by Member Types


Book Author

Download BfK Issue BfK 255 July 2022
Skip to an Issue:

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

Sarah Hagger-Holt wins the 2022 Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction 2022

July 21, 2022

Maisie Chan and her editor Georgia Murray of Piccadilly Press win the 2022 Branford Boase Award

July 14, 2022

Valerie Bloom wins the CLiPPA 2022

July 8, 2022

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2022 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
The Dog Who Saved the World Asha and the Spirit Bird
Scroll to top