A Scrap of Moss and Magick

There’s more than a scrap of magick in Helen Parry’s hugely enjoyable novel, it positively ripples through the book and animates its lead character, the redoubtable Thirza. Moss, and leaves, twigs and dried rosehips all play a vital role too, and for Thirza in particular. The setting is Ruthyn Hall, the grand home of Lord Wulfric, former Lord High Magician, and Thirza is the most junior of his servants, taken in as a baby when her family abandoned her. Or so she believes. As the story unfolds however, with the arrival at the hall of Lord Wulfric’s niece Cecily, much of what we have understood turns out not to be true at all. Thirza not only has magick, she is magickal, while the apparently benevolent Lord Wulfric, who has taught Thirza to read and enjoys playing Cribbage with her, is cruel and ruthless, scheming to renew his own magickal powers by whatever means necessary, even murder. In the tradition of this kind of story, it’s up to Thirza and Cecily to stop him, with the eventual help of the other servants and some of the hall’s more unusual inhabitants. It’s Cecily and Thirza though, and especially the latter, who are in the most danger. There’s much that makes the story stand out as a particularly interesting and original example of the genre: Thirza, our narrator, discovers the unusual and frankly shocking truth about herself at the same time that readers do, and the story is much darker and genuinely Gothic than many. It’s also well plotted for the main part, building to a very exciting and satisfying climax (good defeating evil of course) with a wide variety of pleasing scenes along the way. The friendship between Cecily and Thirza is nicely done and the descriptions of Ruthyn Hall and the nearby village, plagued by imps in the opening chapter, are equally well drawn. This is a book that will cast its spell over readers, an impressive first novel.

Read our Q&A interview with Helen Parry.