Now, Conjurers

*Adult content- Recommended 16-18

Suffused with Salem mystique and imbued with 1990’s carnivalesque nostalgia, Kölsch’s YA debut novel joyfully celebrates queer identities. It’s a heady brew of movie culture, bubbling with allusions to cult classic The Craft. Knife edge tension mounts throughout as a courageous crew of teen misfits channel Charmed powers, turn cold case investigator and harness Buffy the Vampire Slayer cemetery style action vibes to battle the visceral violence and cruel mind games of a chilling adversary.

Inspired by the fascinating true story of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott, four lost New England towns, which were flooded in the 1930s to create the Quabbin Reservoir, Kölsch’s narrative has a vividly observed sense of place adorned with the ghostly and gothic trappings she creates.

Steeped in symbolism and intertextuality, the plot revolves around the creepy concept ‘Be careful what you wish for’, enshrined in W.W Jacob’s sinister short story The Monkey’s Paw. This is fused with the supernatural surge of the Power of Five found in Wicca. With characters crackling with magical energy, pithy put downs and linguistic trickery, Freddie confesses that she wrote the story of Bastian, Nesbit, Dove, Drea and Brandy to ‘thrill her teenage self.’

Now, Conjurers has a gruesome opening and is structured using flashbacks built upon evocative nightmare scapes juxtaposed with the trials and tribulations of high school life. Tragic Bastian leads the North Coven who bear emblematic tattoos and have enduring relationships, vowing to overcome adversity and survive heartbreak. Their bête noire Cameron is fighting his own demons.

A quote from Thoreau’s Walden resonates as the protagonists are sucked into a vortex of despair, desperately seeking an in between world to restore the balance between good vs evil. A deep love connection is at its heart mixed with ribald humour and emotional scenes worthy of Ghost.

Frosted with the sentimentality of the classic 1980’s wish fulfilment fantasy, The Never-Ending Story [in a homage to both book and movie], the story also examines the psychological impact of dysfunctional families and the damage of misplaced guilt.

As Freddie confides, her book is a manifestation of ‘the kids who kept all their pain and fear locked inside, fighting monsters that absolutely nobody around them knew about.’

Now, Conjurers will appeal to horror afficionados who are looking for nuanced queer representation set within an exciting, cinematic world that shocks and thrills but can feel strangely comforting too.