The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
by Sangu Mandanna
Sangu Mandanna
Lumen
406 pages
€ 17
My grading : 4.9/5 stars
The Synopsis
A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family–and a new love–changes the course of her life.
As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.
But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.
As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn’t the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for….
family · magic · witches · england · romance · cosy fantasy
My Opinion
Mika Moon is no ordinary witch. Sure, she shares her adventures on Instagram, but she’s a real witch, the real deal. So when an astonishing Norfolk household offers her the chance to tutor three young witches with uncontrollable powers, she accepts, but her surprises are far from over. And time is of the essence, because when the lady of the house visits her solicitor, nothing can go wrong…
I OVER-LIKED this novel. There, I’ve said it.
Even though I started by pecking at this story, it very quickly took me on board. Alongside the very endearing Mika, we discover the curious Altamira, the sweet Rosetta and the terrible Terracotta (who would be willing to dissertate on how to hide a body). We also meet Lucie, Ken and Ian, the cottage’s three “elders”, who, in desperation, call on Mika’s talents, as well as making the charming acquaintance of Jamie-the-grumpy, a thirty-something Irishman as taciturn as he is suspicious of magic!
And beyond all these colorful characters, who are sometimes, it must be said, hilarious, this novel plunges us headfirst into a world of magic, stardust, potions, cinnamon, wood fires, freshly baked cakes and breezes from the English coast where the House of Nowhere is hidden… Weaving its way through a cute romance that melted my little heart, an absolutely cracking family tenderness, cosyness that sneaks in everywhere, endless cups of tea, humor in spades, strong themes approached with delicacy and even a hefty dose of mysteries and plot-twists that I absolutely didn’t see coming (and that’s rare).
It’s definitely the kind of novel you’d see adapted into a film, so memorable are the atmosphere and characters.
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About the Author
Tosca Noury is an author, podcaster and literary content creator. In 2021, she self-published her first poetry collection La force de vivre, followed a year later by De l’orage naît un soleil, published by Courrier du Livre. Immersed in books from the age of ten, she has been sharing her passion for writing and reading on social networks and in her podcast Lit Thé Ratures since 2016.