THE PRICE GUIDE TO THE OCCULT

Families are hard. Family traditions, and expectations, can be even harder. And when you’re the descendant of a famous witch, and have a “complicated” relationship with your own mother, then they can really seem overwhelming.

Nor isn’t exactly your typical teenager. She lives with her grandmother, she works in her local magic shop, and she keeps quiet about certain abilities she may have inherited. One day, though, a new book arrives in the shop – a book that promises to cast any spell for any reader. And the author is Nor’s mother, Fern… The Price Guide is quickly a global bestseller, with Fern gaining fans worldwide as readers realise that the spells really do work. But Nor knows that magic which is beyond your own gifts requires a sacrifice – so just how is her mother making them all work?

Set on a remote, wind-buffeted island, this is an intriguing story of an eccentric community that never quite lives up to its promise. Nor is sympathetic and well-drawn as she attempts to cope with her family legacy and her feelings about her estranged mother – and written with a sensitive portrayal of self-harm issues. But the build-up of Nor’s own powers feels too obvious to develop much tension, while the confused, drawn-out climax means you don’t quite feel the resolution you’d been hoping for. Rhian Drinkwater