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A spellbinding middle grade fantasy about three sisters—adventurous Betty, curious Charlie, and proper Fliss—who go on a quest to break the curse that’s haunted their family for generations. All Betty Widdershins wants is an adventure—one that takes her far away from Crowstone, the gloomy island where she’s always lived. But instead of an adventure, Betty and her sisters, Fliss and Charlie, are given of a set of magical objects, each with its own powers: a scruffy carpet bag, a set of wooden nesting dolls, and a gilt-framed mirror. And these magical objects come with their own terrible secret: the sisters’ family is haunted by a generations-long curse that prevents them from ever leaving their island—at the cost of death. The sisters set out to break the curse and free their family forever. But after stumbling upon a mysterious prisoner who claims to be able to help them, they find themselves in great danger. And in order to break the curse—and stay alive—they must unravel a mystery that goes back centuries, one that involves shipwrecks, smugglers, and sorcery of the most perilous kind.
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0 0“But jealous, bitter people don’t suddenly find that those feelings go away when what they envy becomes theirs. They simply find something else to be jealous and bitter about, because it was never about what the other person had. It’s about what they themselves lack.” - Michelle Harrison, A Pinch of Magic
Summary: A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison is a whimsical middle grade novel following the Widdershins sisters as they try to solve the magical family secret tying them to the island they live on. Betty wants to leave Crowstone more than anything else in the world but when she sets out on an adventure with Charlie, her youngest sister, in tow nothing goes the way they planned. After disaster almost strikes their family again, the girls learn of a family curse and the objects that may just help them break it.
Harrison's A Pinch of Magic made me fall in love with middle grade fantasy. Like most millenials I grew up reading the Harry Potter series and have been looking for something with a similar whimsy and heart to it. This book has that whimsy and heart. The story follows three girls in the Widdershins family. Fliss, Betty, and Charlie are three unique and fascinating sisters that share an interesting family dynamic with their Grandmother and Father. Fliss is the oldest sister known for her responsibility and romances as she tries to figure out her place in their family as she grows older in a way that her other sisters haven't yet considered. Betty is the middle sister, she's the adventurous and imaginative main character through which we see the story and the family. Charlie the youngest loves animals and is almost always getting into something she shouldn't. Well meaning but mischievous Charlie is a leader in her own way. The character relationships are the reason I fell in love with the book. The sisters felt real and honest and their love for each other and their entire family was evident from page one.
The setting and story was as whimsical as the family and kept me guessing on every page. Harrison manages to keep readers of all ages captivated by weaving a plot with many unexpected twists and turns. A Pinch of Magic would be a great family or classroom read to talk and discuss. The setting is interesting and unfamiliar but never holds the reader back from exploring different pieces throughout the series. Overall, I loved this book and cannot recommend it enough to those who are interested.
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