Read more
"Third in a darkly enchanting trilogy after Begone the Raggedy Witches and The Little Grey Girl, The Promise Witch opens in a time of heat and thirst. The deposed old tyrant of a queen sent a cursed winter to bury Witches Borough in snow. Months later, the clouds have vanished, but an equally cursed drought has settled over the castle and its river, now bone-dry. Witches Borough is dying, and though Mup is the pathfinder, the stitcher of worlds, is she strong enough to mend a scorched landscape and bring the water home? Enter a raggedy witch trailing a storm of ashes: Magda, Crow's mother. She wants Mup to fulfill a promise. She wants Mup to help her. And woe betide any who stand in her way. Irish storyteller Celine Kiernan's breathtaking tale of family, loyalty, and risk caps a timeless trilogy brimming with drama and danger--and heartbreaking resonance to the struggles of today."--
About the author
Celine Kiernan is the award-winning author of several novels for young people, including Into the Grey, which won the Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Award, the Moorehawke trilogy, and two previous books in the Wild Magic trilogy, Begone the Raggedy Witches and The Little Grey Girl. She lives in Ireland.
Jessica Courtney-Tickle, illustrator of the Wild Magic trilogy, lives in the United Kingdom.
Summary
The Wild Magic trilogy culminates in a middle-grade fantasy adventure about witches, courage, community, and the terrors of sudden climate change.
Third in a darkly enchanting trilogy after Begone the Raggedy Witches and The Little Grey Girl, The Promise Witch opens in a time of heat and thirst. The deposed old tyrant of a queen sent a cursed winter to bury Witches Borough in snow. Months later, the clouds have vanished, but an equally cursed drought has settled over the castle and its river, now bone-dry. Witches Borough is dying, and though Mup is the pathfinder, the stitcher of worlds, is she strong enough to mend a scorched landscape and bring the water home? Enter a raggedy witch trailing a storm of ashes: Magda, Crow’s mother. She wants Mup to fulfill a promise. She wants Mup to help her. And woe betide any who stand in her way. Irish storyteller Celine Kiernan’s breathtaking tale of family, loyalty, and risk caps a timeless trilogy brimming with drama and danger—and heartbreaking resonance to the struggles of today.
Additional text
Even as Mup seeks a fairy-tale ending of retribution for evildoers and happiness for those who’ve suffered, she and readers find that such neat resolutions quickly give way to the messiness of remorse, the toll of resilience, and the power of collective restoration. The balance struck between the complexities of trauma, atonement, and freedom and the more straightforward motivations of protecting loved ones and helping friends in need remains the trilogy’s calling card and will bring readers back to Mup again and again. . . . A stunning conclusion.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
