THE GIRL AND THE WITCH'S GARDEN

Magical powers, family secrets, and a mysterious garden hiding a potion for immortality fill the pages. Add in a stalking Persian cat.

With her father undergoing chemo, 12-year-old Piper Peavey is sent to live with her estranged mother and maternal grandmother on their estate in Connecticut. Only this is no ordinary estate; it is “dying,” and stories about it are “fascinating and terrifying [to] schoolchildren in the same breath.” It is said to be inhabited by a witch—her grandmother—with a white cat. For Piper, circumstances make it a bittersweet stay. Piper, who, like her family, is white, is astonished to find that there are also four foster children living there: “bronze”-skinned Julius Gump, presumably Japanese American Kenji Naoki, and brown-skinned Camilla Cortez. The fourth kid, another boy, is missing. What connects these children is the possession of an “affinity,” or special ability. And everyone wants to enter the mysterious garden on the estate, but the “High Order of Magi” has magically restricted access to its hidden treasure. And no wonder—it is an “elixir of immortality.” It all has a familiar feel, and what follows is a quick-paced but unremarkable tale of working out clues, Piper’s growing ability to use her newfound affinity, and her obsession with obtaining the elixir for her dying father. Bowman ties up the family drama while leaving room for further adventures.

An unsatisfying remix.