THE CHIC CRONE

A financially ruined author discovers she’s actually a witch in Marion’s fantasy novel.

When author Olivia Furie’s husband dies, she learns that the man had spent years covertly spending their collective wealth—including her book royalties—on a secret second family, leaving her mired in debt. Without a house to live in and barely a cent in her bank account, the 60-year-old writer of the popular Chic Woman series takes her cat Magnus and heads to Cornwall, where she’s just inherited a cottage from a relativeshe doesn’t remember in the village of Rowanswood. Unbeknownst to Olivia, Rowanswood is a special place, one that can only be found by those who have business there. It’s the one village in Britain where humans live side by side with the Fae—fauns, mermaids, dryads, and the like. The spells around Rowanswood are ministered by the Crones, a group of advanced human witches with powers over various elements. Olivia’s invitation to Rowanswood is no accident—it has something to do with the strange happenings since her husband died, like the witchy streak that has appeared in her hair and her lawyer’s office curtains bursting into flames the moment she learned she was broke. The invitation may also involve Gaelin, the handsome man who keeps appearing in her life and who represents a very different sort of Fae from the ones in Rowanswood: a secret race interested in bending humanity to its will. Rowanswood is a wonderland for a certain type of cozy, pagan-curious reader; a place where a diverse coven of women gather to drink tea and pore over magical texts with their petlike familiars. (Some of Marion’s richest language is reserved for the scones in the village cafe: “It melted in her mouth before the tartness of the lemon hit her taste buds, followed by the sweetness of the flaky pastry. The lavender brought a subtle, herbal undertone to the mix.”) While the pacing is a bit slow at times, the author finds a happy medium between contemporary comedy and gossamer fantasy that will please many readers.

A cleverly rendered fantasy of unexpected reinventions.