Teen Tuesday: A Curse of Ash & Embers by Jo Spurrier

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

A Curse of Ash & Embers by Jo Spurrier. Tales of the Blackbone Witches #1. HarperVoyager/ HarperCollins Publishers, January, 2021. 9781460756331. (Review of finished paperback courtesy of publisher.)

Teen Tuesday features A Curse of Ash & Embers by Jo Spurrier. This historical fantasy comes to us from Australia and was published in paperback in the U.S. in January. It is book one of a series called Blackbone Witches.

Sixteen-year-old Elodie narrates and endears the reader from the first page of this suspenseful, atmospheric story. She's waiting for a wagon ride from her stepfather's farm up into the mountains to serve at Black Oak Cottage. No one knows how Elodie got the job, an unsigned letter was delivered, but she doesn't care. She can't wait to get away from her abusive stepfather, though she will miss her mother and half-siblings very much.

Elodie is uneducated, but very observant and is a quick learner. After an eventful trip up the mountain, Elodie is dropped off on the outskirts of the village. Once the villagers learn that she's headed to Black Oak Cottage, they turn mean, thinking she's there to apprentice as a witch. Terrible things happen in the area. Monsters roam at night to tear up the land and kill livestock. Monsters that were created by the old witch, Ghyssa.

But Ghyssa is dead. Aleida killed her. She has no idea why Elodie has come to the cottage. Aleida gruffly warns Elodie to leave, to return to her family, while there's still time. Aleida needs Elodie though, because she's been gravely injured and cursed by Ghyssa and there are even more dangers lurking in the woods. Elodie would rather stay with this strange woman than return to her stepfather.

If you like suspenseful stories of magic, you will love this. The pace is a bit leisurely at first as readers are introduced to intriguing characters. Elodie is fiercely independent and a bit prickly, a trait which serves her well considering what she's about to face. The vivid setting - the cottage and grounds, with its monsters roaming, a demon tree in the orchard and an angry warlock looking to collect a debt, might make it hard to sleep at night. I was completely swept up in the intrigue. 

I can't wait for book two, Daughter of Lies & Ruin due out in July!