A Hunger of Thorns

February 6, 2023
In the fictional country of Anglyon, magic has been tamed into cheap, government-approved products: glamours hide acne, and enchanted tea bags never oversteep. Though her ancestors were all powerful witches, and most people retain some innate abilities, 16-year-old Maude Jenkins’s magic mysteriously dried up four years ago, leaving her with what she believes is an inconsequential gift for storytelling. But when her former best friend Odette goes missing while searching for forbidden magic near an abandoned power plant that only Maude seems to remember exists, Maude realizes that her stories might be prophecies. To pursue Odette, Maude pieces together the connections between the adventure tales she spun for Odette as children, the stories that Maude tells herself about her own banal life, and the ancient magical lore her mother used to share. Flashbacks to the teens’ childhood, peppered throughout, reveal the convoluted history of their friendship, while a slow unraveling imparts sustained mystery and intrigue. Wilkinson offers plenty of tantalizing surprises in this tangled volume featuring complicated familial connections, dangerous secrets, and even more perilous obsessions. One of Maude’s grandmothers cues as Korean; Odette reads as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Katelyn Detweiler, Jill Grinberg Literary.