IVORY TOWER: Joyful Comforts of A Magical Home

 

The picture I have in my hallway, as you first walk through the door.

I don't know about you, but I have been feeling a little out of sorts with the state of the world recently. Maybe its my age, but I am just sick and tired of all the doom and gloom every time I turn on the TV or radio. It can get you down if you allow it to, or make you feel anxious and fearful. When the headlines are full of war, poverty, social unrest, political debacles and so on, it is more important than ever to ensure that your own space offers comfort and joy to you and your family. 

Your home should be your refuge from the darkness of a volatile world. It is the place you escape to after work each day. Perhaps, like me, its the place where you work from. If that is the case then it is even more necessary that it should be a sacred space that nurtures you and supports your highest good. That isn't always the case though and sometimes it can seem as if our homes are part of the problem, not the solution.  My own house has sprung not one, but two leaks this year. The first leak coming from the bathroom and down into the hallway. The second leak happened when the boiler overheated due to faulty parts that had to be replaced. None of this was a catastrophe. It was just inconvenient and time consuming, but it did give me the opportunity to reassess my home and the perfect excuse to redecorate! 

So this year, I have been up to my eyes in rollers, brushes, paint, wallpaper and paste. It has been very hard work, especially as my wrists are still healing from the riding accident, so its been tough on them, but also a good exercise in their flexibility.  What started off as a quick lick of paint in the bathroom turned into something more significant.  To begin with I decided that I wanted more pink in my house. None of the rooms were pink before, but pink has always been my favourite colour, so I decided to paint the bathroom in a soft ballet slipper pink. I did it back in the summer and it looks so pretty and feminine. 

A couple of weeks after finishing the bathroom, the boiler leaked in the kitchen, so then the kitchen needed to be redecorated too. Luckily I already had the wallpaper I'd picked out for it a while back, so I just needed to choose the paint colour.  I picked out a gorgeous old gold paint that reminded me of the ochre on Stirling Castle. It went beautifully with the wallpaper, which was a champagne background with glittering golden trees. It took over a week to do the kitchen, as I had to keep resting my wrists so they didn't swell too much.  However, once it was finished I was absolutely delighted with it. I added mirrored butterflies to one corner, so it looks like they are flying up and away, plus I gave all my old uplighter lamps a makeover with golden butterflies on the shades and glittering fairies or butterflies clamped to the stand.  The glittering trees on the wallpaper and the mirrored butterflies bounce the light around the room and lend a feeling of whimsical enchantment. 

I wanted the room to have a magical atmosphere, like stepping out of a glowing wintry forest and into the warmth and comfort of a castle, like Stirling or Camelot. Once my Celtic ornaments and arched mirrors were back in place, the kitchen looked like a different world! 

I was so happy with how the bathroom and kitchen had turned out, I knew that I wanted to touch up the living room and get my hallway redecorated before Christmas too. I always have themes whenever I am decorating. Originally the theme in my hallway had been Gothic, with wolves and bats and gargoyles. Sadly over the years, many of these have been broken and so I decided I would come up with a new theme entirely for the hall. 

I did some pondering and I thought about how I wanted to feel each time I crossed the threshold into my home. I wanted to feel like I was leaving the drab and dreary everyday world far behind and entering into another realm entirely. What gave me that feeling? Well, Scotland obviously, but also - Narnia!!  Each time I walked into my house, I wanted to feel like Lucy stepping out of the wardrobe and into Narnia for the first time, with the snow and the forest and the magic that awaits. Now that I had my theme I could begin.

I used more of the same glittering trees wallpaper that had proved so effective in my kitchen, then I painted all the doors and frames in soft white gloss. They had been forest green before, so it took a few coats to make them white and snowy, but I got there in the end.  Then I added an iridescent bead curtain, hanging down the side of the stairs to look like an icy waterfall. I added a few iridescent icicles interspersed with the bead curtain strands, and a pretty humming bird hanging from the ceiling. 

Then I set to work transforming things I already had with a couple of coats of glitter paint. First I painted all the banisters so that they glimmer in the light. Then I added glitter to my woodland animal wall plaques: a wolf, hedgehog, hare, owl and stag. These now look like the animals of Narnia, twinkling with a fresh fall of snow.  I added glitter paint, amethyst and rose quartz crystals, and two little sparkly birds to an old bird-feeder sunshine-plaque to make a wintry bird's nest.  Next I pinned a white frosted leaf garland by the side of the door and placed a pure white squirrel climbing a snowy branch next to it, so that it looks like it is climbing up the frosted-leaf doorframe.

To complete the Narnian vibes I hung my jewelled crown and a rainbow pastel-coloured unicorn horn on the base board, and surrounded them with more mirrored butterflies left over from the kitchen. Once all the wolf and sparkly stag pictures were hung back in place, with a couple of new red fox pictures too, it all began to look very magical and wintry.  Then I placed the picture at the very top of this post, of the famous Narnian lamp-post in a snowy forest, opposite the front door so it is one of the first things you see as you come into the house. 

I couldn't be more delighted with how it has turned out. Now the whole downstairs of my house is like a wintery wonderland, with sparkly pictures and accessories, creamy white faux fur soft furnishings and whimsical bits and bobs dotted around. I love it! It really is like stepping into Narnia each time I come home, or when I come downstairs in the morning. It makes me smile and so happy to see it all.  As November is my birthday month I have asked for a couple more things to add to the theme - just a finishing touch here and there, but which will really give the space a sense of enchantment and wonder.

I'm so glad that I did it. It was hard work. I couldn't have done it without my mum, as she is a whizz at wallpapering! It was certainly worth the time and effort it has taken. I feel like I now live in Narnia and the Highlands combined!  I'm not planning to do anymore decorating this year, but I do already have all the things I need to transform my bedroom into a shimmering pink haven of feminine tranquillity, so that's next year's job. 

Sometimes you have to create your own enchantment, especially in the place you call home, which is the buffer that protects you and your family from the dangers and volatility of the outside world.  It's the one place where you get to decide how it will look and what sort of feeling and vibe you want it to give to you as you walk in the door. Choosing glimmering, glittering wallpapers was the best thing I could have done for such a small house, because it really makes the most of the light, bouncing it around and just gleaming! I love how warm and glowy and glamourous it looks, and how wintry it is without seeming cold and stark.  Most of all, I love how other-worldly, whimsical and enchanting it is now. It truly is a magical home! 

What can you do to bring more enchantment into your home? 

Serene Blessings,

Marie x

BOOK NOOK : Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

 "There's a princess trapped in a tower.

This isn't her story."

It is a stormy night tonight. The wind is blowing the last of the leaves off the trees in my garden and the rain is battering against the windowpanes.  I have autumnal fairy lights twinkling around me and a Pumpkin Chai scented candle burning on my desk as I write. We are heading into the arc of winter now and I'm so happy that the dark season is all around us! It's the ideal time to curl up with a book and work your way through your to-be-read (tbr) pile, which is exactly what I have been doing this evening.

After reading lots of dark and spooky novels for review in the run up to Halloween, I was in the mood for something brighter, something light and lovely, but still seasonally appropriate. Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher is just the ticket, being a semi-dark retelling of a classic fable. The Sleeping Beauty is my favourite fairytale so when I came upon this novella, based on the sleeping princess, I knew I had to read it and I'm so glad that I did!

Thornhedge is the story of Toadling, a fairy changeling who is charged with protecting the cursed tower in which the princess sleeps. Toadling is a gentle spirit, with the ability to shapeshift into a toad at will. Although she protects the tower, she misses the water and the river bank which she believes to be her natural habitat. But Toadling is much more than she first appears. She isn't beautiful, but she is intriguing. She might be alone, but she is well-loved and she has plenty of friends - they're just far away, back at the river. She isn't powerful, but she has enough magic in her to ward the princess as she sleeps peacefully in her bed, in the chamber at the top of the tower.

For such a tiny book, this novella ticks all the right boxes for a beautiful and enchanting fairytale. There is a beautiful princess, a cursed tower, a knight in armour riding to the rescue and offering his assistance. There are plenty of surprises along the way. Our heroine is a quiet girl who wants to live a simple peaceful life, until a wicked fairy intervenes and sets her on a new path entirely, leaving her lost and seemingly abandoned at the tower. 

Thornhedge is poetically written in the style of a traditional fable. It is the kind of story that lifts your spirits and carries you away to the land of the Fey. It is just dark enough to be a great choice for autumn reading, but at the same time it is light enough to take your mind off the dark nights if they don't agree with you. I wish this book was the first in a series of fairytale novellas by this author, but alas that doesn't seem to be the case, although she has written some full length fairytale novels which I am definitely going to read. 

All in all, I have had a lovely time reading this book. It's full of whimsical magic and enchantment, really lifting you out of reality and into another world altogether. It also takes no time at all to read, being a novella, so its ideal for busy people. I highly recommend this book. It presents a lovely world that I am so sad to leave now that I've finished the book. 

If you enjoy fairytale retellings and mystical enchantment, then you will probably enjoy this little book too. Happy reading!

Serene Blessings

Marie x

AD: This books was published by Titan Books in August 2024 and it is available now in all formats. 

 

BOOK NOOK: A Haunting in the Arctic by C J Cooke

 

"Sleep tight, be kind and do no wrong, lest mermaids wound you with their song, prayers and penance do not postpone, lest they trap you by their stone."

A Haunting in the Arctic by C J Cooke is a fantastically spooky story! It was the strength of the story that kept me reading and turning the pages, though it can be a tough one to get through at times. It's very dark and certainly not a cosy read, but it is gripping. It draws on old mariner folklore and tales of mermaids, sirens and selkies, so it has an ethereal tone that pulls you in. At times this novel reads like a fantasy and it does have some fantastical elements to it, but it isn't the high fantasy one usually associates with mermaid tales. The sea-maid in this book isn't a whimsical member of the Fey, but a dangerous creature gathering souls in her quest for revenge. 

Beginning in Dundee and then moving to the snowy coastal regions of Iceland, the novel follows a whaling ship and her crew. There are scenes of animal slaughter, so if you love whales, seals and so on, you might need to skip this book as it is quite upsetting to read about such beautiful creatures being hunted and brutally killed.  

The novel has three different timelines of 1901, 1973 and 2023, with the narrative moving seamlessly between them. This is so skilfully done that it isn't jarring, as multiple timelines sometimes are.  If anything, the time breaks give the reader a welcome reprieve from the trauma of the main protagonist, Nicky, a women who finds herself in a situation that is entirely beyond her control and who suffers the consequences accordingly. 

It's difficult to review this book without giving away spoilers. I will say that the twist at the end took me completely by surprise and I wasn't expecting the story to unfold in that way. It's always nice when a book surprises you. This one gathers pace as it goes along, with the final third of the book ramping up the creepiness and the plot reveals. 

Its a very atmospheric, chilling novel and not just because it is set in Iceland! It has ghosts and snow and ice-stunts, alongside wild sea-storms and the harsh life of the 19th century mariners who made a living hunting whales on the high seas. The trauma is a constant backdrop to the rest of the book and the next attack is never far away, maybe a chapter or two, so bear that in mind if you decide to pick up this novel as it can be quite a harrowing read. However, it has a moral centre which revolves around the premise that revenge only hurts the vengeful and this is played out very spookily indeed!

All I can say is, A Haunting in the Arctic will haunt me for a long time to come, because the story is truly memorable!

Blessed Be

Marie x 

AD: This book is published by Harper Collins and is available now in all formats. 

WRITER'S DREAM: My Classical Mythology Oracle Deck!

 

"The deck is designed to offer guidance as you venture out upon your own personal Odyssey, which is the journey of your life."

My latest card decks were released on the 1st of October and I am thrilled to say that The Classical Mythology Oracle Deck is one of them! I had such a lovely time creating this Oracle kit last year.  I have always loved mythology and folklore, so after the success of my Celtic Magic Oracle Deck, it made sense to continue with other aspects of world mythology.  We began with The Egyptian Book of the Dead Oracle, which was published in spring this year, and now my Classical Mythology Oracle, based on the legends of Greece and Rome, is out and it is gorgeous! 

Just look at that beautiful cover, featuring an angelic depiction of the goddess Nike! I love it. It is everything that I envisioned as I was writing the project last year. Working on these oracles kits is always such a pleasure. It is a privilege to know that people will be using my oracles to gain insight and guidance in their lives, so it comes with a weight of responsibility too.  I want my decks to be valued tools of magic and reassurance for my readers, so I try to avoid any scary interpretations or symbolism. This wasn't easy with the Egyptian deck as you can probably imagine, because the Egyptians were basically a death cult! But I think I managed it. That deck is certainly the spookiest I've created and written so far though.

The Classical Mythology Oracle on the other hand is light and bright, featuring some of the fine art and Pre-Raphaelite style prints, that I love, as part of the deck imagery. This is something of a dream come true and to have my work partially illustrated by the works of John William Waterhouse and similar artists, is something I have dreamt of for years. When I first suggested the idea to my editor, she was non-committal, saying that it would make the deck very expensive, due to paying licensing fees, if we were to use all fine art images, but I'm delighted that we got to incorporate a few of them in the deck, with other cards being the silhouette art that I like too. Now some of my favourite Waterhouse witches, such as Circe and Medea are in my Mythology deck and I couldn't be happier. I've had Waterhouse prints hung on my bedroom walls for decades so I'm thrilled to have such beautiful and well-known examples of his art incorporated into my own work. It feels like such an honour. 

I took a fairly scholastic approach to creating this deck, because I wanted it to reflect the Homeric and Ovidian texts that are so closely associated with Greek and Roman mythology. To that end I did a lot of reading and research, looking for ways to lend the deck the same mysticism as these ancient texts. I chose to incorporate several quotations from the Homeric texts, specifically The Iliad and The Odyssey.  These epigraphs help to make the past feel that much closer, bringing an ancient echo into the deck, almost as a guiding spirit. 

Another reason I love this deck so much is because it is the very first project I have worked on where I have not included any magical spells or rituals. I felt that it was far more important to give an overview of the folklore itself, rather than assuming that all readers who pick up the deck already have a sound knowledge of classical mythology. To that end, this is the project where I got to indulge my love of storytelling, and I was able to recount the myths and legends in my own words. Writing prose is something I love to do and it was great fun exploring legends such as Eros and Psyche, Hero and Leander, Boreas and Orithyia, Apollo and Daphne, Persephone and Hades, Perseus and the Gorgons, Artemis and Actaeon and so on, re-telling them in my own authorial voice.  In addition I have touched on the legends of Medusa, King Midas, Pygmalion, Pandora and the Minotaur.  It was tremendous fun to write and to lose myself in the rich world of ancient mythology. I had a great time creating this Oracle and I'm delighted that it is finally published and people can enjoy it, just in time for their Samhain divinations. 

My only gripe with the deck is that there is a typo on the interpretation of the last card. The first paragraph has been printed twice! This is an error that happened in typesetting, and when the proofs were ready for correction, I was lying in a hospital bed recovering from a riding accident, so I couldn't go through them myself. It just goes to show though, that a copy editor will never care as much about a project as the author does! My apologies for the error, but there's not much I do about it now. Hopefully it will be corrected for future editions. Other than that, it is a gorgeously evocative and mystical oracle deck and I hope that you all enjoy performing readings with it, as much as I enjoyed writing it. 

The second deck I had published on the 1st of October is The Practical Witchcraft Book and Card Deck. This a collection of spell cards, featuring all new spells and it is perfect for neophyte witches and those who are new to the Craft. As part of this kit, I also created a handy poster of correspondences that you can hang on the wall in your ritual space, so if you need to make a quick adjustment to a spell's ingredients, you can use the correspondence tables to help you. The poster also features moon phases, crystals, colours and magical days of the week too, so it's a great beginner's kit to get started with. 

Finally, I hope you like the new look to my blog. It's been the same for a few years now so it was time for a refresh. I wanted to create a more ethereal, whimsical place that you can escape to and enjoy spending time in, and I think that the stunningly beautiful new background does just that! It certainly makes my heart soar when I see it, from the pastel pink and mauve colourway, to the Gothic arch surrounded by my favourite pretty pink roses, the burning candle and the gentle, pure white dove coming in to land - it's just so me! It's perfect and I love it. 

I also added the image of Pegasus at the top of the side bar too, as a nod to the triumph of my Classical Mythology Oracle, but also because I've been dreaming of winged horses and unicorns a lot since my riding accident. I feel like they are watching over me. They're definitely my spirit animals, so I wanted to give them a space on my blog. Winged horses are meant to be lucky too, so its nice to have Pegasus looking over my posts and watching over us all, as we spend time in the magical, ethereal space on the internet that is ShimmerCast Dreams.

I hope that you enjoy spending time in the pink, feminine, whimsical world I have created, and that you take comfort and joy in my books and oracles. 

Bright Blessings

Marie x

AD: This post features my own products and books. 

        The Practical Witchcraft Book, Poster and Spell-Card Deck

      The Classical Mythology Oracle Book and Card Deck

       The Egyptian Book of the Dead Oracle Book and Card Deck

BOOK NOOK: The Book Of Witching by C J Cooke

"But the book is on the ground, rough to the touch. The cover is made from a tree, and inside the pages are black. The pages are peices of night, for the book is from the dawn of time, before humankind, before love, and death." 

In the past few years, ever since I reviewed The Lighthouse Witches, C J Cooke has fast become my favourite Gothic author and I have been lucky enough to review a few of her more recent novels on this blog. Her work is very atmospheric and often set in Scotland, which is what drew me to her novels in the first instance, so I was delighted when her publisher, Harper Collins, sent me an ARC of her latest novel.  I fell on it immediately, putting everything else on hold until I had read the book. 

The Book of Witching is a story of the witch trials that swept through Scotland during the 1500's.  Set on the Orkney Isles, it follows the fate of Alison, a woman who is a skilled healer and herbalist who is inadvertently drawn into the political intrigues of the islands at that time. King James VI is on the throne of Scotland and he has recently made his feelings on witchcraft quite clear, having presided over the Berwick witch trials a couple of years earlier.  So this is not a great time for a wise woman to come to the attention of powerful men with a political agenda!  Even worse, Alison comes from a family known to be skilled at spellcraft, a family who hold a very special book of magic in their possession. 

Fast forward a few hundred years to the present day and Alison's fate becomes entangled with that of a young girl, Erin, who is found very badly burnt on one of the islands after a trip to Orkney with her boyfriend and best friend. When Erin comes out of a coma, she claims that her name is Nyx and that she doesn't know who Erin is. As the novel slips back and forth between these two timelines, we begin to unravel just how Erin is connected to a woman accused of witchcraft four hundred years ago. 

This is such a thrilling read! The chapters alternate between one timeline and the other so that you're never quite sure how it all fits together, but you know that it does. It skips along at a fast pace and the structural use of the turning points is designed to keep you invested in the story.  As with all of C J Cooke's novels, the Gothic atmosphere is dark and ominous, the threat building throughout the story. Her way of creating tension in the reader is second to none. In many ways, C J Cooke's style of writing reminds me very much of contemporary Gothic masters such as Victoria Holt and Virginia Andrews - her stories have that same undercurrent of mystery, secrets and tension, akin to the Flowers in the Attic series, but with witchcraft attached!

The Book of Witching held me in its grip from the opening paragraphs, which is something that I look for in novels - I like a book that starts on the very first page and this one certainly does, dropping the reader into the midst of the action and catastrophe right from the start.  It's the kind of story where you find yourself holding your breath as you read, because it does tackle some very dark topics such as torture, serious injury, incarceration, mock executions, and the powerlessness of women who were accused of something they didn't do, but who knew that the odds were stacked against them from the very first whisper of 'witch!' It brought tears to my eyes at times and I really felt for both the injured characters and their dual plight. 

This Orcadian novel has all the eerie vibes of a witchy thriller, with secret cults, a coven of witches, an enchanted and indomitable book of magic and powerful men providing lots of menace. I wouldn't describe it as a cosy read for autumn, because it evokes such a powerful and indignant response in the reader for the crimes that have been committed against women for centuries. Having read lots of books about the witch trials over the years, I thought that I had become somewhat desensitized to the topic, but this novel really drove it home to me once again how lucky I am to be able to practice my Craft in safety, without fear of being tortured and burnt for it.  There is the sense that Alison's fate could so easily have been mine, or yours, or our mother's and grandmother's. It is only the passing of time that keeps us safe. 

While it might not be an especially comforting novel, The Book of Witching is a wonderful and disturbing witchy thriller that will keep your heart in your mouth from cover to cover, so if you are in the mood to be scared to death by the plight of witches past this October, this is the book for you. It's certainly a great novel to curl up with on Samhain night, when the pumpkins are gleaming and it's dark and cold outside.  Light a candle in remembrance of the lost souls of  historical women who were burnt as witches, and enjoy the safety of modern practice this All Hallows Eve.  Blessed Be.

Marie x

AD: This novel was sent to me by the publisher, Harper Collins, for the purposes of review. It will be released on October 10th 2024 and is available in hardback, digital and audio formats.

The Nesting Review 

The Lighthouse Witches Review

The Ghost Woods Review

 

BOOK NOOK: The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells by Rachel Greenlaw

 

"I can hear scratching outside, and it follows me into my dreams. As though someone is tapping at the frostlaced window, bearing a warning to heed. 

Or trying to get in.

I toss and turn, wishing I'd sprinkled salt and dried lavender around the caravan. It's all too easy for a vengeful spirit, for something other and twisted, to slither in if a proper warding isn't in place. And in the space between dreams and waking on this cold, dark night, it seems real.

Frost steals over everything in my dreams like a spell."

Harper Collins very kindly sent an ARC of this book to me back at the beginning of September, when the first breath of autumn filled the air. I read it immediately, as I am always more drawn to witchy novels during the darker half of the year. It held me gripped for two days and I couldn't put it down.

The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells is a wonderful tale of magic, curses and romance.  The story takes place in the cosy, mountain town of Woodsmoke, where everybody knows everybody else, and nothing remains a secret for very long. In the midst of this town live the Morgan women - a family of natural witches, who pass their special book of magic down from one generation to the next. However, the book is more than a grimoire or book of shadows. It is a history of romance, of all the loves and losses of the Morgan women down through the ages, told in the style of a collection of fables, in the hope that future generations of women can learn from the losses of their ancestors. 

Into this environment sweeps Carrie, the youngest of the Morgan women and the only one who tried to break free and leave the town for good. But when her grandmother, Ivy, dies and leaves her everything, Carrie has to return to sort out the cottage and the shop that Ivy left behind, and to make her peace with her great aunt, Cora, the witch who currently holds the family book of spells.

The Morgan women aren't just run of the mill witches. They are mountain witches and the mountains and hills of Woodsmoke are sentient, the mountain trails populated by the spirits of winter, who prowl in the frost. It is the legacy of the Morgan women to keep the townsfolk safe from the threat of being taken by the mountains.  So when Carrie returns, tongues start wagging. 

This is a fantastic book full of winter's charm and the practice of witchery. It has all the cosy vibes of Stars Hallow, with the enchantment of Practical Magic and the insidious threat of The Village. The author even mentions the film, Practical Magic, in the novel, giving a nod to her inspiration and the obvious parallels between the two stories.  This book is just as magical, just as cosy and it's just as hard to put down. 

In The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells you will find a mysterious love interest, family feuds, cosy cottages, witchcraft, skate dates, blood magic and blood ties and the ominous mountains brooding over the frosty town.  It reminded me of the time I spent in Glencoe, where the mountains do seem to be sentient beings that will either protect you or kill you!  As Carrie attempts to find her place in the world and make up for past wrongs, I couldn't help but be drawn into her story, although Cora is my favourite character as she is so feisty! I sincerely hope that this novel kicks off a series and that there will be more tales of the Morgan women, because I enjoyed this one so much. 

If you like the Practical Magic series by Alice Hoffman, then you will love this book too. Just don't forget to ward the thresholds before you read. You never know what's out there, ready to come tap, tap, tapping at your window!  The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells is the perfect October read. Enjoy! 

Brights Blessings

Marie x

AD: This book was sent to me by the publisher Harper Collins for the purposes of review. It will be released on October 10th in hardcover, digital and audio formats and is up for Pre-Order now. 

BOOK NOOK; All the Devils by Catelyn Wilson

 

"To my little star. Follow the path of Anubis. I know you can do it."

All the Devils is a fine work of dark academia and it has held me gripped for the past couple of days.  It is certainly one of the best ARCs I have read this year and I am grateful to Penguin Random House for sending it to me.  It is a dark, atmospheric tale of ancient gods, monsters, magic and the fine line between life and death.

The story begins when Andromeda is mourning the death of her sister Violet, yet a chance discovery makes her wonder if Violet is really dead after all, or if the body is fake. She decides to enrol at her sister's old school, Ravenswood, in order to solve the mystery of what exactly happened there and why her sister suddenly disappeared, then turned up dead. 

This is a book that is rooted in mythology and Egyptology. Andy must learn to read old symbols and hieroglyphic messages, as well as unravel a series of clues and signs left behind by her sister. The result is a novel that descends deeper and deeper into darkness, with plenty of action to keep you turning the pages. 

Although it is set in an elite school, much of the story takes place in the shadowy Underworld, as Andy seeks out the gods and ghouls who can help her to discover if her sister is dead or alive.  There is a touch of romance included and a very satisfying dénouement which is full of adventure, strange twists and dark thrills. 

Its a difficult book to review without giving away any spoilers, but if you enjoy reading stories based on ancient mythology then you will probably like this one. It doesn't stick to one single pantheon of gods, but mixes together all the deities connected with the Underworld, so you have Anubis and Hecate in the same story. This can be a little jarring to those of us who are familiar with the different pantheons, but it doesn't spoil the storyline and it all makes sense in the end.  This novel ends in such as way that it sets up the premise for a sequel too, so it certainly looks like there is more to come. 

Although I read this novel back in the spring when I was healing from an operation to mend my two shattered wrists, following a serious riding accident, I wasn't allowed to share it until closer to its release date. I must say though, that All the Devils is the perfect read for foggy autumn days, so grab a cup of cocoa and snuggle under a blanket as you descend into the Underworld with Andromeda and her gods and monsters.

Happy Reading!

BB Marie x

AD: This book is published by Penguin Random House and will be released on 19th September 2024 in hardcover, digital and audio formats. It is available for pre-order now. The cover is subject to change. 

BOOK NOOK: Broken Ghosts by J D Oswald

"She put her hand out, touched the old bark of the trunk for support until everything settled again. And that was when she heard the voice. It was quiet, female and young. Coming from the other side of the tree. Phoebe couldn't quite make out the words, or was it just that it was humming rather than singing? A slow, almost mournful tune she didn't recognise, she found herself drawn to it all the same."  

As we edge into autumn, publishers begin to drop their spooky new releases. It can be a very busy and exciting time for book reviewers and I always enjoy reading new drops and sending my reviews and feedback to the editors. So as it has been raining all weekend I have been curled up on the chaise-longue, listening to the raindrops pattering on the windowpane, completely absorbed in a new novel, an ARC which was very kindly sent to me by the publisher, Headline.  

Broken Ghosts is a wonderful novel about the effects of grief and how people mourn their dead. It isn't exactly spooky, but it is full of ghosts, in one way or another. This isn't one of those eerie ghost stories you might reach for on Halloween night. Nothing goes bump in the night here. It isn't a scary read. Instead, the ghosts in this book are the gentle spirits of the past, the long-time dead but never forgotten, or the recently dead and currently mourned. 

The story begins in 1985, when twelve-year-old Phoebe returns late from a school trip to find her house in flames and both her parents dead. She is quickly taken under the wing of her uncle, her new legal guardian, who spirits her away from her life in Scotland, to live with him and his partner, Maude, in the Welsh valleys. This is a move that Phoebe isn't happy about at all, but she has no choice. In this respect, the novel perfectly illustrates the powerlessness of children, who are often pushed from pillar to post when the worst happens and they find themselves without parents, for whatever reason.  

Uncle Louis and Aunt Maude are a kind, if rather eccentric couple, and Phoebe finds herself swept into their quiet rural world of gardening and bee-keeping. With the closest school miles away and her guardians' approach to home-schooling being sporadic, Phoebe is often left to her own devices, so she begins to explore the local woods. It is there that she meets a girl of her own age, called Gwyneth, - a girl who wears old-fashioned clothes and who appears and disappears without warning. When Phoebe asks her aunt about Gwyneth, she is told that no such person exists in the village. Her aunt gently suggests that perhaps Gwyneth is an imaginary friend, someone Phoebe dreamed up to console herself in her loneliness and grief, but Phoebe knows that Gwyneth is real enough and so she sets about trying to discover who she is.

The thing I liked most about this novel is that it explores all the many ways in which people can be haunted. Haunted by memories, by the past, by grief, by a lost love, by a crime unpunished, by a lost child, a lost future or opportunity, haunted by madness even. There are ghosts all around us all the time, when you think about it, its just that not everyone can see them.  All of these ghosts are explored here.  Two of the main characters earn their living as ghost writers, which is a rather clever play on the theme of ghosts and what they may or may not be. And yes, there is an actual spirit at the heart of the novel, so it is certainly a ghost story, but it's so much more than that too. 

In some ways, the novel reads like a mystery, with Phoebe turning detective and heading to the library archives to see if she can discover more about the valley in which she lives and the people who have lived there in the past. I had never read any of J D Oswalds work before, but after reading this book it came as no surprise that he generally writes detective novels! If this is his first foray into ghostly fiction, then he's done a good job of it and I hope that he will continue to write more ghostly tales in future, perhaps with more spookiness.

Although the book is set in Wales, I found myself thinking about Strathpeffer in Scotland as I read, because there are similarities between the fictional village and the small Highland town, where nothing is forgotten and the dead can be felt in the air. No-one ever fully leaves Strathpeffer, not even me, and a part of the soul always remains behind to walk the town with ghostly steps. This novel had that same atmosphere and yearning quality about it. It's a very moving story. 

Broken Ghosts has a duel narrative, so we get to see both the Phoebe of the past in 1985 and the adult version of her in 2023. Each time-jump leads neatly from the last chapter and smoothly into the next, so this isn't jarring in any way. The duel timeline has been clearly thought out and it is well executed. I very much enjoyed reading this novel, which is a moving tale of endurance, resilience and recovery from grief.  

At its core, Broken Ghosts is about what happens to the ghost of the whole-heart, after that heart has been broken. How does it survive the loss, the damage, the pain? How does it recover? And how many ghostly encounters does it take to heal a heart?

Broken Ghosts is released on Thursday and is up for Pre-Order now. Happy Haunting!

Marie x

AD: This book was sent to me by the publisher, Headline, and is released on 12th September 2024 in all formats. 

BOOK NOOK: The Ravenswood Witch by Jenni Keer

"There's a wickedness within this house, on the Greybourne lands, and even in our village. It's like Ravenswood has pulled in all the dark forces for miles around - a terrifying whirlwind sucking everything that is monstrous into its eye." 

As today is the first day of meteorological autumn it seems fitting that I have just finished reading this spooky witchy novel, which has held me in its grip for the past two days. I was sent a ARC of The Ravenswood Witch by the publisher, Boldwood Books and I have enjoyed it immensely. Autumn is the perfect time of year to read witchy books and I am always on the lookout for exciting new titles in this genre. 

I would describe The Ravenswood Witch as being a Gothic mystery, with a subplot of witchery. The witchcraft isn't the main thread of the story, but more of an intriguing backdrop to a murder mystery which is set in the late 1800s. It is quite a slow burn, but this adds to the atmosphere as you come to know the house and its inhabitants over a period of time, just as the main protagonist does. 

In this novel, she is fleeing from a troubled past when she bumps into Marcus Greybourne and suffers a broken ankle from her subsequent fall. In order to escape the policemen who are following her, she agrees to play the part of Marcus's wife Luna, who has mysteriously disappeared. In the arms of her rescuer, the newly named Luna is carried back to his house, Ravenswood, a dilapidated Gothic mansion standing on the edge of a dense forest.  

There they make an agreement not to pry into one another's past, but to focus on building a believable marriage together.  Luna sees this as an opportunity to escape her own troubles and is willingly drawn into the shadowy world of Ravenswood. However, her new husband failed to mention that his missing wife was rumoured to be a witch and now the new Luna has to live with that reputation and all the danger it brings.

The novel has a duel narrative, with well-drawn characters in both storylines. The way these plots merge together was quite a twist and this novel has lots of surprises to keep you guessing. Just when you think you've foreseen what's going on, the plot thickens or turns and turns again. It's certainly a page-turner!  It has echoes of Jane Eyre and Rebecca, with a touch of Victoria Holt's mastery of Gothic storytelling. Personally, I would have preferred it to be a little faster paced, but the slow unfolding of the plot didn't diminish my enjoyment of the novel, and things do speed up at the last few chapters, so it leads to a breath-taking ending. 

The Ravenswood Witch is a suspenseful novel, with plenty of satisfying twists, a very Gothic atmosphere and an adorable raven familiar and psychopomp, named Bran, who I simply loved! It's not the strongest witchy book I've ever read, but it was very enjoyable and it is the perfect eerie mystery novel to kick off the autumnal spooky season. So as the nights begin to draw in and its time to light the candles again, this is a novel that will keep you company during the chilly evenings this autumn. It's worth reading just to meet Bran! 

"Quoth the raven, nevermore."

Bright Blessings

Marie x

AD: This novel was sent to me by the publisher for the purposes of review. It will be released on 30th September 2024 in all formats and is up for Pre-Oder now. 

ONCE UPON A DREAM: Preparing for Autumn Studies

 

As summer wanes to a welcome close I am making preparations for the autumn season.  I start my final term at Oxford University next month and I will be studying until December when my course finishes. Although the academic year usually runs from September to the following July, most universities also offer an alternative program of January to December studying, for those who wish to start a bit later. This is ideal for the shorter courses such as the kind I am undertaking. 

I have recently received my required reading list from my Professors for this coming term and so I have already ordered the textbooks from Blackwells. Sadly, my local branch of Blackwells closed down a couple of years ago, so I now have to order from them online, which isn't quite the same. I used to love wandering around the store, browsing the shelves. It was a great way for new books to find me.  I am looking forward to getting a head start on the core text and reading around the topics that we will be covering this term. I've also bought myself a new Oxford notebook ready for Michaelmas term. I love stationary shopping at the end of summer. It's so nostalgic, giving all the back-to-school vibes as children and adults alike prepare to return to a more scholarly way of life. 

In addition to my Oxford studies, I am also writing new projects for my publisher too, so it is a very busy time. It isn't always easy juggling my publishing work and my Oxford course work and assignments, but I'm managing. The hardest part is when the deadlines clash and I have to get both a book and a major assignment in on the same day! That takes some quite serious planning and time management. Of course, there are days when I wish I could just curl up with a book and read, but for the most part I am enjoying being so busy. It's nice to be working on new books and its interesting to write assignments and essays. I enjoy both types of writing, both commercial and academic. Each has its own challenges and it is nice that I have the chance to develop these two authorial voices, because many writers go one way or the other.  I am lucky enough to write both. 

As I am spending so much more time in my study lately, I have decided that I want to make it more autumnal, so I have been on the hunt for a few pieces to make the space as cosy as possible. I want to bring in more witchy and dark academia vibes and so, to that end, I picked up a few little bits to dot around the room. First, I got a set of autumn leaf string lights that I plan to fix around my bookcases. Then I got an autumnal witch cushion to place in my buttoned leather desk chair, along with a cosy throw that has autumn leaves and pumpkins on it. It will be lovely to snuggle into during the colder days and dark nights when I'm up late writing or studying. 

I love having candles flickering around me as I work, with the shadows dancing on the walls and along the spines of my books creating a cosy, magical atmosphere that I find quite inspiring. I write better in the dark, by candlelight. So I was delighted when I found a tealight holder shaped like a witch's hat! It's so cute and whimsical and it looks lovely when its lit. I keep this on my desk as I write, along with a spooky witch's hand candle holder that holds a small tinned candle from Upturned Cauldron, in their Poison Apple fragrance which is perfect for September.  I love their candles and I have a few of them. Bewitched Pumpkin is my favourite, but I also like Mermaid Tears which I believe is new to their collection this year. I have this burning in my bathroom and it smells amazing! Its like the scent of a rock pool by the sea.  They also do some fun wax melts shaped like vampire teeth too, so they are definitely the place to go for seasonal scents to fill your home with witchy atmosphere. 

The dark season has always been my favourite time of year. I hate summer and I am always glad to see the back of it. I much prefer dark nights, foggy, rainy days and golden leaves, followed by the crisp cold days of winter. To me, there is nothing nicer than being outside on a chilly autumn or winter's day, then coming in from the cold to a cosy library, or a comfy chair pulled up to the fireside, and settling down to read spooky books by candlelight, with a cup of hot chocolate beside you. It's just the best season!  

So I plan to spend this coming weekend, listening to Duran Duran's wonderful Danse Macabre vinyl album and preparing my study for a long dark season of writing and studying, putting out all my new things. I want to have everything in place by the time Michaelmas term starts in a couple of weeks, so that I have a magical, autumnal library to escape into on chilly days, when deadlines are looming and I am deeply absorbed in new projects and assignments.  I love working from home, I have been enjoying my studies at Oxford all year long and so I want to just hibernate in my study and see what magical new books and scholarly essays I can conjure up. Its going to be a very productive dark season and I simply can't wait for it to begin! 

Autumn Blessings!

Marie x

AD: Some of the items mentioned here were sent as gifts for the purposes of review.

WRITER'S DREAM: My Moon Magic Tome!

 

"Many people never get to know me. They fear me, for I am the witches they burnt at the stake...But I am also wisdom, forbearance, darkness and rest. I am the powerful magic of a long-lived witch. I am the depths of winter and the darkness of midnight on a waning moon. I am all these things and more."

from the Crone of the Moon meditation.

Publication day is always an exciting time and no matter how many books I have written over the decades - well over thirty books to date! - that feeling of excitement never wanes.  It is especially thrilling when a new book is so beautifully presented in a stunning collectors edition.  So I was eagerly anticipating the release of my newest book Moon Magic, which is a companion volume to my ornate The Book of Spells that came out in 2022.  As part of the Mystic Archives series, these books are designed to become treasured volumes, loved as much for their beauty as for the magical content they contain.  These books are hefty hardback tomes of magic, with stunning foiled cover designs and metallic page edges. They always make me think of the kind of books you might find in an old esoteric library, so I am delighted to have now written two volumes for the Mystic Archives series.  

I was writing Moon Magic in the depths of winter last year, tucked up warm and cosy in my study, spinning out magical verse and prose in a way that I haven't really done before. Lunar magic is a topic that I have written about in the past, but it was nice to be able to revisit the subject and expand on it for this larger book. With a decent word count I was able to explore various aspects of moonlore, from deities and spells to lunar animals and moon fables. I could also go into more depth in terms of manifesting with the moon, including looking at what doesn't work, such as imitation!

In exploring various moon fables, such as white ladies and ghost soldiers, I was also able to touch on topics that many books of lunar magic never mention but which have always fascinated me as a reader and a practitioner.  In addition, I was able to include a quotation from Christina Rossetti's poem Goblin Market, which is an old favourite of mine. It was tremendous fun to write and to create a tome like this, and the design team at my publishing house have done a fantastic job of illustrating my words with stunning silhouette art that gives the book an otherwordly vibe.

As a writer it is always great fun when I get to stretch my authorial wings a little bit, moving into slightly different literary territory and working in a very intuitive way.  I have no idea what I'm going to write until I actually sit down and start writing and to find a publisher and editor who support this way of working is a rare gift.  Most editors want detailed plans for the book before they will commission it, but my editor trusts me to just get on with the writing, allowing me the creative freedom to take my work in slightly different directions from the one that is most expected. 

Moon Magic was no exception and my favourite aspect of working on this book was in writing the guided meditations. This was when I felt at my most creative. What started out as three simple meditations for the three phases of the Triple Goddess, grew into something much bigger! I found that I could allow my imagination to conjure up fairy-tale visions, some drawing on my own personal experiences of magical moments I have had in the Scottish Highlands over the years.   Once the three goddess meditations were written, ideas kept bubbling up and other characters and deities kept demanding the same attention! I knew I wanted to include a whole chapter dedicated entirely to this kind of work, creating gentle and ethereal paths to personal insight and enlightenment, and so the Moon Meditations chapter came into being. It is a natural progression on my usual work, being a form of prose fiction with a magical twist.

I used fantasy storytelling techniques to bring these visions to life, so that readers might enjoy escaping into a meditation that is not only insightful, but imaginative and enchanting as well.  I wanted them to be fun to use in a ritual space. The meditations themselves are presented in a charming fairy-tale way, meaning that when you turn to that chapter, each work of prose is presented as its own unique tale. Its like reading a magical storybook! 

I couldn't be happier with it and I am very satisfied with the finished result. Writing fantasy meditations is certainly something I plan to continue doing in future books too. It is incredibly liberating to be free to spin out fantasy tales, turning them into useful tools of self-discovery. It is also a very natural development of my own writing, moving closer to a prose fiction style, while still maintaining the down to earth tone of register and informative work I'm known for. 

Who knows, maybe one day I'll get to write and publish a book entirely made up of spiritual and whimsical guided meditations. In the meantime, I am having great fun incorporating this style of fantasy prose into my current books and my head is brimming with ideas!  I'm really happy with how this collectors edition of Moon Magic has turned out and I hope that people enjoy reading it and using it in their ritual practice. 

In this spellbinding tome you can follow the guided meditations as a Seeker of the Old Ones, into the enchanting world of my imaginings and see what wisdom waits for you there. I'll meet you in the Lunar Glen!

BB Marie x

AD: Moon Magic by Marie Bruce was published on August 1st 2024 and is available now in hardcover and digital formats. 

MUSICAL DOLL: SIX, The Musical

 

"I'm that Boleyn girl, yeah I'm up next, see

I broke England from the Church - yeah, I'm that sexy..."

Yesterday I went to see the matinee performance of SIX, The Musical. I have seen it once before, a couple of years ago and it has fast become my favourite musical.  It tells the fictitious story of  what would happen if the six wives of Henry VIII were to form a girl band and sing out their traumatic experiences at the hands of a despot husband. As you can imagine, King Henry is the butt of all the jokes and this is certainly a feminist take on history. 

I enjoyed the show even more this time around because I have the album and so I knew all the songs - it was bit like being at a Britney or Kylie concert, but with history attached.  I had forgotten how sparkly and bedazzling the costumes are! They shimmer under the lights like diamonds, adding a touch of Tudor glamour to the performance. Six is a very fun, vibrant show, which includes a techno rendition of Greensleeves and the cast wearing day glow Tudor ruffs! As you can imagine, the audience is predominantly female and this is a great show for a girl's night out or if you have teenage daughters. Be aware though that there's lots of sexual inuendo involved in the performance, so if you're easily offended it might not be for you. For example, Anne Boleyn makes a remark that Henry must have really liked her head, accompanied by a rude gesture with her microphone! It's all a bit of a carry-on, and the show doesn't have any age restrictions on it, but just be aware that there is some saucy content. 

For the most part the show is incredibly sassy, with lots of one liners and great jokes at Henry's expense. It is long past time we made him the scapegoat after all, and Six does just that, with intelligence and marvellous wit.  The audience were encouraged to support their favourite Queen and my favourites have always been Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, so I bought the lapel pins for each of them, but I only wore the Anne Boleyn one as it went with my dress. I'll wear the Katherine Howard one next time I go, because I absolutely will be going to see Six again. It's just so much fun, with very catchy songs that you can sing and dance along to.  You don't even need to see the show to enjoy the music, as the album tells the story of these Queens through the lyrics of the songs, so you can just listen to the album SIX, The Musical and get the same vibe. 

If you do want to see the show however, they are touring the UK all summer long, so go along and see for yourself how much fun it is. I had a great time and I'll probably be listening to the album all weekend. Don't lose your head!

BB Marie x

BOOK NOOK: The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

He took another drag of his cigarette, all anger apparently gone. "The word 'psychotherapist', as you know, comes from the Greek psyche, meaning 'soul', and therapeia, meaning 'healing'. Are you a healer of souls? Will you heal mine?"

With Oxford University having broken up for the summer, I am free of my studies for now, until the autumn, so I have had more time to read fiction. Once again, I find myself drawn to the world of dark academia and since this novel has been waiting on my shelf for some time, I decided that now was the perfect moment to read it.  

Set at Cambridge University, The Maidens is a dark and moody murder mystery, for there is a killer on the rampage amid these hallowed halls of learning. The Maidens of the title refers to an exclusive secret society at the university, made up of the brightest, most beautiful and highly privileged of the female students. The society is run by the handsome professor of Greek Tragedy, Edward Fosca and his Maidens will do just about anything to win and maintain his approval.  This allegiance becomes all the more vital when one of their number is murdered and the society bands closer together to protect each other and their beloved American tutor.  

Into this mix comes Mariana, a psychotherapist and aunt to one of the students, Zoe, who was best friends with the murder victim. Mariana is still grieving after the sudden death of her husband and she is determined to do what she can to protect her niece until the killer is found and brought to justice. She soon begins to suspect that Edward Fosca has a strange hold over the girls he has drawn into the Maidens society and that he is the most likely suspect for the murder, so she sets out to prove his guilt, using her skills as a psychotherapist to try and extract the Maidens from his influence and control. Being a psychotherapist myself, this psychological slant on the classic mystery novel intrigued me.

This story is written in the style of a good old fashioned who-dunnit. It reminded me of Miss Marple, in that Mariana seems to be able to get access to crime scenes and evidence which is totally beyond her jurisdiction as a therapist. She also has a habit of finding evidence that the police have missed, which she then holds onto without consequence, so it is a little fantastical in that respect.  However, this didn't spoil the story for me because lots of fictional amateur sleuths seem to have a knack of being in places they shouldn't be, so it was in keeping with the genre and the classic mystery novels of Agatha Christie and Ruth Rendell.

The story swings along at a nice pace, with short chapters and great hooks that keep you turning the pages. The university setting is well drawn and you do feel as if you are in the halls of Cambridge University, or punting on the river, as you read.  I also enjoyed that this book hinges on Greek mythology, most especially the myth of Demeter and Persephone, which is one of my favourite legends of the Greek pantheon. 

My only gripe with this book is that it didn't go on for long enough and I felt like the story ended too soon. I would have preferred an additional scene at the end, because it didn't feel like a truly satisfying ending. It's good, but I wanted to know more. I would have preferred the novel to continue for one more scene to get a more satisfying denouement, as the ending feels too open and unfinished, though some readers will enjoy the open-ended conclusion. 

Overall though, I really enjoyed reading this one. If you like dark academia novels, murder mysteries or classical mythology, you will probably enjoy The Maidens. It has certainly kept me entertained for the past couple of evenings. Happy reading.

BB Marie x

AD: This novel is published by Orion and is available now in all formats.