A Tale of Magic by Chris Colfer

cover image

Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2019. ISBN: 9781510202115. 448pp. hbk.
(Age: Teens) Highly recommended. This is a story about a time when magic was seen to be a bad thing, where people were punished for doing magic, depending on where you lived depended on the punishment you received.
Brystal is not aware of her magic abilities, she just has a profound love of books and reading but unfortunately she lives in a place where girls are not allowed to read, only boys learn to read and go to school. Brystal manages to get herself the best job she could imagine, being the maid cleaning the local library, each night when she finishes cleaning the library she spends some time reading the books in the library. One night when she has finished cleaning she notices a book on a high shelf that she had not seen previously, when she reaches up to pull this book from the shelf it will not budge, with a bit of effort the book opens a secret door behind the book shelf where Brystal finds a collection of forbidden books, and this discovery will change her life forever. One night while she is reading one of the forbidden books The Truth about Magic she learns that she is a Fairy. When she is discovered doing magic her life takes a turn for the worst.
Brystal ends up in the Bootstrap Correctional Facility for Troubled Young Women. She has never been so cold in her life, but a ray of kindness finds her with one of the other girls bringing her extra blankets during the night, and they build up a friendship which makes the place more bearable.
One day Madame Weatherberry arrives at the facility and takes Brystal away to become a student at her school for magic. Brystal is unsure about this to begin with but begins to enjoy the new adventure and meets some new friends who are in similar situations to her.
Through Madame Weatherberry's kindness Brystal starts to learn to use her magic. But there is something mysterious going on at the school and their teacher is not telling them the whole truth. When Madame Weatherberry does not return to the academy Brystal tells her classmates about what is happening and together they are determined to save Madame Weatherberry.
In the end Brystal learns the truth and has to make a choice about how she is going to handle the information she had learnt. Brystal was determined that the tale of magic would have a happy ending.
This book is aimed at teen readers.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a bit of magic and mystery.
Karen Colliver

booktopia