They caught me by surprise, but immediately bumped the book back up my to-read list. Earlier this year, however, I went to an event at Kenilworth Books, where I was met with the most effusive, excited, and enthusiastic recommendations for it. And it just kept slipping further down my list, and after a small flutter for the release of book 2, I didn’t really hear anything else. These were big claims, but although the chocolate umbrella was delicious I was deep in busy things – splitting my time between my internship, my paying job, and writing my dissertation. Everyone in Hachette got a copy, along with a little chocolate umbrella and a letter from the head of publishing saying that Nevermoor was going to be the next great children’s phenomenon, that it had the makings of the next Harry Potter or Chronicles of Narnia. I was given the proof of this book way back in 2017 while I was interning at Gollancz. Mystery, magic and protection are hers – if only she can pass four impossible trials, using an exceptional talent. There she’s invited to join the Wundrous Society. But, as the clock strikes midnight, she’s whisked away by a remarkable man called Jupiter North and taken to the secret city of Nevermoor. Ms.Morrigan Crow is cursed, destined to die on her eleventh birthday. Morrigan and her friends are truly characters you will root for, and the hotel she calls her new home is a place anyone would want to visit. “ Nevermoor: the Trials of Morrigan Crow” by debut author Jessica Townsend is a delightful middle grade fantasy. Will she pass the trials? Or will the Hunt of Smoke and Shadows finally catch up to her? In order to stay, Morrigan will vie for a coveted place in the Wundrous Society. One of the biggest surprises: Morrigan may not actually be cursed. Her escape from the Hunt of Smoke and Shadows leads her to the surprising land of Nevermoor.

Choosing the offer from the mysterious and possibly magical Jupiter North, Morrigan begins a wild ride across town in an animatronic spider just minutes before her scheduled death. However, when she receives two legitimate bids for apprenticeships, there is a glimmer of hope. Morrigan Crow has accepted her lot in life and tries her best to keep the cursing to a minimum. You also know the exact date of your death: midnight on your eleventh birthday. You have spent your entire life as a ‘cursed child’.a person who gets blamed when someone catches a cold or it rains on an important event.

Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend