JANUARY 2022 - AudioFile
Saskia Maarleveld narrates this debut novel about magic, time travel, and, most of all, family. She unfolds the story of Persephone, a 32-year-old woman who always knew she was different but didn’t know why. As Persephone finds out about her family, learns that she is a witch, and is instrumental in breaking a hundred-year curse, Maarleveld presents her as growing in confidence and less afraid of getting to know others. Maarleveld ably guides listeners through the various threads of the story, which is told from multiple points of view. She differentiates a colorful cast of eccentric characters and gives accents to the characters who time travel back to Scotland, where the curse began. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
05/17/2021
Estranged family, oblique riddles, and a profusion of mechanistic magic systems leave Crutcher’s dramatic, witchy fantasy debut difficult to place. A century earlier, a powerful curse trapped the witches of Wile Isle, N.C. Now 30-something Persephone May—a foundling shuffled between foster homes because of her strange, violent powers—is invited to the island by her new friend Hyacinth Ever. She accepts, desperate to end her rootless social detachment, and finds both family and magic. Persephone is Hyacinth’s long-lost cousin and a rare aether witch who can walk through worlds—and she’s prophesized to free Wile’s witches before they’re lost forever. But to break the curse, Persephone must face down the Way sisters, fellow witches who fear tampering with the status quo; confront her intense attraction to a handsome, otherworldly librarian; and contend with a sinister, invasive magic. The narrative voice, with its simplistic explanations of character’s emotions, feels geared to young readers, while the extensive magical rules and endless taxonomies of mystical secrets become exhausting and never quite connect. Crutcher’s complex worldbuilding is impressive, but fails to save this curiously unmoored story. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
"Impressive." - Publishers Weekly
"The novel's intricate Western European-inspired worldbuilding and layered character make it a fit for fans of Alice Hoffman and Deborah Harkness." - Library Journal
"Enthralling and lyrical, The Orphan Witch weaves a story of a haunting curse and a homecoming that is so well deserved. I love this book!" -J.R. Ward, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Paige Crutcher’s debut The Orphan Witch is an enthralling and mystical journey into the heart of her wildly inventive characters. A page-turning story that transports and bewitches, Crutcher knows her magic well. For fans of Alice Hoffman and Deborah Harkness, this debut is imbued with the beauty of myth, lore and legend. Crutcher is a dazzling new voice in fantasy.” —Patti Callahan, New York Times bestselling author of Once Upon a Wardrobe
"Mystical, magical, and wildly original, The Orphan Witch is a great story from an exciting new voice in fantasy. Persephone May is a witch for the ages, a tough, uncompromising, powerful time walker with a wicked gaze and a heart of gold. Her journey to find her family and herself and the lost witches of Wile Ilse is both rollicking adventure and intimate exploration. If Alice Hoffman and Sara Addison Allen had a witchy love child, she would be Paige Crutcher. Do not miss this beautifully realized debut!"—- JT Ellison, New York Times bestselling author of Her Dark Lies
"Cozy and alluring as a magic cup of tea or a magic library, you'll want to adopt The Orphan Witch even if she is dangerous." —Sarah Rees Brennan, New York Times bestselling author of the Demon Lexicon Trilogy
“The Orphan Witch is a well-crafted, magical tale about finding out who you really are—and discovering the true meaning of home. Paige Crutcher’s enchanting debut will charm you from the first page to the last!” —Julianne Maclean, USA Today bestselling author of A Fire Sparkling
Library Journal
09/01/2021
Crutcher's first full-length novel is an intriguing fantasy about magic, family, and time travel. Persephone May has always known that she is different: abandoned as a child, she could never keep ties to people because strange things always happen around her. When a young man nearly dies after looking into her eyes, she must find a new job and home once again. Serendipity intervenes, in an email from an acquaintance named Hyacinth Ever who asks Persephone to come visit her on Wile Isle. Persephone accepts and discovers that Wile Isle feels more like home than anywhere she has lived before. Soon it is revealed that Hyacinth and her sister Moira are Persephone's cousins and all three are witches. Persephone is drawn into a cursed history, one that affects her family and her powers, and learns that Wile Isle has a curse that only she can lift. VERDICT The novel's intricate Western European-inspired worldbuilding and layered characters make it a fit for fans of Alice Hoffman and Deborah Harkness.—Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton
JANUARY 2022 - AudioFile
Saskia Maarleveld narrates this debut novel about magic, time travel, and, most of all, family. She unfolds the story of Persephone, a 32-year-old woman who always knew she was different but didn’t know why. As Persephone finds out about her family, learns that she is a witch, and is instrumental in breaking a hundred-year curse, Maarleveld presents her as growing in confidence and less afraid of getting to know others. Maarleveld ably guides listeners through the various threads of the story, which is told from multiple points of view. She differentiates a colorful cast of eccentric characters and gives accents to the characters who time travel back to Scotland, where the curse began. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
