The Unsleeping Witch

by Alexandra Overy

Overview

Sleeping Beauty is about to wake up.

Maud may be made of gingerbread—plus a spark of magic—but she’s a real witch! Even if she’s still learning, and has a habit of making messes…and might have accidentally unleashed the hundred-year-old Class IV sleeping curse that envelops a princess’s bramble-covered castle. Oops.

Maud has her friends Gretel, Ludo, and Nuss the hazelnut mousse squirrel to help her fix this. But it won’t be easy to find the sleeping princess’s true love, and the curse might end up being the least of their problems…

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780369736581
Publisher:	Inkyard Press
Publication date:	09/12/2023
Series:	The Gingerbread Witch , #2
Sold by:	HARLEQUIN
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Alexandra Overy grew up in London and moved to Los Angeles to pursue her undergraduate degree in history at UCLA, where she also completed her MFA in screenwriting, and stuck around for the weather and great ice cream. She loves writing in all formats, always centering on fierce women and morally gray characters, often with a bit of magic and murder. When she’s not writing, she can be found baking, fangirling over her favorite books, or cuddling her foster kittens.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Gingerbread Witch

"An enticing fable that celebrates unlikely friendships, unconventional families, and an uncommon hero trying to prove she’s made of more than she appears. The Gingerbread Witch is a magical tale, brimming with heart." —Anne Ursu, National Book Award Longlisted author of The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy


“A modern reimagining that reads like a well-told fairy-tale classic.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2023-07-26
Fledgling witch Maud answers a call to help her unlikely friends save their people from a dangerous sleeping curse.

Likable witch-in-training Maud returns in this follow-up to Overy’s The Gingerbread Witch (2022). After receiving a mysterious fire post from witch hunter Gretel (of “Hansel and Gretel” fame), Maud sets off to ensure that she and her other flash old friends are safe. What she discovers is a mysterious, unleashed curse. Working with Gretel and Ludo, Maud encounters powerful, unforgiving witches, visits a dragon library, and surprises even herself with her resourcefulness and loyalty to her friends. Readers will enjoy the return of Maud’s companions: scene-stealing squirrel Nuss, who is made of gingerbread and hazelnut mousse, and sweet wolf pup Grim. What makes the story so compelling isn’t just the high-stakes magic or the thoughtful reimagining of “Sleeping Beauty” but rather the close relationships between young people who under normal circumstances wouldn’t and shouldn’t be friends. One particularly moving scene finds witch hunter Gretel declaring her friendship and loyalty to Maud. Queer representation is effortlessly included; most human characters are described as having light skin. Readers will come for the magic and adventure but will stay for the deep connections between characters and true-of-heart tests.

Satisfying and meaningful. (Fantasy. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews