Spells for Forgetting

July 11, 2022
In Young’s atmospheric adult debut (after the Fable YA duology), “deep magic” runs in the women of Saoirse, a fictional island in Puget Sound. After high school graduation, Emery Blackwood hopes to move away with her boyfriend, August Salt, but when the island’s orchard burns to the ground on the same night that Emery’s best friend, Lily Morgan, is mysteriously killed, their plans to leave the next morning are aborted. All signs point to August as the culprit behind Lily’s death, but there’s not enough evidence to charge him, and he and his mother flee Saoirse, leaving Emery to take over her family’s tea shop, which dispenses “mystical brews” to help with love and luck. Now, 14 years later, August returns to Saoirse to bury his mother and sell her cottage. August’s return raises questions about what actually happened all those years ago, and it appears every islander is hiding a piece of the puzzle. The plot is convoluted, but Young entrances with the island’s witchy vibes, and makes palpable the unfinished childhood love story between Emery and August, which comes back to life after his return. Despite the bumps, Young casts a spell that will keep readers turning the pages. Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Literary.