#43// witches and boarding schools

make a deal with the devil

Dear Reader,

Oops! It is December already but let’s pretend we are in November, okay?

Read

I’ve got the most exciting book to recommend today. A dark, gothic horror of three witch sisters sequestered in a crumbling castle, protected by ancient charms. With dark, grim, fairytale elements.

In Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid, three witch sisters—eldest Undine who can read the future, herbalist Rose who is skilled at potions, and the youngest Marlinchen (the heroine) who can read people by touch—live in an enchanted castle with their father, Zmiy Vaschenko, the last wizard of Oblya. Oblya is an East-European inspired capitalist city at the cusp of industrialization, moving away from magic and superstitions into modernity.

Vaschenko is monstrously hungry because of a curse that stripped him off his powers. But he likes to be in-charge. His watchful eyes supervise the clients and extract extortionate fee in exchange of his daughters’ services. The ladies are prohibited from experiencing freedom, pleasure, sex, love or friendship. Confined to a castle (whose grounds are enchanted by Vaschenko to turn men to snakes), they work to pay bills, buy food, and cook feasts. They live in fear and reverence of their father, who on a bad can change you into a bird.

Life follows a routine until Marlinchen falls in love with the principal ballet dancer at the theater, after a couple of midnight encounters, and longs to break free. (“My eldest sister was right; I would smile blithely if someone tried to saw off my leg. But no one had ever told me that I was allowed to scream.” she says)

Very loosely inspired by the Grimm Brother’s Juniper tree fairytale, where a mother cooks her stepson for dinner, Ava Reid’s Juniper & Thorn ticks all familiar fairytale tropes—dead mother, abusive father, unrequited love, three sisters, a man who steals the heroine’s heart.

The novel is a delight on the senses with mayhem, monsters, ballet, birds in cages, morning feasts, killed chickens, snatches of freedom. Women have no agency even though they are bread winners. Men rule over women’s bodies. The sisters have to frequently undergo their father’s draught test to prove their virginity. Starving Marlinchen “chastises herself for her ugly, indecent desires” of “miserable, guilt-ridden envy” as she watches her father gorging on the food she prepares. His ravenous hunger pangs collide with the anxious, starving women who grow smaller by the day. There’s conflict between the innocence and blind devotion of the daughters and the manipulation of their patriarchal, xenophobic father.

When the writing evokes grotesque, nightmarish horror and charms you with luscious ancient magic, you sometimes lose yourself to its spell. I LOVED this book; every page, every description (PS : If you can’t stomach graphic scenes/abuse skip them. I sure skipped a few); it is lush, immersive, atmospheric, magical but not short of weak subplots. Marlinchen’s sisters are one dimensional. The romance is pitifully a horny-teenagers-infatuated-with-one-another situation, which makes you wonder if the ballet dancer Marlinchen lost her heart to, will go to such lengths to save a woman he barely knew. There’s xenophobia but the hierarchies in Oblya are vague. Probably the biggest blow is a climax/confrontation scene between Marlinchen and her sister, which made me think “If this was the secret/truth, why did Ava Reid make me read 350 pages, because everything could’ve been resolved in ten pages maybe?”.

Was that harsh? I still stand by what I said about Juniper and Thorn being a gorgeous book. This could’ve been a 5 star read for me, but I knocked off a 0.5 for the above reasons. Maybe that’s too lenient, but this book was one of my absolute favorites of the year in spite of its faults. It made me lose hold of reality. If you love folklores, Bear and the Nightingale series (another favourite), Catherynne M Valente, definitely give this a try. (A Tiktok on the aesthetics of this novel if you please).

Trigger warning : self-harm, abuse (mental, physical, sexual, child), eating disorders, cannibalism

Buy these books on Amazon (IN) or Bookshop (US)

Next up, cozy book time! Sure, there are orcs and a succubus in Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree. But they are tweaking recipes for a new cafe and trying to turn their lives around. So instead of wars, blood thirst, barbarian subplots and tense conflicts, you have the coziest coffee shop opening in a town that hasn’t heard of coffee. Huge coffee grinders, steaming hot lattes, menus that are tweaked every day, sugary, delicious cinnamon rolls, jars of biscotti and a slow burn sapphic romance.

I picked this slice-of-life fantasy at the right time, when the air (and Instagram) screamed ‘cozy autumn’. Fun fact : this book began as a Nanowrimo project which was then self-published before it got picked up by Tor. The stakes are low, but the warmth that spreads through your body is at an all-time high. If you are keen on extensive world building, or elaborate magic systems, you might be disappointed. In Legends and Lattes, it is never too late to chase your dream, to be kind, to create a community. I listened to the book on audio, narrated by the author himself, and I often found myself drawn to a nearby café instead of my usual walking trails, because…you simply can’t help it.

If you’d rather cozy up with an audiobook over the colder months,
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I have been trying out books I normally would not pick up. That’s how I stumbled over (literally stumbled over the GORGEOUS book covers) The Book of Tea duology by Judy I Lin, a slow burn historical fantasy set in ancient China rife with court politics, the ancient art of magic infused tea-making and a royal competition. In A Magic Steeped in Poison the revered shennog-shi, masters of the ancient tea brewing ritual, can brew tea to influence the drinker.

Ning, a shennong-shi, accidentally poisoned her sister and mother with a tea she brewed (her mother dies). The only way Ning can find a cure for her dying sister is by winning the royal competition to become the royal court tea brewer.

I loved the lush descriptions, the rituals of tea-making, and the descriptions of the absolutely delicious meals they ate (omg yes!). I loved how the book got better over the pages, just like a a nicely steeped cup of tea. But the characters felt very distant, making me not care about them, or the romance, or the boy with the mysterious past.

The first book left me with enough intrigue to immediately plunge into A Venom Dark and Sweet where four women, including Ning, are trying to keep the country safe from invaders. More politics, more nightmares of a serpent, more distrust. If you love historical C-dramas, and books layered with Chinese and Taiwanese mythology, and slow unveils, this would mesmerize you, as long as you prepare yourself for frequent uneven pacing and distant characters.

For a weekend indulgence, there’s If you could see the Sun by Ann Liang set in contemporary Beijing, in an international boarding school, a scholarship student finds out that she has invisibility powers in. Since her family is struggling to pay the hefty school fees, she decides to monetize her powers and comes up with a business plan with the handsome rich heir who is also her academic rival.

I sped through this pacy YA fantasy—which I might argue is more of a commentary on class, privilege, self-discovery, than the ‘magic’. Very enjoyable. Occasionally the sentences stand out when the author wants to make a ‘point’—I wished these were more natural in their presentation. I am not a fan of novels where ‘X has to mention 3 points by the end of the book’ (why?) but it didn’t take away my enjoyment of the read, as the plot quickly dives into a faster story line with conflicts. Enemies to lovers, competitive young adults, scandalous secrets of private school kids, you’ve got it all. Also this book breaks down a few Asian-family stereotypes which I very much am here for. Watch out for a cute scene between father and the boy who wants to date his daughter.

Watch

I binged Bad Sisters (Apple TV) which was a delicious dark comedy about sisters trying to kill their prick of a brother-in-law. The award for the most hated character in TV goes to this prick, hands down. You might start the show thinking ‘why kill?’ and by a few episodes you’d be like ‘so what’s the new plan?’

What’s new

You might notice that today’s edition of the newsletter looks almost the same but slightly different. I’ve moved to Substack after months of thinking over it. I loved using Mailchimp but hopefully this new platform makes it easier to subscribe and browse archives. If you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, please forward to your friends.

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Amazing Links

Always had a vague idea of a passage from a book but couldn’t put your finger on it? AI is here to help

My gothic, spooky fans : This piece gave me chills. “I bought a house with a dark past” (The Guardian)

Turn off your phone for an hour (Stylist)

Why birds changed their song in the pandemic? (Atlas Obscura)

Following the steps of the slow cooker (Longreads)

Writers : Easy hack when you are struggling to delete the ‘very’

I hope you’ve been keeping warm as the months are turning colder. Awaiting to be swamped by best-of-the-year lists in 3…2…1. Which reminds me, I better get started on mine.

Thank you for your incredible love and support for this letter project. Here’s to many more,

Much love,

Resh x