Winifred Hall has two magnificent but dangerous attributes: she is both very beautiful, and a very talented black magician.
When an old benefactor summons her to the eerie Witchwood Manor, Winnie accepts her plea to act as governess to the elderly dowager’s spoiled grandson. For Lady Longfell knows she is dying – and she knows these haunted halls have no love for her family line. Within a few steps, it is clear to Winnie that Witchwood is not at all what it seems. The few staff who remain appear haunted and listless, and the faerie butler who flits in and out of the shadows, Mr Quincy, is clearly hiding a terrible secret. The manor is not kind to its inhabitants – but nor does it wish to let them go.
But Winnie is much too level-headed to let faeries, ghosts or monsters keep her from protecting her young charge. Drawing on all of her magic and bravery, with help from her loyal cat’s ghost and the mysterious Mr Quincy, she determines to make sure Robert is kept safe from the sinister Witchwood. For there are dark dealings afoot, the likes of which even Winnie has never seen before - and not all of the threats here are supernatural…
Olivia Atwater writes whimsical historical fantasy with a hint of satire. She lives in Montreal, Quebec with her fantastic, prose-inspiring husband and her two cats. When she told her second-grade history teacher that she wanted to work with history someday, she is fairly certain this isn’t what either party had in mind. She has been, at various times, a historical re-enactor, a professional witch at a metaphysical supply store, a web developer, and a vending machine repairperson.
<aside> 💫 “The Witchwood Knot is the gothic fantasy romance of my dreams, and there aren't enough superlatives for me to convey how much I loved its uniquely elegant prose, eerie setting, clever heroine, gorgeously dangerous faerie butler, and basically every single thing about the entire book.”
— India Holton, author of The League of Gentlewomen Witches
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<aside> 💫 "I gobbled this up like a slice of cake... if you've been aching for some of the spirit of Susanna Clarke or Erin Morgenstern but with less commitment and a healthier sense of fun, this book is for you." -Jacquelyn Benson, author of The Fire in the Glass
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<aside> 💫 "Olivia Atwater is a sleeping giant of fantasy fiction." - Inkslinger, Betwixt the Sheets Review Blog
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Extent: 84,000 words
Publisher: Starwatch Press KDP (November 2023)
Primary Agent: Christabel McKinley
Film/ TV agent: DHA (Georgie Smith)
Rights sold: All rights available
Co-agents: Chinese Bardon Chinese Media; Japanese Tuttle-Mori
Previous Publishers: French Albin Michel Jeunesse; German CBJ; Portuguese in Brazil Verus Editora; Serbian Vulkan Publishing; Spanish Duermevela; Turkish Ithaki