A Witch Come True

James Nicol's A Witch Come True is a wintry witch adventure for 9 year olds about a young town witch whose dad has just come home from the war.

What happens

Arianwyn takes the slow trains from Lull to the city of Kingsport to see her dad in a military hospital. He's wounded, tired and quiet. When she gives him a healing charm she's made, he stuffs it in his pocket without a word (poor Arianwyn).

It's a very real kind of homecoming. She's desperate to fuss over him, and he keeps snapping. Her grandmother, meanwhile, puts a rude nurse firmly in her place, and it's GREAT.

There's plenty going on in the city too. Her friend Salle is in a play, and when snotlings chew through the theatre's wiring, Arianwyn lights the whole stage with glowing orbs. Colin has already been to see the play twice, which Arianwyn has some feelings about.

Then Gimma's mother turns up at the bookshop. Gimma, Arianwyn's old rival, has vanished. Arianwyn finds a strange photograph in her dad's things, and learns that an elder witch from the Council visited him outside visiting hours. Gran quietly admits she doesn't trust two of her fellow elders.

Back in Lull it's winter, with ice imps and some very confusing Yule traditions. And then Gran is taken. What does a witch do when the person who taught her everything needs rescuing?

It carries on Arianwyn's story, so the friends, the rival and the worries about the Council are already in place. Her world feels a bit old-fashioned, with telegrams, taxis and shillings, but it's full of everyday magic.

Arianwyn is lovely company. She's clumsy (she buttons her coat up wrong and trips over a cape backstage), loyal and braver than she thinks. Her friendships and her worries about her dad feel just as important as the magic.

If you've got a reader who likes magic mixed with real-life feelings, this is a warm and exciting choice.

What to read next

If your reader hasn't met her yet, start with The Apprentice Witch. Arianwyn scrapes through her witch's evaluation with only an apprentice's bronze disc (her rival is delighted) and is sent off to the gloomy little town of Lull.