Mary ran out of bobbin thread two minutes ago. Through stolen glances, the other girls and I take stock of one another’s work. He arrived this morning for one of his favorite surprise inspections, but as usual, it’s less an inspection of the shop than of the seamstresses who work here. Hues is a difficult presence to ignore as he stalks through the shop with all the grace of a drunken lion. Right now, I am pretending I don’t want to scream. My mother once told me a girl’s success in this world was dependent on how well she could pretend.

What price would she pay for power, and what if the truth is more terrible than she ever imagined? ExcerptĬhapter One: New York, September 1911 CHAPTER ONE NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 1911

Frances must ultimately choose what matters more, justice for her murdered brother and her growing feelings for Finn, or the safety of her city and fellow witches. And who will stop at nothing to have Frances by his side. Frances has no interest in the small, safe magic of her school, and is instead enchanted by Finn, a boy with magic himself who appears in her dreams and tells her he can teach her all she’s been craving to learn, lessons that may bring her closer to discovering what truly happened to her brother.įrances’s newfound power attracts the attention of the leader of an ancient order who yearns for magical control of Manhattan. Within Haxahaven’s glittering walls, Frances finds the sisterhood she craves, but the headmistress warns Frances that magic is dangerous. But Frances finds Haxahaven isn’t a sanitarium at all: it’s a school for witches.

Everything changes when she’s attacked and a man ends up dead at her feet-her scissors in his neck, and she can’t explain how they got there.īefore she can be condemned as a murderess, two cape-wearing nurses arrive to inform her she is deathly ill and ordered to report to Haxahaven Sanitarium. In 1911 New York City, seventeen-year-old Frances Hallowell spends her days as a seamstress, mourning the mysterious death of her brother months prior. The Last Magician meets The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy in this “spectacular, singular, and spellbinding” (Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue) historical fantasy following a young woman who discovers she has magical powers and is thrust into a battle between witches and wizards.

Pearls before swine pastis