The Magician's Daughter - by H G Parry (Paperback)

About the Book

"It is 1912, and for the last seventy years magic has all but disappeared from the world. Yet magic is all Biddy has ever known. Orphaned as a baby, Biddy grew up on Hy-Brasil, a legendary island off the coast of Ireland hidden by magic and glimpsed by rare travelers who return with stories of wild black rabbits and a lone magician in a castle. To Biddy, the island is her home, a place of ancient trees and sea-salt air and mysteries, and the magician, Rowan, is her guardian. She loves both, but as her seventeenth birthday approaches, she is stifled by her solitude and frustrated by Rowan's refusal to let her leave. One night, Rowan fails to come home from his mysterious travels. To rescue him, Biddy ventures into his nightmares and learns not only where he goes every night, but that Rowan has powerful enemies. Determination to protect her home and her guardian, Biddy's journey will take her away from the safety of her childhood, to the poorhouses of Whitechapel, a secret castle beneath London streets, the ruins of an ancient civilization, and finally to a desperate chance to restore lost magic. But the closer she comes to answers, the more she comes to question everything she has ever believed about Rowan, her own origins, and the cost of bringing magic back into the world"--

Book Synopsis

"That most rare and precious thing: a brand-new classic, both wholly original and wonderfully nostalgic." --Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author

In the early 1900s, a young woman is caught between two worlds in H. G. Parry's cozy tale of magic, miracles, and an adventure of a lifetime.

Off the coast of Ireland sits a legendary island hidden by magic. A place of ruins and ancient trees, sea salt air, and fairy lore, Hy-Brasil is the only home Biddy has ever known. Washed up on its shore as a baby, Biddy lives a quiet life with her guardian, the mercurial magician Rowan. A life she finds increasingly stifling.

One night, Rowan fails to return from his mysterious travels. To find him, Biddy must venture into the outside world for the first time. But Rowan has powerful enemies--forces who have hoarded the world's magic and have set their sights on the magician's many secrets.

Biddy may be the key to stopping them. Yet the closer she gets to answers, the more she questions everything she's ever believed about Rowan, her past, and the nature of magic itself.

Praise for The Magician's Daughter

"Brilliantly imagined. Parry blends mythic elements with wit and heart." --Lucy Holland

"A charming romp of an old-school coming of age fantasy about family and magic that will take your heart for a wild ride." ―NPR

For more from H. G. Parry, check out:

The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep

The Shadow Histories
A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians
A Radical Act of Free Magic

Review Quotes

"H.G. Parry pairs gorgeous writing with rich characters and folklore in this stand-alone historical fantasy full of adventure and heart."

--Observer

"A gorgeously atmospheric coming-of-age novel...The Magician's Daughter is a triumph of skill and technique. [Biddy's] story is a journey of discovery, a coming-of-age into a wider world that leaps off the page in vivid, heart-rending detail."
--Locus

"A charming romp of an old-school coming of age fantasy about family and magic that will take your heart for a wild ride."--NPR

"The Magician's Daughter is a splendid piece of writing...If you're looking for something to recapture some magic in your life, something that touches the bit inside all of us that dreams impossible dreams, then I can't recommend this book enough."

--Lightspeed

"The Magician's Daughter is a delightful little fantasy that pulls at all the right heartstrings...For those who fondly remember the works of Frances Hodgson Burnett or Lewis Carroll, this novel will definitely be your (bread, butter and) jam."--Wall Street Journal

"Beautifully crafted...Even devotees of fantasy's darker corners will take solace in The Magician's Daughter, a little paean to storybook endings and happily ever afters."--BookPage

"Parry has written another winning fantasy novel full of adventure, found family, and magic. This is a fully realized world that feels like a homage to the classic fantasy tales of Diana Wynne Jones...For readers who love a great fantasy adventure."--Booklist

"[D]elightful and whimsical...Another gem of a novel from a talented writer."
--Kirkus

"[F]illed with heartbreak and wonder. Highly recommended for fans of heroine's journeys, steampunk alternate worlds, and stories about what happens after the magic goes away." --Library Journal

"Brilliantly-imagined. I love the way Parry blends mythic elements with wit and heart. A fast pace, period detail and an intriguing cast of real, flawed people make The Magician's Daughter a book to be absolutely devoured."--Lucy Holland, author of Sistersong

"Draws you in and makes you believe that magic does exist. Animal familiars, an island that only appears on certain days, and a young heroine who learns the depths of her strength. I absolutely adored it!"--Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter

"The Magician's Daughter casts a spell with its warm and subtle prose. Parry has created an enchantment of a novel―a coming-of-age story teeming with magic, with characters striving to change an unjust world―this is a book to be savoured."--E. J. Beaton, author of The Councillor

"Parry continues her hot streak of well-researched historical fantasy with this mix of bildungsroman and love letter to the 19th-century English canon...The magic system--which posits magic as a nonrenewable resource--works wonderfully as a metaphor for capitalism after 19th-century industrialization. Parry's fans will not be disappointed."--Publishers Weekly

"The Magician's Daughter is that most rare and precious thing: a brand-new classic, both wholly original and wonderfully nostalgic. It's an absolute treasure." --Alix E. Harrow, author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January

"A compelling journey into a world of fading myth and mystery, evoking the magic of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by way of The Dark is Rising. The old magic runs deep in H. G. Parry's veins. The Magician's Daughter is a true delight."--Cameron Johnston, author of The Maleficent Seven

"The Magician's Daughter is innovative fairy tale and deftly researched historical fiction in one, full of captivating magic and richly drawn characters. HG Parry crafts an evocative world rife with a struggle for equity, justice, and the occasional miracle that readers won't be able to forget."--Rowenna Miller, author of Torn

About the Author

H.G. Parry lives in a book-infested flat on the Kapiti Coast in New Zealand, which she shares with her sister, a cat, three guinea pigs, and two over-active rabbits. She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from Victoria University of Wellington and has taught English, film, and media studies.