SPELLWRIGHT / YA Fantasy
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“Fia was dust-fingered. When she used magic, she tended to spark. Just a little.”
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No one is allowed past the ever-watchful gargoyles guarding the doors of Thistledown Library. Spellwright Fia Ives should know; for months she’s appealed for admittance, hoping to find a magic powerful enough to locate her late mother’s spellbook. Denied entry, she daringly sneaks inside, only to discover three mysterious figures already searching the forbidden stacks.
When the library announces the theft of a dangerous grimoire, suspicion falls on Fia. The only way to clear her name is to root out the thieves she spied that night. However, solving a magical theft isn’t easy while running her inherited spellshop alone.
Impulsively, Fia hires the first person who applies to assist her—the insufferably charming Penbrook Madbury, who is as sleepy as a cat and just as stubborn. Fia isn’t sure she can trust him with her reckless plan (let alone her beloved shop), but there’s something about the secretive magician that tempts her to try.
As a strange magic begins curling through town, Fia must risk her own gargoyle-guarded heart to unravel a string of curses before they claim her and Penbrook both. And if some of those curses require kisses to break them, well, that’s just the whimsy of magic.
Praise for Spellwright
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"Enchanting and impossibly charming, Heather Kassner’s Spellwright wraps you in a world of dangerous grimoires, golden spell dust, and a romance that unfurls like a curl of smoke from a crackling fire. It’s the perfect whimsy-cozy tale to get lost in while your tea goes cold."—Emily J. Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel Magnifique and The Otherwhere Post
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"Lovely and heartfelt! Spellwright is a beautiful story of magic, loss, and love." —Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop
"Heather Kassner has crafted the perfect spell for a book, gathering all my favorite things - enchanted libraries, cozy shops, eccentric cats, and plenty of tea - and tossing them in a cauldron with a dash of whimsy and a pinch of romance. Spellwright is pure magic." —Mara Rutherford, author of A Curious Kind of Magic
“Kassner dusts her pages with the delicate magic of enchantments and grimoires, everyday spells and curses to be broken. Spellwright is a charming adventure filled with heart, exploring loss, grief, friendship, and courage in a world of soft magics, parchment, and ink. Fans of cozy fantasy will delight!” — Amélie Wen Zhao, New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Scorpion and the Night Blossom
"With magic, humor, whimsy and a romance as heartwarming as it is endearing, Spellwright is the very definition of a cozy fall book! Reading Fia and Penn’s story was like being wrapped in a warm, cinnamon-scented hug and I did not want it to end!” —Tanaz Bhathena, award-winning author of Hunted by the Sky
"Beautifully lush and charmingly tender, Kassner’s YA debut is a cozy, heart-filled meditation on grief, love, and the power of letting yourself claim your truest wants." —Isabel Sterling, author of These Witches Don’t Burn
US Edition from Atheneum/Simon & Schuster
Designed by Michael McCartney Illustrated by Mary Metzger
Coming October 27, 2026
Preorder now
