Cinders And Sparrows

A Bank Street Best Book of the Year * A Vermont Golden Dome Award Finalist

"Spellbinding . . . Readers won't be able to turn the pages fast enough."—Soman Chainani, New York Times -bestselling author of The School for Good and Evil series

"Delightful . . . An entertainingly witchy world."— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A suspenseful tale of witches, family, and magic from internationally bestselling author Stefan Bachmann. When a twelve-year-old orphan unexpectedly becomes the mistress of a seemingly abandoned castle, she is thrust into a mysterious plot involving murderous spells, false identity, and a magical battle of wills between the living and the dead. Readers of Kate Milford's Greenglass House , Victoria Schwab's City of Ghosts, and Diana Wynne Jones will be riveted.

When a scarecrow climbs over the garden wall, delivering twelve-year-old orphan Zita Brydgeborn a letter saying she has inherited a distant castle, she jumps at the chance of adventure. But little does she know that she is about to be thrust into a centuries-old battle between good and evil. Blackbird Castle was once home to a powerful dynasty of witches, all of them now dead under mysterious circumstances. Zita is the last of their line. And Zita, unfortunately, doesn't know the first thing about being a witch.

As she begins her lessons in charms and spells with her guardian, Mrs. Cantanker, Zita makes new allies—a crow, a talking marble head, two castle servants just her age named Bram and Minnifer, and the silent ghost of a green-eyed girl. But who is friend and who is foe? Zita must race to untangle her past and find the magic to save the home she's always hoped for. Because whatever claimed the souls of her family is now after her.

Unforgettable and utterly enchanting, this stand-alone tale about family, belonging, and friendship will bewitch readers of Tahereh Mafi's Whichwood , Katherine Arden's Small Spaces , and Diana Wynne Jones's Howl's Moving Castle.