A Pinch of Magic

By: Michelle Harrison

Narrated by: Nicky Diss

Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's Summary

Three sisters trapped by an ancient curse.

Three magical objects with the power to change their fate.

Will they be enough to break the curse?

Or will they lead the sisters even deeper into danger?

The enchanting new story from Michelle Harrison, author of the best-selling Thirteen Treasures trilogy.

©2019 Michelle Harrison (P)2019 Simon & Schuster UK

Critic Reviews

"A spellbinding story, steeped in magic. I adored it." (Abi Elphinstone, author of Sky Song)

"Brilliant." (Emma Carroll, author of Letters from the Lighthouse)

"This delightful tale fizzes with magic and races along at a fantastic pace. This book completely charmed my socks off!" (Alex Bell, author of The Polar Bear Explorers' Club)

A Pinch of Brilliance

I'm very hit-or-miss with middle grade books, and I can never tell which way I'm going to go. I loved this one, and I think it's partially because it's older middle grade, almost reaching into YA. But it's also because the characters are interesting, the story is well told, and it's effortlessly feminist. The narrator does a great job as well.

Enchanting!

What a fabulously well-written story, not a dullnor disconnected moment from beginning to end. Middle grade book it may be but nothing juvenile about it. Interesting, intelligent characters, engrossing stories, myraid emotions, all interwoven with magic, mystery, and adventure. And all without any overbearing romance and drama to be found in adult fiction. The narration was completely up to the mark and carried the story and all characters well. Looking forward to listening to more from Michelle Harrison.

The loveliest tale of adventure and magic

This book took me by storm and surprise. It’s beautifully written, eloquently narrated, and leaves you feeling warm and content at the end. I can’t wait for installment 2 of the Wittershins!

Beautiful 💕💕💕💕

This story was Absolutely Beautiful 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕... the narration was perfect and the story was wonderful 🥰so wonderful

A mixed bag

Good pacing, lively dialog, simple action - all the ingredients for a good story, from an accomplished author.

When you are young, Mother is dead, Dad is in jail, and Grandma is a pain, what to do? Be heroically plucky. Sneak into your grandmother's room to see if she is lying to you, then lie to her and steal her bag. As the narrator says, nobody is fully good or bad. And when someone else lies to you, get all huffy. Also, bewitching others will teach them to respect you.
Finally, your pluck and perseverance will help you solve the riddle that generations of women have failed to solve. At the right moment, you will discover that time travel solves all problems, and so we come to the happy beginning.

As others have speculated, time travel results in Doppelgangers, which perhaps explains why there are two versions of this book on Audible. The vast majority of time travel stories in sci-fi and fantasy make a big deal about the resulting conundrums. Not this one.

Stopped part way through

The performance is terrible, like a deeply irritating yoga instructor, and the story is so surface. I had to give up in the end as it was annoying me too much.

Sisters coming to terms with their heritage...

An exhilarating period piece of magic.

4.5 stars.

With a fast-moving story, this novel about three young sisters living under a curse had me keen to continue listening. Trying to escape their drab medieval town existence, Betty and her sisters discover that their grandmother has been hiding the truth about a family curse from them.

This curse is set to ruin all their lives if they don't do something about it, and Betty is not the sort who will give in without a fight.

The story takes the three on an exciting ride that tests their sisterly bond and their mettle, as they use three magical artefacts to help them break the curse. Will a potential ally really be their friend? Can they use their wits to overcome their family heritage before it is too late?

Each sister is given her own personality, qualities and failings, and their Middle Age world is rendered dirty and real enough.

The book took us to places I wasn't expecting, but it all came together nicely. I would hope male readers also take to the Widdershins sisters and their story.

The audio version is read with an authentically teenage-sounding voice for Betty, and was not a problem to follow as an audiobook.

For ages 10-14.

With thanks to Nudge Books for providing a sample Audible copy.

Boring and not very good narration

I love magical books but I've tried twice with this one and haven't managed to get halfway through. I don't know if I'd have enjoyed the story, but I found the narration too irritating to continue. Every sentence ends in a downwards inflection, and the narrator draws out - elongates - every few words. There is no magic in the narration, sadly. Would I have enjoyed it if it had been narrated by Gemma Whelan, for example, who does such a great job of the Wundersmith books by Jessica Townsend? Sadly, I'll never know!

Fantastic book!

My daughter and I LOVE this book. It is outstanding and we can't wait for more 😁.

❤️🧡💛Pinch of Magic💚💙💜

This book is amazing, I absolutely loved it.
I think everyone would want to read this book.

A grasping story of magic!

A brilliantly read magical story that had me captured by the end of the first chapter...

Great story.

Loved listening to this with my 10yr daughter.
She then went on to listen to the other books the author

Amazing

Best book I've listened to ever you need this book So well written and read - incredible.

Looking forward to the rest in the series already

Really enjoyed this book. Character development and the building of the story world in both time frames worked very well. Narration was great. Already added the rest of the series on to my Wish List 🙂

really enjoyed the story of sisters

Really good book, it portrays the bond and differences between sisters but also what binds them together