Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot

Being the Correspondence of Two Young Ladies of Quality Regarding Various Magical Scandals in London and the Country
by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer

Kate Talgarth has gone to London for her Season, a time for young ladies to come out into society and make good impressions and possible matches, while her cousin Cecy Rushton is stuck in the country, which is quite boring indeed. The two correspond by mail, telling of their adventures and misadventures (something the clumsy Kate has frequently), which soon involve more than just the usual gossip when Kate happens into a magic trap of sorts that was set for the “Mysterious Marquis.” Very quickly Kate and Cecy realize there is much more than a bit of matchmaking going on in both Rushton and London. For instance, just whom is Mr. James Tarleton doing a very bad job of spying on, and why? And who could have placed the mysterious charm bag under Cecy’s brother’s mattress? Why are men suddenly falling at Dorothea Griscomb’s feet and then forgetting about her the next day?

Sorcery and Cecelia is a book filled with magical intrigue and mystery. The characters are well developed—each have their faults and habits—and the story being set in 1817 makes for a rather unusual but altogether very pleasing fantasy that holds echoes of Pride and Prejudice and Tamora Pierce’s novels. Read more about Cecy and Kate in The Grand Tour: Being a Revelation of Matters of High Confidentiality and Greatest Importance, Including Extracts from the Intimate Diary of a Noblewoman and the Sworn Testimony of a Lady of Quality and The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After: Being the Private Correspondence Between Two Prominent Families Regarding a Scandal Touching the Highest Levels of Government and the Security of the Realm.