A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
Before Sera, the most powerful witch was Albert Grey. He bullied everyone in the British Guild of Sorcery. He controlled the guild’s gargoyle-bedecked castle in Northumberland and its library. He took Sera as his apprentice and did his best to convince Sera and everyone else that he was the strongest witch. Sera moved to Batty Hole Inn in Lancashire to get away from Albert. Their rivalry persisted.
As a young witch, Sera charmed the inn. “The best way Sera could describe her spell was this: if you didn’t need the inn, you’d drive on. (And if you were a d**k, you’d definitely drive on.)” Some of the residents included: “Jasmine (briefly deceased great-aunt), Clemmie (overly opinionated witch doomed to live out her days as a fox), Sera’s young cousin Theo (also a witch, but thankfully not one doomed to a lifetime as a woodland creature), Matilda (geriatric oddball and aspiring hobbit), and newest arrival Nicholas (a knight).” Later, they were joined by Luke, a magical historian, and young Posey, his autistic sister.
Even after Sera lost most of her magic, the inn’s enchantments continued. “Whenever Sera checked, she could see that the inn still glowed bright with the spell she’d cast over it as a child. Spells were supposed to be finite, so there was no reason it ought to still be going strong, but somehow, it was. Unfortunately, it had also evolved. Over time, the spell had developed a most inconvenient propensity for whimsy and mischief. Wildflowers bloomed spontaneously in empty teacups at unexpected moments. The sunlit rooms teased her with echoes of her past selves. Doors opened and closed on a whim. One of the guest bedrooms rained apple blossom tea for exactly one hour every Sunday, after which said tea vanished like it had never been there. And it was anyone’s guess what might come next.”
The restoration spell to return Sera’s magic required three impossible ingredients. “A Strand of Sunset. A Phoenix Feather. A Thorny Heart.”
The conflict between Albert and Sera was about more than who was the strongest. Albert represented the entrenched, white colonizers, while Sera represented the new, diverse generation.
This is a story of love of home, hearth, family, and friends.
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