The Miraculous Sweetmakers #1

September 15, 2022
A girl in 17th-century London enters a dangerous bargain to resurrect her deceased brother. Since her twin, Arthur, died four years ago, 13-year-old Thomasina, a pale, brown-haired, gray-eyed girl, has blamed herself. After all, she challenged him to a race before he died of their shared affliction, which she later learns is called asthma. Filled with loss and guilt, she makes gingerbread for her family's floundering sweet shop while running the house and caring for her grieving parents. As the Great Frost grips London, a Frost Fair opens on the frozen River Thames, and Thomasina's family sets up a stall there. Lured to the river one night by a blue light, Thomasina encounters Inigo, a peculiar stranger who offers to bring Arthur back to life if she will temporarily surrender her memories of him and make four visits to the Other Frost Fair where Father Winter, Frost Beasts, and Frost Folk gather. As her memories of Arthur fade, Thomasina discovers silvery snowflakes on her skin: Is she becoming one of the Frost Folk? Set against the backdrop of the Great Frost of 1683-84, the third-person narrative conveys Thomasina's consuming guilt, fear for her mother's mental state, frustration with her father, longing to become a sweetmaker, and desperation to heal her family. Her harrowing efforts to unlock the secrets of Inigo's past and expose Father Winter's demonic designs prove intriguing while chilling descriptions of the Other Frost Fair evoke the surreal. A gripping, atmospheric, fantastical tale of atonement. (Fantasy. 9-12)

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September 26, 2022
A mournful blend of historical fiction and frigid fantasy characterizes Hastings’s debut, set in late-17th-century London. Blaming herself for the incident that killed her asthmatic twin Arthur four years earlier, Thomasina Burgess all but runs her family’s sweets shop, testing out inventive recipes while her father avoids her and her grief-stricken mother remains in bed. After the Thames freezes over and city vendors, including the sweets shop, set up a Frost Fair on its icy surface, a will-o’-the-wisp lures the lonely 13-year-old to mysterious, “blue-tinged” Inigo, who offers to bring her brother back to life if she agrees to terms: give up her memories of Arthur, and accompany Inigo four times to the Other Frost Fair, “created from magic and sea smoke.” As her memories of Arthur begin to fade and she encounters the alternate fair, populated by people made of ice and ruled over by sinister Father Winter, Thomasina begins noticing snowflake marks on her skin, and wonders about the bargain’s stakes. Though magic-related worldbuilding can slow the book’s pace, crystalline prose deftly conjures the protagonist’s guilt-laden internality alongside historical topics, including views on, and treatment of, mental health. Most characters cue as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Chloe Seager, Madeleine Milburn.