Seika the witch has a frightening secret: after a tragedy that took her sister’s life, she was left without magic. Overcoming the pain, Seika decides to fulfill Fiona’s final request—taking her ashes to the enchanted Ashen Gardens and laying them to rest. The owner of the estate, Frank, offers the girl to stay longer and work in the garden together with the other residents of the house—people who are wonderfully strange, yet in their own way charming. Gradually, Seika learns more and more about Frank himself, about the aging house that seems to be splitting at the seams, and about the storms that hang over the estate without ever letting up… But as this happens, dark secrets from the past move ever closer too—secrets capable of destroying both Seika and those who have managed to become dear to her.
In her debut novel, Kay Sinclair weaves together the themes of loss, healing, and the transforming power of family—one you find not by blood, but by choice. This is a bright, piercing story about a young witch who, having lost everything, learns again how to live, to rejoice, and to love.