Description: History is filled with stories of women accused of witchcraft, of fearsome girls with arcane knowledge. Toil & Trouble features fifteen stories of girls embracing their power, reclaiming their destinies and using their magic to create, to curse, to cure--and to kill. A young witch uses social media to connect with her astrology clients--and with a NASA-loving girl as cute as she is skeptical. A priestess of death investigates a ritualized murder. A bruja who cures lovesickness might need the remedy herself when she falls in love with an altar boy. A theater production is turned upside down by a visiting churel. In Reconstruction-era Texas, a water witch uses her magic to survive the soldiers who have invaded her desert oasis. And in the near future, a group of girls accused of witchcraft must find their collective power in order to destroy their captors.
Brief description:
Jessica Spotswood is the author of the Cahill Witch Chronicles, a historical fantasy trilogy. She grew up near the Gettysburg battlefield but now lives in Washington, DC, where she works for the DC Public Library system as a children's library associate.
Review Quotes:
"The tone of the stories range from breezy to devastating, the settings from historical to dystopian, the genres from romance to revenge fantasy...The collective impact is undeniably resounding."
-- "Booklist (starred review)"