Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2021
384 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Publication Information
Maeve's strangely astute tarot readings make her the talk of the school, until a classmate draws a chilling and unfamiliar card - and then disappears.
After Maeve finds a pack of tarot cards while cleaning out a closet during her in-school suspension, she quickly becomes the most sought-after diviner at St. Bernadette's Catholic school. But when Maeve's ex–best friend, Lily, draws an unsettling card called The Housekeeper that Maeve has never seen before, the session devolves into a heated argument that ends with Maeve wishing aloud that Lily would disappear. When Lily isn't at school the next Monday, Maeve learns her ex-friend has vanished without a trace.
Shunned by her classmates and struggling to preserve a fledgling romance with Lily's gender-fluid sibling, Roe, Maeve must dig deep into her connection with the cards to search for clues the police cannot find—even if they lead to the terrifying Housekeeper herself. Set in an Irish town where the church's tight hold has loosened and new freedoms are trying to take root, this sharply contemporary story is witty, gripping, and tinged with mysticism.
"Detailed, interesting characters carry this contemporary story of competing energy and curses...An immersive tale of brave, vulnerable teens facing threats both real and fantastic." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"While at times overfull, the novel's brilliant connections between friendship, boundaries, and the vulnerability of loneliness provide a vibrant compass for fans of Sarah Rees Brennan or Derry Girls." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Stefanie Caponi's tarot card illustrations are hauntingly perfect companions to the text. Much like the novel, the cards appear deceptively familiar at first glance. The stakes are high, the narrative is nuanced, and the climax and resolution are refreshingly unexpected. Expect readers to fall into this blurred tale of the normal and the paranormal." - School Library Journal
"An utterly seductive read, where the magical bleeds into the familiar." - Melinda Salisbury, author of The Sin Eater's Daughter
"All Our Hidden Gifts is a magical surprise of a book, the perfect combination of heartfelt and thrilling, unpredictable and familiar. The startling and unique story lets us imagine and worry and love and reach for the truth right alongside Maeve. It is easy and exciting to get lost in this witchy, mysterious, and deeply layered story." - Corey Ann Haydu, author of OCD Love Story and Ever Cursed
This information about All Our Hidden Gifts was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Caroline O'Donoghue is an Irish author, journalist, and host of the acclaimed podcast Sentimental Garbage. She has contributed to Grazia, the Irish Times, the Irish Examiner, BuzzFeed, Vice, and The Times (London). She lives in London.
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