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A Novel
by Oliver Darkshire
A hilarious and surprisingly moving cozy fantasy novel from the bestselling author of Once Upon a Tome.
This debut novel by beloved rare bookseller and memoirist Oliver Darkshire reimagines the Decameron heroine Isabella (with her creepy pot of basil) in a world of sentient animals, talking plants, and shape-shifting wizards.
In a tiny farm on the edge of the miserable village of East Grasby, Isabella Nagg is just trying to get on with her tiny, miserable existence. Dividing her time between tolerating a feckless husband, fending off snide neighbors, and cooking up "scrunge," Isabella can't help but think that there might be something more to life. When Mr. Nagg returns home with a spell book purloined from the local wizard, she thinks: What harm could a little magic do?
As Isabella embarks on a journey of self-discovery with a grouchy cat-like companion, Darkshire's imagination runs wild, plunging readers into a delightfully deranged world full of enchantment and folklore―as well as goblins, capitalism, and sorcery.
"Darkshire makes his fiction debut with this humorous fantasy novel that every library needs." —Library Journal (starred review)
"Isabella's relationship with her horrible husband is not quite nuanced or funny enough to give this rescue mission weight, but there's plenty of fun to be had in the whimsical worldbuilding, while excerpts from the grimoire add charm. Tonally, Darkshire is clearly aiming for Terry Pratchett. Though he doesn't quite hit that lofty goal, fans of comedic secondary fantasy will still find plenty to enjoy." —Publishers Weekly
"With more humour than you can shake a homemade apple-tree wand at, and a folkloric world of magic tomes, snarky almost-cats and the twin menaces of goblins and capitalism, Darkshire's story is a bubbling cauldron overflowing with imagination and charm." ―Chris Sugden, creator of Victoriocity and co-author of High Vaultage
This information about Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil 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.
Oliver Darkshire (@DeathByBadger) is the author of Once Upon a Tome, his memoir about being an antiquarian bookseller at Henry Sotheran Ltd. He lives in Manchester, England, with his husband and his neglectfully curated collection of books.
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