This is an unusual book. What starts as an adventure story that blurs the lines between reality and fiction via a coven of magic infused “Book Witches,” veers off into a more meaningful, touching, existential, and incredibly meta story about the importance of literature within our lives and the incredible love and connection between authors, characters, and readers. I laughed through most of the book, but was brought to tears (of the poignant, meaningful variety) multiple times in the last half.
Rainy March is a Book Witch — “sworn to defend works of fiction from all foes real and imaginary.” She has a magic umbrella, a feline familiar (Koshka the non-Russian, Russian Blue), and a few mysteries of her own past to consider. Her adventures are humorous and quite literary (if you’re a reader you will enjoy traipsing through many of your favorite books as Rainy works to fix breaks and prevent the “Burners” from having their incendiary way). Rainy falls for the dashing (and fictional) Duke of Chicago during one of her rescues. This goes against the rules, but does make the story more interesting (and a lot more complicated). The seven section headings of the book are genres — Romance, Mystery, Fantasy, Non-fiction, YA and Horror, Thriller, and Science Fiction — and the plot does a good job of navigating through the sections in an eponymous fashion.
Clever, funny, and often poignant writing that takes an intricate worldview and serpentine plot and makes them accessible, fun, and intriguing. Some beautiful lines which I can’t include without giving too much away — except this non-plot centric funny one: “Two more !s? Something needed to be done about this punctuation abuse.“ I’m quite guilty of this abuse myself, sadly, hence my appreciation for the line. Some interesting historical tidbits on works of literature — my favorite about Nancy Drew: Apparently Nancy Drew was rewritten in the 60s to make her less feisty, a little older and better behaved. Not only did I have no idea, but all my copies are the rewrites! Grrr. Lastly, I loved the dedication: “Dedicated to librarians book, sellers and teachers fighting the good fight to save our stories and to all the world’s bedtime story readers.”
Inspired by a spate of actual book burnings in the 70s — fun, educational, and moving.
Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on April 7th, 2025.
Books to look forward to ... 