It has been two weeks since the AMAZING The Vanishing Trick by Jenni Spangler published, and what a two weeks it has been!
Within this time, Jenni's debut has been The Times’ Children’s Book of the Week, where editor Nicolette Jones stated:
This debut novel, which reads like a fairy tale with a Victorian setting, features a fascinating villain, Madame Pinchbeck, who has supernatural powers to imprison stolen children and is a charlatan who holds seances to trick people about their departed loved ones. Sustaining these two traits in one character – spell casting and fake spirituality – requires skill. It should not work that the baddie is both a fraud and an actual magician, yet Spangler makes us believe. She conjures up an eventful gothic adventure full of secrets and surprises, based on the relationship between three lost children whom pinchbeck has captured and their perilous struggle to escape. Despite the chilling central character, this is a touching story about love and loyalty.
