Orbit 2024 New Voice: The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields

THE HONEY WITCH

BY SYDNEY J. SHIELDS

16th May 2024

‘Reading The Honey Witch is like dreaming in a fragrant sunlit garden while bees sing around you. It’s a gorgeous book, with a lovely cottagecore ambience and a heart-warming sapphic romance intertwined with unique magic that enchants the imagination‘ India Holton, internationally bestselling author

The Honey Witch of Innisfree can never find true love. That is her curse to bear. But when a young woman who doesn’t believe in magic arrives on her island, sparks fly in this deliciously sweet debut novel of magic, hope, and love overcoming all.

READ AN EXTRACT 

Twenty-one-year-old Marigold Claude has always preferred the company of the spirits of the meadow to any of the suitors who’ve tried to woo her. So when her grandmother whisks her away to the family cottage on the tiny Isle of Innisfree with an offer to train her as the next Honey Witch, she accepts immediately. But her newfound magic and independence come with a price: No one can fall in love with the Honey Witch.

When Lottie Burke, a notoriously grumpy skeptic who doesn’t believe in magic, shows up on her doorstep, Marigold can’t resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real. But soon, Marigold begins to care for Lottie in ways she never expected. And when darker magic awakens and threatens to destroy her home, she must fight for much more than her new home-at the risk of losing her magic and her heart..

A delicious debut that combines the swoon-worthy romance of Bridgerton and the whimsical sorcery of Practical Magic, with a dash of The Secret Life of Bees thrown in for good fun.

PRAISE FOR THE HONEY WITCH

‘As sweet and warm as honeyed tea. Shields’ debut deftly explores love, loss, and loneliness-and the joy of seeing magic in all things, however small. With charming characters and a lush setting, The Honey Witch will delight fans of cosy fantasy’ Allison Saft, author of A Far Wilder Magic

‘The Honey Witch will charm you with its setting and its love for all things natural – especially bees! This tale of a young witch dealing with a curse and a battle between dark magic and light, with her romance in the balance, is one all fans of witches and folk magic will love’ Louisa Morgan, author of The Secret History of Witches