And Then I Read: INK BLOOD SISTER SCRIBE by Emma Törzs

I read a review of this new first novel on NPR, it sounded right up my alley: a library of hidden magic books. I read the ebook and loved it.

The Kalotay family is hiding a dangerous secret deep in a basement vault, a library of books that can be read with the help of the reader’s blood to put spells into effect, real magic. Father Abe is the librarian, his wife Cecily helps, their two girls, Esther and Joanna, live a happy childhood with them. Joanna, like her parents can hear the magic, and read the spells, and Abe trains her to use them and protect the library. Esther cannot, nor does any magic have an effect on her. When Esther is eighteen, she’s sent away by Abe because her presence puts them all in danger. Someone is looking for the library, and Esther would be their way in. Sadly, without really explaining to her sister, Esther begins a nomadic life, changing homes and jobs once a year to confuse the finding spell. Cecily wants to break the wards that protect the Vermont house and library so that Joanna can have a normal life, but Abe insists its too dangerous. They split, and Cecily takes up residence in the nearby town.

One day Joanna finds Abe dead on the front lawn clutching a magic book she’s never seen before. She tries desperately to contact Esther, but can’t. Cecily won’t or can’t tell her what she knows. Joanna’s life becomes a lonely one, trapped in the house by responsibility, the sole protector of the library. Esther, as the book opens, is in Antarctica, working on a base there as an electrician. She’s found a lover, Pearl, and is tired of leaving everything behind once a year. What could trouble her in this isolated place? She decides to stay past the travel date, and that’s when all the trouble starts her her.

Meanwhile, we meet Nicholas, wealthy nephew and heir to a much larger magic library near London. This one is also older, having been started in the 1600s, and kept in the control of Nicholas’s family. His uncle Richard is in charge, a charming, clever man who uses the library to make a great deal of money by creating custom spells for rich clients. Those spells must be written in blood. The writer is Nicholas, with help from Maram, a woman who is the chief librarian and like a mother to the boy. Nicholas’s life is also in danger, as demonstrated by an attack on him in the company limousine leaving London, in which his bodyguard Collins is just able to save him. Like Joanna, Nicholas leads a lonely life, and his health is constantly threatened by the loss of blood needed to write new books and further the family business.

These two main threads gradually come together in surprising ways, the characters are wonderfully real, the situations are full of suspense and emotional resonance. It’s a fine book that I had a hard time putting down. One of those where you keep checking to see how far along you are because you don’t want it to end, rather than being impatient for that. Highly recommended.

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs

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