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304 pages, Paperback
First published June 16, 2016
The babies were born as the clocks struck twelve. As they finally slid from their mothers’ bellies, wet and sticky, their tiny faces scrunched up with the effort of being born, their fists clenched and eyes shut tight, a dark cloud crossed the full moon, and out in the forest the sky turned black. A bat fell from the air midflight. A silver salmon floated dead to the surface of the river. Snails withered in their shells, moths turned to dust on the night breeze, and an owl ate its young.
Poppy lives in a town and tries to go to school; Emma lives with a tribe of witches and tries to do magic. But thanks to being switched at birth, neither of them fit in where they are. Poppy attracts cats and causes “accidents” everywhere she goes; Emma can’t do magic and makes soap, instead. When Poppy and her father move to yet another town for a fresh start, she and Emma meet and become friends -- but can their friendship hold as they learn the truth about themselves?I really enjoyed this book. It’s about themes I love: Friendship between girls; the un-sugar-coated complexity of family rivalry; and trying to figure out who you’re meant to be. The prologue tells why Poppy and Emma have been switched: it was magic worked by a witch who, thanks to a 300-year-old prophecy, is determined that her own daughter should get to be queen of all the witches one day, and that meant getting her sister’s child out of the way.