Publication Date: 17 March 2022

The Blurb

Yesterday Crumb is no ordinary girl. She was born with fox ears that have cursed her to a lonely life working in the circus and her origins are a complete mystery. But she is about to escape into the adventure of a lifetime when she learns that she’s a strangeling who’s lost her magic.

Taken in by Miss Dumpling the flamboyant Tea Witch, Yesterday is introduced to a magical, walking teashop filled with fantastical customers, a flying teapot turtle called Pascal and powerful spells in every teacup!

Yesterday starts to rediscover her magic and to feel a sense of belonging. But a mysterious figure of darkness is working hard to ensure her new life comes crashing down – and it all starts with a deadly shard of ice in Yesterday’s heart…

But there’s nothing that can’t be solved with a pot of tea, a slice of cake and a BIG dash of magic!

The Review

An utter delight from beginning to end, this is a spell-binding adventure that will leave you with a smile on your face, hope in your heart, and craving tea and cake!

From the moment we meet Yesterday, we see a young girl who is angry with the hand life has dealt her, and it is that anger that stops her from achieving the magic she wants. Under the love and care of Miss Dumpling, we see her learn to channel her anger and use it positively – a lesson all of us could do with practicing! We see it most clearly in her relationship with Madrigal, both of whom keep each other at arm’s length until we see Yesterday empathise with the familiar.

The world that Andy has created is utterly believable, one that sits on the edges of our reality as they travel Britain searching for a cure to break Yesterday’s curse. I loved visiting the travelling goblin market and the Museum Of .Entirely Unnatural History. Oh to spend a day in the archives with Pepperprew! But my favourite place was the teashop itself with it’s inhabitants, customers, magical brews and scrumptious cakes.

There is a powerful message about how we treat others and not judging based on differences that weaves it’s way throughout the story. From the way strangelings are treated by both humans and witches, to the loneliness the museum’s creator faces based on preconceived ideas.

This is a story of finding yourself, and the friends who become family, an absolute joy of a book that has left me wanting to retrain as a tea witch and desperate to know what happens next in Dwimmerly End.

Great for fans of:

• The Train To Impossible Places by P.G. Bell
• The House At The Edge Of Magic by Amy Sparkes
• Starfell by Dominique Valente

Huge thanks to Hachette for sending me a copy.