Publication Date: January 16, 2024
In this latest enchanting novel from bestselling magical realism author Jennifer Moorman, a treasure hunt through the past reveals one woman’s extraordinary gift for arranging the future.
The Russell women have always lived in a house that is as special as they are—a century-old Victorian with a radio that tunes itself to the listener’s mood and a pantry that rearranges to provide just the right ingredients for any baking need. Lilith Russell was the exception. She left the family home in Ivy Ridge, Georgia, and has been flitting like a hummingbird from place to place with her daughter, Mattie, in the decades since, only returning each summer to drop Mattie off with Lilith’s sister, Penelope.
When Lilith dies suddenly, Mattie is left without her sole companion and the captain who steered her ship. That is, until she visits Ivy Ridge and learns Lilith charted one last course for Mattie: a series of tasks that she must complete to earn her inheritance, with Penelope overseeing the process.
Both Mattie and Penelope are outraged by Lilith’s seemingly random stipulations: throw a Halloween party, take a local pizza cooking class, share secrets with someone . . . But Mattie soon realizes that if she completes the tasks, she may unearth her mother’s secrets, including the identity of Mattie’s father. She may also discover more about the Russell family “gifts” and why Lilith chose Penelope’s former love to be the executor of the will. She may even learn how and why Jonathan Carlisle, the boy who stole her heart ten summers ago, also happens to be back in town.
Mattie can only hope that Lilith’s final map will finally point her home.
Jennifer Moorman’s novel, The Magic All Around, gives us an ordinary setting in the town of Ivy Ridge, Georgia. It is hot, quaint, and filled with neighbors that know all-too-much about each other. The kind of hometown that some never want to leave, and others flee without looking back.
The Russell sisters have something about them. The town knows it but can’t quite tell if their oddness is magical or haunting. After all, their upbringing has a history of tragedy when Penelope and Lilith were orphaned in their teens and then raised by relatives. The sisters remained in Ivy Ridge until Lilith chose a life of continual change, passionate about squeezing out all the joy life has in store for her. She has a sense about her to know what is coming, but she doesn’t allow doubt or fear to inhibit the possibilities.
Penelope stays rooted to Georgia. She appears to have stopped looking for life’s delights. She cannot drop the weight of tragedy as easily as Lilith. She keeps a home base, surrounded not only by memories but by a house that holds her, reacts to her, and maybe even signals her in its language heard by those believing in magic.
Lilith and Penelope do share the love of Lilith’s daughter, Mattie. Although Mattie’s childhood was happy as she followed her mother’s whims, the only roots she ever planted were the relationships she made during the summers she spent with Aunt Penelope. Mattie has to latch onto these roots when Lilith dies suddenly, and Mattie returns to Ivy Ridge as she recovers from the abrupt change in her life. All she has known is to keep moving to enjoy life. Surely there is no reason to stay in Ivy Ridge?
What Mattie doesn’t realize is how powerful her mother’s reach was to plan and affect her daughter’s future. She will need to complete a list of tasks left in her mom’s will before finding her own path. But in a small town, you cannot escape human connections. Now she is faced with cherishing those new connections as she returns to embracing a changing scenery or to see how much she can nourish these newly planted roots and accept a small town life.
The surprises in the story are subtle. As the characters continue to enter Mattie’s life, the charm of the town and the people bloom, feeling like a real-life story.
The allurement of Jennifer Moorman’s The Magic All Around is in the theme of how surprising life can be. Yes, there is magic, but isn’t it magical when life’s twists and turns lead us through dark times and toward love and laughter again as we find what we are meant to be?
Within the pages of The Magic All Around, find an example of a destiny that is enchanting when following life’s possibilities.
Born and raised in southern Georgia, where honeysuckle grows wild and the whippoorwills sing, Jennifer Moorman is the bestselling author of the magical realism Mystic Water series. Jennifer started writing in elementary school, crafting epic tales of adventure and love and magic. She wrote stories in Mead notebooks, on printer paper, on napkins, on the soles of her shoes. Her blog is full of dishes inspired by fiction, and she hosts baking classes showcasing these recipes. Jennifer considers herself a traveler, a baker, and a dreamer. She can always be won over with chocolate, unicorns, or rainbows. She believes in love—everlasting and forever.
