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Amanda Cadabra’s life LOOKS perfectly normal...
But looks can be very deceiving.
In the picture-perfect English village of Sunken-Madley, a young covert witch is laying
low. Amanda Cadabra has her reasons.
Orphaned when her family’s van mysteriously plunged over a Cornish cliff many years before, Amanda is keeping herself to herself, quietly working for her grandfather’s furniture restoration company, hoping the world will leave her alone.
However, soon Amanda’s peace is disturbed by the arrival in the village of the inquisitive Inspector Trelawney, dogging her footsteps as he investigates the strange fate of her family. But the persistent detective becomes the least of her problems, as a restoration job at the Tudor manor propels the young witch into a swirl of mystery and intrigue.
Events quickly conspire to drag Amanda into the building’s murky past and its even more dangerous present. Armed only with her wits, her grumpy feline familiar, Tempest, and a wand, Amanda Cadabra is going in.
A body, ghosts, hidden passageways, and a host of unanswered questions soon emerge. Can Amanda dodge the inspector long enough to solve the Manor’s many mysteries and unravel her own past before the scandal of murder engulfs the village?
Excerpt 5 —
The Innocent Gaze
Approx. 165 words
‘Witchcraft,’
pronounced Granny, ‘is a private affair. Being a witch is like having a
birthmark on your … er … leg, dear. It's not something you show to just
anyone.’
Seven-year-old Amanda sat thoughtfully at the dining table, with her hands
folded in her lap, and considered this new piece of information gravely.
‘What if it’s summer and I don’t have socks on. Wouldn’t they be able to see
it?’
‘Above the knee, Amanda, dear,’ Granny said patiently.
‘Oh.’
‘Now, there may, in the course of your life,’ Senara continued carefully,
‘appear certain persons who may develop curiosity about you and your
grandparents. You will now begin learning how to deflect their interest and to
depress pretention.’
Amanda looked uncertain.
‘You do not, thankfully, have much to do with the village children, so this
kind of inappropriate enquiry is most likely to come from an adult, who may
invite your confidence.’
‘And I say “no”?’ asked Amanda.
‘First,’ asserted Granny, ‘and better still, you must master The Innocent
Gaze.’
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