Sorceress

'I will always put Celia and her books on the top rung of YA' - BookWitch'Celia Rees is one of Britain's foremost writers for teenagers' - Playdays and RunawaysThe outstanding sequel to critically acclaimed bestseller Witch ChildAs Witch Child ends so Sorceress begins. Alison Ellman is still searching for information about Mary Newbury; she has a diary and some scattered information about other people in Mary's life, but Mary has disappeared into the forests and Alison has no way of following her. But when she meets Agnes Herne, Alison encounters the person who is going to tell her all about Mary's life after she leaves Beulah. Agnes is a descendant of Mary's and has a special skill which allows her to be in touch with Mary in the spirit world. And Mary has a story to tell. A story of love and friendship, sadness and loss. A story that takes her across the New World in an epic search for a home. We fell under the spell of Mary in Witch Child and now at last we find out what happened to her after her ill-fated time in Beulah. Just as Mary's story has to be told to Agnes, it has to be read by us for it is passionate, compelling and utterly wonderful.

I've saved the best for last. The prolific, erudite and consistently brilliant Celia Rees is justly renowned for her dizzyingly inventive plots, redolent of everyone from Angela Carter to Shakespeare. Sovay and Witch Child are two of her best-known books in the younger market, but she has written countless more, all equally breathtaking, Celia Rees herself, has always been a formidable force in the world of YA […] It’s important, as well as tremendously good entertainment. And Sorceress continues this vein of importance, looking at the way women and girls have been treated over the centuries […] I will always put Celia and her books on the top rung of YA, Celia Rees is one of Britain's foremost writers for teenagers, Twenty years after the publication of The Witch Child, Sorceress is rich with evocative descriptions of places, food, and textures the reader can tangibly experience

Celia Rees has written over 20 books for Young Adults and is perhaps best known for her historical fiction. Her first historical novel, Witch Child, was translated into 28 languages. Witch Child and subsequent titles, Sorceress and Pirates!, were shortlisted for the Guardian, Whitbread (Costa) and W.H. Smith Awards in the UK and won awards in the UK, USA, France and Italy. She lives in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, UK and divides her time between writing, talking to readers in schools and libraries, reviewing and teaching creative writing.