A lonely girl drawn into darkness
War of the Witches Maite Carranza Published by Bloomsbury ISBN 978 0 7475 8853 5
Anaid lives a lonely life in a small isolated village in northern Spain. The 14-year-old is a clever girl, but she is small for her age and so is bullied by her schoolmates.
She keeps her unhappiness to herself, secretly hoping things will change one day. Selene, her mother, is too concerned about herself to notice her daughter's troubles.
Life goes on in Anaid's home, with the teenager knowing nothing about the secret her mother is hiding.
One morning, Anaid wakes up to find her mother has vanished.
Anaid cannot believe that her mother could be so selfish as to leave her alone like this. Friends tell the frightened girl her mother will return soon.
But Selene does not come back, and Aunt Criselda suddenly arrives from nowhere to look after Anaid.
When she finally learns the truth, it shocks her to the bone. Her mother and her friends are witches.
Selene is, in fact, the 'Chosen One' who can end the long and violent war between the good Omar witches and the evil, blood-drinking Odish covens.
Fans of magic fantasy will enjoy the unusual setting, the carefully presented witching mythology and the heroine's journey into the Dark World. This has all the right elements to become a world-wide hit.
