About the Author
Mark Stay co-wrote the screenplay for Robot Overlords which became a movie with Sir Ben Kingsley and Gillian Anderson, and premiered at the 58th London Film Festival. He is co-presenter of the Bestseller Experiment podcast and has worked in bookselling and publishing for over twenty-five years. He lives in Kent, England, with his family and a trio of retired chickens. He blogs and humblebrags over at markstaywrites.com. Follow @markstay on Twitter.
About the book
July, 1940 - In a quiet village in rural Kent, a magical mystery leads to murder . . . Woodville has returned to 'normal' after the departure of the Crow Folk. The villagers put out fires from aircraft shot down in the Battle of Britain, and Faye Bright discovers that magic can be just as dangerous as any weapon.
The arrival of a trio of Jewish children fleeing the Nazis brings the fight for Europe to the village. When their guardian is found dead, Faye must play nanny to the terrified children while gathering clues to uncover a dark magic that threatens to change the course of the war. And she must do it quickly – the children have seen too much and someone wants them silenced for good.
This is the second book in the Witches of Woodville trilogy. Set in World War 2, the story follows Faye Bright, as she walks through life on a tightrope of magic and brutal reality.
Faye and Bertie are still getting used to being a prisoner to the restrictions of a world at war, including bus windows with special netting to keep people from being pierced by shards of glass in the eventuality of a bomb being dropped in their vicinity.
They more or less stumble upon the enemy in the middle of their village, well at least the majority of the villagers feel that way. Faye knows they are just scared, traumatised refugees who have been torn from their families in an attempt to save at least one member of a targeted family.
Whilst protecting them Faye must once again fight against a deep dark magic that has one goal - to change the course of the war to the detriment of many innocent people. It's paramount that the darkness be stopped in its tracks.
This is a series I would recommend to both YA readers and also middle grade readers. The darkness tries to envelope the light It deals with traumatic and sensitive topics by melding history, fiction and magical realism to create a fierce main character and a compelling read.
Buy Babes in the Wood at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Simon and Schuster Uk; pub date 28 October 2021 | Paperback Original | £8.99. Buy at Amazon com.
