The Miraculous Sweetmakers #1: The Frost Fair

by Natasha Hastings Narrated by Imogen Wilde

Overview

A heartwarming and magical adventure, The Frost Fair is a dazzling historical fantasy perfect for fans of Frozen and Serafina and the Black Cloak.

It's winter, 1683, and the Great Frost has swept into London.

By day, thirteen-year-old Thomasina and her friend Anne peddle sweets on the frozen river, hearing rumors of the magical Frost Fair that awakens there at night. They say if you can find it, Father Winter himself will grant any wish you have.

And Thomasina has an impossible wish: the return of her twin brother, whose death left her family fractured.

But once they discover Father Winter's icy kingdom, Thomasina and Anne quickly realize the Frost Fair isn't exactly what it seems... and that some wishes never come for free.

With a delightful fantasy setting and unique magic system, The Frost Fair is an enchanting look at the power of friendship, the way grief shapes all of us, and how love can warm even the coldest heart.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

A gripping, atmospheric, fantastical tale of atonement.” — Kirkus Reviews

“[A] blend of historical fiction and frigid fantasy characterizes Hastings’s debut… crystalline prose deftly conjures the protagonist’s guilt-laden internality alongside historical topics, including views on, and treatment of, mental health.” — Publishers Weekly

Kirkus Reviews

2022-08-31
A girl in 17th-century London enters a dangerous bargain to resurrect her deceased brother.

Since her twin, Arthur, died four years ago, 13-year-old Thomasina, a pale, brown-haired, gray-eyed girl, has blamed herself. After all, she challenged him to a race before he died of their shared affliction, which she later learns is called asthma. Filled with loss and guilt, she makes gingerbread for her family’s floundering sweet shop while running the house and caring for her grieving parents. As the Great Frost grips London, a Frost Fair opens on the frozen River Thames, and Thomasina’s family sets up a stall there. Lured to the river one night by a blue light, Thomasina encounters Inigo, a peculiar stranger who offers to bring Arthur back to life if she will temporarily surrender her memories of him and make four visits to the Other Frost Fair where Father Winter, Frost Beasts, and Frost Folk gather. As her memories of Arthur fade, Thomasina discovers silvery snowflakes on her skin: Is she becoming one of the Frost Folk? Set against the backdrop of the Great Frost of 1683-84, the third-person narrative conveys Thomasina’s consuming guilt, fear for her mother’s mental state, frustration with her father, longing to become a sweetmaker, and desperation to heal her family. Her harrowing efforts to unlock the secrets of Inigo’s past and expose Father Winter’s demonic designs prove intriguing while chilling descriptions of the Other Frost Fair evoke the surreal.

A gripping, atmospheric, fantastical tale of atonement. (Fantasy. 9-12)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178475126
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/01/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

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