At The House Of The Magician Review

At The House Of The Magician

-          Mary Hooper

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Poor runaway during the Elizabethan period, Lucy does not have many options. Her luck finally turns when she is taken on as a maid in the household of Dr. Dee, court magician to Queen Elizabeth I. The household is strange and sinister, and Lucy has a nose for intrigue. So when she stumbled across a plot to assassinate the queen, Lucy must find means to warn her . . . before it's too late.

Escaping from her abusive Father, Lucy manages to find employment as a nursemaid at the house of Dr Dee – mystic and confidant to Elizabeth I. But is Dr Dee truly mystical or is just a clever fake?

I am a recent convert to Mary Hooper’s writing, but once again she has sucked me into the Elizabethan era. She has such a skill that with minimal words she re-created the past complete with sights, sounds and smells. The people come to life, each one feels like a real person with their own habits and thoughts. The Tudor period is a favourite period of mine – and the setting in Richmond and Mortlake is familiar to me made it all feel like a comfy chair that I was settling into again – and I could have stayed a lot longer than 240 pages!

Lucy is an engaging character and I loved her devotion to the Queen and her mother. Her slow discovery of what lies beyond the normal world is intriguing and while I would have liked to know more of the magic and ghosts, there is definitely an element that can be explored in the future for Lucy. I would have liked to know more about Tomas as well!

Overall this was a great a read where the major disappointment was how quickly I sped through the pages.

Recommend for fans of Sophie McKenzie and Jennifer Donnelly. 8 out of 10