THE FORGETTING SPELL

Thirteen-year-old Darya Blok struggles to unravel the mystery of her mother’s eight-year absence and to do the right thing on her return.

There is powerful, unpredictable magic in Willow Hill, where, on the third day of the third month of their 13th year, girls make three wishes which may or may not come true. If you are one of the three white Blok sisters, with Baba Yaga in your family tree, they will. You’d better use them wisely. Darya’s mother, who left when Darya was 5, is back in town, shakily recovered from serious depression and not yet ready to resume her old roles. She wants Darya to use one of her wishes to right a wrong she committed at 13. Darya finds this unfair. She isn’t even sure she believes in magic. Aching and angry, she’s also infuriated by her new friend Tally’s insistence that Darya’s lucky. Tally lives in a foster home, and her mother, diagnosed as schizophrenic and institutionalized, refuses to see her, so her perspective is understandable. In this second book in the Wishing Day series, readers are drawn into middle-child Darya’s changing moods by the first-person, present-tense narrative. Though set in the present day, occasional flashbacks provide insight into childhood events. A convenient conclusion offers plenty of room for her little sister’s story.

A poignant tale about missing mothers that will leave readers anxious to read more.