Summary
For fans of We Were Liars , How I Live Now , and The Ocean at the End of the Lane comes a haunting, sexy debut of magical realism. And look for Moïra Fowley-Doyle's newest book, Spellbook of the Lost and Found .
Every October Cara and her family become inexplicably and unavoidably accident-prone. Some years it's bad, like the season when her father died, and some years it's just a lot of cuts and scrapes. This accident season--when Cara, her ex-stepbrother, Sam, and her best friend, Bea, are 17--is going to be a bad one. But not for the reasons they think.
Cara is about to learn that not all the scars left by the accident season are physical: There's a long-hidden family secret underneath the bumps and bruises. This is the year Cara will finally fall desperately in love, when she'll start discovering the painful truth about the adults in her life, and when she'll uncover the dark origins of the accident season--whether she's ready or not.
Author Notes
Moïra Fowley-Doyle is half-French, half-Irish and lives in Dublin with her husband, their young daughters, and their old cat. Moïra's French half likes red wine and dark books in which everybody dies. Her Irish half likes tea and happy endings. Moïra started a PhD on vampires in young adult fiction before concentrating on writing young adult fiction with no vampires in it whatsoever. She wrote her first novel at the age of eight, when she was told that if she wrote a story about spiders she wouldn't be afraid of them anymore. Moïra is still afraid of spiders, but has never stopped writing stories. The Accident Season is her debut novel.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up-Triple layers of protective clothing, padded furniture, knives locked away, and the gas turned off. It's October, the accident season for Cara's family, but all her mother's precautions will not be enough to protect them from the cuts, bruises, broken bones, or worse. Cara's sprained wrist and her sister Alice's concussion are minor compared to previous years, though Bea's tarot cards indicate that this will be one of the worst accident seasons yet. Cara has just discovered that her elusive former friend, Elsie, mysteriously appears in every photo in her scrapbook, past and present. Unfortunately, Elsie has disappeared from her usual spot in the school library and, other than Cara's best friend Bea and her ex-stepbrother Sam, no one seems to know who she is. As the last week of October commences, finding Elsie takes on a sense of urgency for Cara, who senses she may somehow be connected to the yearly turmoil in her family's lives. With Halloween fast approaching, all the horror of accident seasons past begins coming back to haunt them, and the lies and secrets that each family member has locked away gradually come to light. Similar in style to Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic (Putnam, 1995), Fowley-Doyle's stunning debut novel weaves the temporal and the spiritual into a seamless reality, rich in emotional impact. Devastating loss and abuse are balanced by romance, teen hijinks, and spine-tingling discoveries. Provocative content adds to the intensity and will keep readers riveted. VERDICT This thought-provoking narrative will cast its spell over older teens and adults alike.-Cary Frostick, formerly at Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Actress Minifie's audio performance of Fowley-Doyle's debut YA novel is spot-on. Her lyrical, youthful brogue is the perfect match for protagonist Cara Morris, an Irish teen whose family-single mom, slightly older sister Alice, and step-brother Sam-becomes particularly susceptible to accidents once a year during the month of October. That's just one supernatural aspect in a plot that's layered in magical realism and filtered through Cara's vivid imagination. Performing with an Irish accident seems to rolls off Minifie's tongue, and she creates a slew of voices for the characters. Sam's voice has a husky quality, and Alice's speech incorporates teenage angst, carrying a touch of Valley Girl impatience. As for protagonist Cara, Minifie presents her with a childlike, at times dreamy delivery that shifts swiftly from emotional highs to lows as she deals with a ghostly specter, painful memories, her first love affair, and, of course, the Halloween's potential for family mishaps. Ages 14-up. A Penguin/Dawson hardcover. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Every October, seventeen-year-old Cara's family inexplicably experiences accidents. This year is supposed to be the worst, but not in the way everyone expects. Along with the usual bumps and bruises, family secrets are uncovered, and Cara finally learns the tragic origins of her family's curse. Set in Ireland, magic and reality twist together in a poignant debut about secrets, ghosts, and love. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Ghosts, secrets, and magic collide in this Irish author's astonishing debut. For as long as she can remember, 17-year-old Cara, her mother, and her 18-year-old sister, Alice, have dreaded the accident season. For a few weeks every autumn, horrible things happen in their family. "Bones break, skin tears, bruises bloom." And sometimes people die, including Cara's father nine years ago. Since then she's gained a new ex-stepbrother, Sam (he stayed with them when his own father disappeared), and a new best friend, mystical Bea, somewhat callously, or so she thinks, abandoning Elsie, the friend who supported her during her childhood grief. Elsie still attends their school but has mysteriously gone missing. Only when they throw a Halloween party in a haunted house, inviting everyone they know to come as the people they are behind their everyday masks, do the secrets start to ignite. Elsie is worn out from trying to protect them alland some of the accidents weren't accidental. Written in Cara's voice, Fowley-Doyle's unflinching first-person narration conveys the impossible in prosaic, ordinary language that nonetheless sings: "I think of all the things our brains deny, all the memories they hide from us, all the secrets they keep." What emerges from the smokescreen is a moving portrait of a fractured family, knitting itself back together with courage and love. A powerful novel from an exciting new talent. (Fiction. 14 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
A fall down the stairs, a splinter, a car crash. This is how every October goes for Cara; her older sister, Alice; their mom; and her ex-stepbrother, Sam. It's the accident season, when they slip down the stairs, catch elbows on door jambs, or snag their limbs on loose nails. Their preparations have become unwieldy they swaddle themselves in extra layers despite the weather, hide kitchen knives away, keep the oven off indefinitely. Still, this accident season is shaping up to be a bad one. Cara is sure that a classmate is following her, but can't seem to get a bead on the girl's whereabouts. Alice is fighting with her charismatic boyfriend, Nick, one minute and glued to his side the next. And Sam is just sad all the time. Beautifully crafted and atmospheric, the magic realism of this book gradually peels away to expose secrets and reveal unexpected truths. Readers will be swept away by Fowley-Doyle's lyrical writing and entrancing premise in this tale of forbidden love and magic.--Willey, Paula Copyright 2016 Booklist
