This was one of the most disappointing reads of 2024 so far. It’s been on my to read list for ages and I thought it would fill the void left by the Practical Magic series. I wasn’t blown away by the writing at first but I liked the characters and the set up enough to give it a chance. It’s clear the author did a lot of research into the historical setting. But as we got past the halfway point it just dragged. Way too many characters and plot-lines to follow, and the ending was totally unsatisfying - I’m guessing to set up for a sequel but aside from a short story it doesn’t look like a sequel has been published as yet. It could have benefited from losing 100 or so pages and focusing on just a couple of really solid plot-lines.