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Speculation

Review
By Publishers Weekly

With an affectionate nod to the works of Edward Eager, Shawl (Everfair, for adults) writes about “magic happening to regular, ordinary kids” in this immersive 1962-set novel that combines the historical and the magical. When their mother is hospitalized with a respiratory malady, 10-year-old Winna Cole and little sister Tupelo stay with their grandparents in Vandalia, a town that once served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. After Tupelo inadvertently breaks Winna’s glasses, Grampa Carl gives her a pair of silver-framed spectacles that once belonged to her great-aunt Estelle. The glasses contribute a rainbow shimmer to her view of the everyday—and, combined with a speculative phrase and a bit of mist, allow Winna to communicate with Estelle’s ghost. The specter quickly asks for help finding Winna’s great-uncle Key, whose disappearance as an infant led to a curse that’s affecting the ability of the family—including Winna’s mother—to “breathe easy.” Starring an inquisitive, perceptive protagonist and a supportive cast of adult characters, this intergenerational story underlines themes of family history and inheritance alongside a meditation on ordinary wonders. Protagonists cue as Black.