A Subtler Magic (Paperback)

Michael D. McCartney

ISBN 13: 9798256019402

Published by Grapes & Wrath Press, 2026

About this Item

Paperback. England, 1940. Every night, the bombs fall.In London, Vivian drives her ambulance through the burning streets, tending to the wounded and dying with a steadiness her colleagues mistake for courage. It is not courage. It is duty - the only language she has ever been taught to speak.In Oxford, Dame Beryl stands alone in the cupola of the Radcliffe Camera and holds the magical defenses of the British Isles together by sheer force of will. Her body is failing. Her grief is vast. She has given everything to the protection of her country and her people, and she will give whatever remains.These two women have circled each other for years - mentor and heir, guardian and charge, each convinced that love and duty cannot coexist. But when a long-buried secret surfaces from the night that made Vivian an orphan, everything either woman believes about herself, about the other, and about the nature of magic begins to fracture.Set against the thunder of the Blitz and the ancient landscape of Arthurian Britain, A Subtler Magic is a novel about the cost of devotion, the courage it takes to remember, and the quiet, irresistible power of the one spell neither woman ever learned to cast.For readers of The Essex Serpent and Susanna Clarke. London, 1940. Two women fight a war the world cannot see.A luminous novel of Arthurian legend, Celtic magic, and the Blitz. For readers of The Essex Serpent and Susanna Clarke. This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9798256019402

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Subtler Magic (Paperback)
• Publisher: Grapes & Wrath Press
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798256019402
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

England, 1940. Every night, the bombs fall.

In London, Vivian drives her ambulance through the burning streets, tending to the wounded and dying with a steadiness her colleagues mistake for courage. It is not courage. It is duty - the only language she has ever been taught to speak.

In Oxford, Dame Beryl stands alone in the cupola of the Radcliffe Camera and holds the magical defenses of the British Isles together by sheer force of will. Her body is failing. Her grief is vast. She has given everything to the protection of her country and her people, and she will give whatever remains.

These two women have circled each other for years - mentor and heir, guardian and charge, each convinced that love and duty cannot coexist. But when a long-buried secret surfaces from the night that made Vivian an orphan, everything either woman believes about herself, about the other, and about the nature of magic begins to fracture.

Set against the thunder of the Blitz and the ancient landscape of Arthurian Britain, A Subtler Magic is a novel about the cost of devotion, the courage it takes to remember, and the quiet, irresistible power of the one spell neither woman ever learned to cast.

For readers of The Essex Serpent and Susanna Clarke.

"A fabulous story that blends Arthurian myth with the Blitz and wartime Oxford. Make yourself a hot cocoa and prepare to fall under the spell of Vivian and friends as you dodge the bombs and fight the magical onslaught of the enemy." - Julia Golding, author of The Persephone Code and Director of the Oxford Centre for Fantasy