Wild Card

Discover the tarot with Wild Card, a friendly, funny and straightforward guide to the seventy-eight cards, their stories and meanings.

‘A beautiful, playful, intriguing book’ – Nina Stibbe, author of Reasons to Be Cheerful

Every time you draw a card, you open up possibilities. What will appear and what will you see? What lessons could the cards offer up? What aspects of yourself might they reveal?

At its heart, the tarot is a storytelling device, a deck of symbols and narratives that can spark conversations, inspire ideas, and reveal new perspectives. And you don't need to be psychic to use it: it is a practice that is open to everyone. In this beautifully illustrated guide, tarot readers Jen Cownie and Fiona Lensvelt introduce each of the cards, drawing on literature, pop culture, and their own experiences, and encourage you to add your voice to this centuries-old tradition.

Whether you are learning to read for yourself and others, refreshing your knowledge, or just curious, Wild Card will show you how the tarot can add a little bit of magic to your life.

Jen Cownie and Fiona Lensvelt discovered a shared love of tarot in their twenties, after taking a course together at Treadwell’s, one of the UK’s oldest occult bookshops. Drawn in by the beauty and richness of its visual symbolism, they quickly became immersed in the stories the tarot contains and the ways in which those stories can help people make sense of the full range of human experience - from the most significant moments in life to the smallest ones, and from the good to the bad to the completely baffling.

In 2018, they formed their stage show, Litwitchure, and have since appeared at events across the UK, introducing audiences to tarot as a tool for self-exploration and conversation, and using the cards to interview artists and authors on stage. Their interviewees have included Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina, Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Adults and Animals, and many more.

Fiona is also an editor at the publisher Unbound and was previously The Times Books commissioning editor, while Jen works as a strategy director for an advertising agency.

Wild Card is their first book.

Fiona Lensvelt and Jen Cownie discovered a shared love of tarot in their twenties, after taking a course together at Treadwell’s, one of the UK’s oldest occult bookshops. Drawn in by the beauty and richness of its visual symbolism, they quickly became immersed in the stories the tarot contains and the ways in which those stories can help people make sense of the full range of human experience - from the most significant moments in life to the smallest ones, and from the good to the bad to the completely baffling.

In 2018, they formed their stage show, Litwitchure, and have since appeared at events across the UK, introducing audiences to tarot as a tool for self-exploration and conversation, and using the cards to interview artists and authors on stage. Their interviewees have included Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina, Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Adults and Animals, and many more.

Fiona is also an editor at the publisher Unbound and was previously The Times Books commissioning editor, while Jen works as a strategy director for an advertising agency.

Wild Card is their first book.