The Best Witch in Paris by Lauren Crozier

Title: The Best Witch in Paris

Author: Lauren Crozier

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Text Publishing

Published: 3^rd September 2024

Format: Paperback

Pages: 304

Price: $17.99

Synopsis:  Winner, Text Prize for Young adult and Children’s Writing, 2023

Luna rides a battered old broom that keeps crashing itself into the school pond. She has a witch’s hat and wand and sometimes she’s quite good at magic, but she isn’t completely sure that she’s a real witch. She doesn’t have a familiar for one thing, and she doesn’t know where she came from—only that she was found by three witches who she now calls her aunts. When she swaps her moonstone ring for an Australian boobook owl in the Lost Forest, the mysterious bird seller makes her promise to keep the bird hidden for as long as she can. This is not easy when you live with very inquisitive aunts. And it’s not easy when you find out that the fearsome Madame Valadon, the Best Witch in Paris, is missing her boobook owl and she’s sure that Luna knows something about it.

Could it be that Luna has Madame Valadon’s boobook? Why then did the mysterious bird seller give it to Luna? Why did she say the bird belonged to her? A familiar can only belong to one witch, after all. Luna has lots of questions—the biggest one of all is who she really is.

Fun and funny and full of life, The Best Witch in Paris is a delightful story of courage and self-belief, with colourful characters, fabulous magic and a puzzling mystery at its core.

~*~

Luna Wood is a witch-in-training at the Grim’s School for the Education of Young Witches in Paris. Even though she was raised by witches – Aunt Henrietta, Aunt Jessie, and Aunt Agnes, she’s not sure where she really came from. Luna was found in the forest by the sisters thirteen years ago. But to everyone around them, she’s not really a witch. She doesn’t have a familiar, she rides a wonky broom that crashes into the school pond. And to top it off, her magic is good sometimes.

One day, Luna swaps her beloved moonstone ring for a boobook owl from a bird seller in the Lost Forest. However, when Luna needs to try and keep the boobook, Silver, hidden, this proves to be harder than she thought. Not only does she have inquisitive aunts, but Luna soon finds out that Madame Valadon, who is said to be the best witch in Paris, is missing her boobook. And Madame Valadon wants her back.

The trouble is Luna senses that Silver is meant to be her familiar.  But rules state that a familiar can only ever belong to one witch – so who does Silver really belong to, and are there more sinister forces at work?

Come and help Luna solve the biggest puzzle of her life, where she’ll need to rely on friends to help her. There’s questions galore about curses and familiars, spells and aunts, ghosts and ghost teas, and finally, the Magic Council of Paris. But most importantly, the biggest question for Luna is who she is and where she really came from.

The Best Witch in Paris by Lauren Crozier is the 2023 winner of the Text Prize, which is awarded annually to the best manuscript that has been written for young readers. It aims to uncover exciting new books by new authors for children and young adults. The middle grade novel that won last year has just come out, and it is a fantastic story about witches, family, friendship, and identity. Luna is at the heart of the story, the one whose life we follow as she navigates an upheaval in her life. Luna hopes to solve things on her own, well sort of. Her aunts take her to Melbourne at one stage, but it turns out that Luna really needs her friend Saffie, and new friend Marielle who spends time in the library during ghost tea time to find out what she needs and come up with a plan to save the day and get to the truth. Luna, Marielle and Saffie are the new trio to follow – the ones whose stories we will follow and love. This female-led novel is also empowering – it gives the people who feel like they don’t fit in a voice. It reminds them and everyone that everyone has a story and a voice, and a place in the world. Whoever they are.

Lauren Crozier has created a magical world that plays with the traditional tropes of witches – they wear black, they ride broomsticks and wave wands, and of course, they have familiars. In this novel, the role of the familiar wasn’t merely relegated to a black cat – familiars were cats, reptiles, owls – whatever suited the witch. Luna’s determination to find out who Silver really belongs to shines through. She is a character with a strong sense of justice when it comes to familiars and a sense of curiosity that makes her a character that I wanted to follow everywhere. Each element of the story was carefully planned, with a rich world that comes to life and dances off the page. It’s fun to imagine a hidden quarter in Paris just for witches that nobody is aware of – a world that is hidden but where the people living there – the witches – can still venture into the rest of Paris.

I also liked the idea that witches are hiding in plain sight in Melbourne – the novel plays with the idea that everyone in Melbourne wears black, so there’s no need for a hidden witch’s area. Nobody would know with a simple glance. It’s a lot of fun, as well – the witches can travel across the world with magic, a fun journey that doesn’t seem to take as long as it would for humans. This novel uses tropes and witches in a clever way, from the witch school to familiars, and everything in between. It gives new life to stories about witches, with an added mystery that needs to be solved. This is a book filled with friendship, adventure, and love. It is a testament to our ability to always be there for our friends, stick to our beliefs, and realise that what we assumed about people can be wrong.

It is also powerful in its ability to highlight how people can take advantage of things, and alter people’s perceptions of themselves and obscure the truth. But when this is done, it may only take one special person to uncover the truth. I loved this fun and inventive novel that brings witches and magic into the twenty-first century. They exist amidst technology but do not rely on it, and to me, that is what makes this novel stand out. Modern enough to be engaging, whilst keeping true to the tech-free life that witches in fiction often live.

A fantastic novel and well-deserving winner.