The Feathers of Farwood and the Gripps Curse by Jayne McIntyre

Title: The Feathers of Farwood and the Gripps Curse

Author: Jayne McIntyre

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Riveted Press

Published: 17^th March 2026

Format: Hardcover.

Pages: 224

Price: $22.99

Synopsis: When Eva Feather’s (very human) father gets turned into an owl by the dreaded Gripps, her mother whisks Eva and her sisters away to the mysterious Australian town of Farwood, a place where legends, tales, and whispers come to life.

With the help of her newfound friend, Harvey, Eva races against the clock to find a cure for their feathery, family curse, before she loses her dad to his owlish form forever. Not to mention her own feathers are starting to show… But Harvey has a secret of his own, and Eva faces the impossible task of evading the Hunters, protecting her sisters, and breaking into Farwood’s underground archives to locate a magical book she isn’t even sure exists.

Eva soon discovers the Feathers aren’t the only family seeking refuge in Farwood—others have also succumbed to the Gripps and taken animal form and it is up to Eva to find the answers and reunite the town before it is too late. The Feathers of Farwood is a middle grade mystery packed with adventure, magical realism, surprising animal facts, and sprinkles of folklore. The first in an exciting new trilogy, this enthralling tale will captivate even the most reluctant readers.

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Eva and her family – her mother, and her sisters Harriet and Mamie, have recently moved to Farwood, and her father has also turned into an owl. Everywhere the Feathers family have gone, there have been whispers about them and their feathers. About the Gripps curse and how it has affected her family.

Yet in Farwood, there are rumours about her family. Secrets about the town, and a lofty founding family group determined to keep a magical book under wraps so nobody can find out what is really going on.

And because of the whispers and the rumours about her family, Eva has never really had any friends. I felt for Eva, she needed someone she could trust, and she didn’t have that with anyone at school or in her community.

Until Harvey Blake arrives. He’s the only person at school and in the entire village who doesn’t look down his nose at Eva. He’s the first person to be interested in her, and who doesn’t judge her the way Jessica Winthrop and everyone else does. But I always had the sense that Harvey was hiding something. That he is up to something. He’s still a lovely character though and it will be interesting to see how he grows over the next two books.

So, Eva feels she can trust him to help her family and the other families that have succumbed to the Gripps in Farwood. Not everyone turns into owls, though. There are lots of different animals they turn into, and the book she seeks could help them all.

But it’s going to be hard, because they need to get into the Founding Families celebrations to find the book. And it won’t be easy. Quests in fantasy never are, are they? There’s always something that makes it harder for the heroes

Who can they trust? Who is going to make things worse? Eva is determined to help her father and prove the rumours about the Gripps and what happens to those who are affected by it wrong. What follows is the start of a magical mystery that builds on itself as the book goes onwards.

The Feathers of Farwood and the Gripps Curse kicks off a new trilogy by Jayne McIntyre, set in Australia against a backdrop of magic and curses, secrets and finding out who you can really trust. It sets up the mystery and the series well, getting readers right into the story and into what is going on. It also allows things to develop and slowly evolve so we come to see what is behind everything going on.

Eva is a great character, who grows over the book and becomes the hero we need in this story. Things are high stakes but not life threatening or dire. They keep it engaging without making the reader worry too much.

Then there’s the two perspectives – Eva, and the owl, her father. The owl chapters are observations of what is going on, and mirror what Eva is doing throughout the novel. These work well together and make the story work well. The combination makes the novel complex and intriguing, building on the mystery that will be an integral part of the next two books.

I was engrossed in this book, and loved so many things about it. I felt this was written very well, capturing the intricacies of family and friendship, and the tensions of a society or community with secrets. It’s the kind of book I would have loved to read as a kid, and absolutely loved reading now. It’s important themes about community, family, friendship and trust are what make it work well as a first book that brings this new world to life with the promise of more to come.