Green used to think her story was written. The day her beloved city was burned to the ground seemed to be the end of things. Her mother, her father, and her beautiful sister were gone. The boy she loves is far away searching for his own family. The past is filled with dangerous memories and the future seems like a distant hope. So Green tries to focus on the present.

As her village tries to rebuild, Green tends her garden and collects the stories of the survivors. When Green sets out to find the Enchanted–women the village calls witches–in the hopes of collecting their stories. And maybe something more. One of the witches can grant any person their heart’s desire. With their help Green might be able make her heart whole and rescue a friend she thought was lost in Green Witch (2010) by Alice Hoffman.

Green Witch is the sequel to Green Angel–the story that introduced readers to Green and her world. It is also a story that Hoffman had not planned to write until fans asked to know what happened next to Green and the boy she loved.

Like its predecessor, this book is very short with sparse writing that hearkens back to traditional fairy tales and prose poetry in its meter and style.

While Green Angel focused on moving through tragedy for both the town and Green herself, Green Witch is all about rebuilding and transformation. This is a story where women who survived unspeakable loss can become witches imbued with magic, where gardens can grow from ashes, and where a girl who lost everything she loved can rediscover hope and love. As Green gathers stories and tends her gardens, she too begins to grow as she realizes her own power and finds her place in a world forever changed by one tragic day.

Possible Pairings: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, If I Stay by Gayle Forman, Madapple by Christina Meldrum, How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff