A Most Magical Girl

Author(s): Karen Foxlee

Middle Fiction

From the author of Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy comes the story of a friendship between two girls set in Victorian England, with magical machines, wizards, witches, a mysterious underworld, and a race against time.


Annabel Grey is primed for a proper life as a young lady in Victorian England. But when her mother suddenly disappears, she's put in the care of two eccentric aunts who thrust her into a decidedly un-ladylike life, full of potions and flying broomsticks and wizards who eat nothing but crackers. Magic, indeed Who ever heard of such a thing?


Before Annabel can assess the most ladylike way to respond to her current predicament, she is swept up in an urgent quest. Annabel is pitted against another young witch, Kitty, to rescue the sacred Moreover Wand from the dangerous underworld that exists beneath London. The two girls outsmart trolls, find passage through a wall of faerie bones, and narrowly escape a dragon, but it doesn't take long for Annabel to see that the most dangerous part of her journey is her decision to trust this wild, magical girl.


Sparkling with Karen Foxlee's enchanting writing, this is a bewitching tale of one important wand and two most magical girls.


"Foxlee's heroines have grit and heart, and they are willing to get dirty. And they do. Foxlee's nicely wry tone and moments of incongruous humor break up the tension, while Annabel's race against time in a harrowing journey deep under London keeps the pages turning. Deliciously complex and convincingly detailed."--Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review


"Kids who enjoyed Foxlee's Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy and fans of Hardinge's Cuckoo Song will find similar otherworldly appeal in this enthralling adventure."--The Bulletin, Starred review


"Memorable for its vivid imagery and stylish, thoughtful prose."--Horn Book Magazine


Product Information

Magical machines, wizards, witches, mysterious underworlds, a race against time - and two most magical girls

Karen Foxlee was born in Mount Isa, Queensland, in 1971. After training and working as a nurse for most of her adult life, she graduated from the University of the Sunshine Coast with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2005, in creative writing. Her first novel, THE ANATOMY OF WINGS, was originally published in 2008, by the University of Queensland Press, and has since been published in the U.S.A., the United Kingdom and Canada. She lives in Gympie, Australia.

General Fields

  • : 9781848125759
  • : Bonnier
  • : Piccadilly Books
  • : 0.224
  • : September 2017
  • : 198mm X 129mm X 17mm
  • : February 2018
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Karen Foxlee
  • : Paperback
  • : English
  • : 823.92
  • : 304
  • : YFH