Edie in Between follows Edie, whose mother died a year ago—yet her ghost has never left Edie and her grandmother. In the Mitchell family, it’s tradition for the dead to linger with the living, and Edie is having none of it. Having no interest in her family’s legacy as local witches, all Edie wants is to move on. That is, until she finds her mother’s journal and her family’s legacy of magic and mayhem becomes too much to ignore. As Edie embarks on a scavenger hunt to find objects that once belonged to her mother and delves into her memories of the year when Edie was born, she’s determined to get to the bottom of her existence—and perhaps, to finally let go of her grief.
While I initially struggled a bit with accepting why Edie doesn’t want to use her magical powers (I mean, really, who wouldn’t want to be able to use magic, am I right?), Sibson has crafted a really deeply story with Edie in Between. At its heart, this story is about the family dynamics—the loving, yet sometimes stifling relationship between Edie and her grandmother who only wants her to embrace who she is while Edie is fighting her hardest to break free from magic. Beyond that, we have the family dynamics between Edie and her mom prior to her reliving her mother’s memories and the nuanced way in which the relationship develops afterward. It’s a difficult task growing up with the support of your loved ones while also trying to break away from it and this was definitely showcased in Edie’s relationship with magic, which I really enjoyed witnessing in the story.
Not to mention that there is quite the sweet romance between Edie and Rhia, who works at the local occult shop and is, in a word, cool. Really, there is no better word to describe it because Rhia tinges the pages with her laid-back (yet not uncaring) demeanour and her come hither attitude toward life and danger. There are also great friends of Edie and the scavenger hunt that made for quite the heartbreaking and tension-filled journey.
That being said, Sibson shined most in her unflinching, layered depiction of loss. Losing your mother brings an unspeakable level of pain and grief and Edie portrays this, even a year after her mother has died. I loved how we got to see this kind of juxtaposition where people don’t tell you that you’re supposed to have moved on by now but the implication of doing so is always there, with this idea of reclaiming your memories of your loved one in secret, which Edie does through the scavenger hunt. The loss Edie feels is visceral and tugs at your heartstrings and will make sure that no eyes stay dry reading this story.
Also, as we get to see Edie dive into these memories of her mom and relive them, we see this switch between Edie thinking of her mom as a mother and gradually, as her own person. For some reason, that resonated a lot with me because I remember being a kid and being shocked when family members would talk about what they were up to before I was born and how they were connected to other family members because it seems so surreal that these people had a life before I even existed—and that is so expertly depicted in Edie in Between, the way Edie slowly comes to the realisation that yes, her mother was everything to her, but she was also someone else to other people Edie has never and will likely never meet. All in all, I think there is so much to this story that will keep readers heavily invested in Edie and her magical fate.
With atmospheric writing, two lush romances and a painfully nuanced depiction of grief, Laura Sibson’s Edie in Between is the Practical Magic-esque coming of age story that every witchlover needs in their lives!
Edie in Between is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of August 24th 2021.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
A modern-day Practical Magic about love, loss, and embracing the mystical.
It’s been one year since Edie’s mother died. But her ghost has never left.
According to her GG, it’s tradition that the dead of the Mitchell family linger with the living. It’s just as much a part of a Mitchell’s life as brewing cordials or talking to plants. But Edie, whose pain over losing her mother is still fresh, has no interest in her family’s legacy as local “witches.”
When her mother’s teenage journal tumbles into her life, her family’s mystical inheritance becomes once and for all too hard to ignore. It takes Edie on a scavenger hunt to find objects that once belonged to her mother, each one imbued with a different memory. Every time she touches one of these talismans, it whisks her to another entry inside the journal—where she watches her teenage mom mourn, love, and hope just as Edie herself is now doing. Maybe, just maybe, Edie hopes, if she finds every one of these objects, she can finally make peace with her loss and put the past to rest for good. But this journey to stake her independence from her family may actually show Edie who she truly is…and the beautiful gifts that come with being just a little different.
Tinged with a sweet romance with Rhia, who works at the local occult shop, Edie in Between delivers all the cozy magic a budding young witch finding her way in the world needs.
