It’s a pretty ugly story with only one consistently sympathetic character - Anna. There are references to murder, suicide, and rape. Yes, there is a lot of fun magic, but honestly most of the book involves abuse, bullying, controlling relationships, magic used to cause emotional and physical pain in others, and toxic friendships. Anyone who knows anything about magic or fiction in general will start screaming “TOXIC” the first time Effie hexes a person, but the relationships prove to be more complicated than simply good or bad. Whether their friendship is liberating or toxic is a central question to the story. Together they learn about the magical world that exists just out of sight in London. Effie forms a coven with Anna, Attis, and two other school outcasts, Rowan and Manda.

To Anna’s surprise, Effie practices magic whenever and however she wants. The aunt’s plan is that Anna is to become a Binder: a witch whose magic is completely constrained with threads and knots until she becomes an elder and is freed to use her magic to bind more young witches.Īnna is amazed when her aunt allows her to attend school with her free-spirited relative, Effie, and Effie’s mysterious and attractive friend Attis. Her aunt constantly tells her that magic and love killed Anna’s parents, and that magic and any strong emotion, especially love, needs to be controlled.

It ends with the immediate plot points resolved but with a lot of threads left hanging until the sequel.Īnna lives in modern day London with her emotionally and physically abusive aunt. All of this happens in an atmosphere that combines abuse at home and the politics of high school with near constant enchantment. As they hex bullies and dabble in romance, Anna must determine whether her aunt is to be trusted and whether her new friends are true friends or toxic tempters. In this YA novel, Anna, who has been taught to suppress her magic by her abusive aunt, falls in with a group of teens who are all too eager to explore their magical skills. Threadneedle was not at all the book I expected, but I found myself engrossed in the story even though I was upset by the content. TW: emotional and physical abuse, self-harm, gaslighting, toxic friendships, bullying, fat shaming, rape, murder, suicide, peer pressure

Threadneedle novel