The Carrefour Curse

Starred review from November 21, 2022
A family reclaims its magical legacy in this standout, genre-bending dark fantasy from Salerni (Eleanor, Alice, and the Roosevelt Ghosts). Twelve-year-old Garnet Carrefour’s mother raised her far from the family estate, the source of their ley-line-based nature powers, but with great-grand-father Jasper dying, the family’s magic compels the two back for an impending transfer of magic. Initially excited to meet her extended family, Garnet soon learns why her mother never visited Crossroad House: Jasper prowls the dilapidated home, leeching life force from his most vulnerable descendants, and an augury predicts that Garnet will repeat the fate of a girl who vanished during Jasper’s last seemingly fatal illness. As “time-traveling visions” unpredictably jolt her into the missing girl’s past, Garnet probes her family history, hoping to dodge the curse by solving a decades-old mystery. Salerni enlivens classic horror tropes and gothic ambience, complete with a sentient manor house, blending wry humor with atmospheric descriptions to create Garnet’s compulsively readable first-person voice. The meticulously built, grounded magic system provides a fantastical buffer around realistic depictions of abuse, while supportive family relationships transcend a cycle of generational trauma. Main characters read as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties.

January 1, 2023
Grades 4-7 Twelve-year-old Garnet Carrefour doesn't know much about her family and their ancestral home, the Crossroad House, but she does know they are tied to her power to harness the magic of stones. Her mother fled the house before Garnet was born, refusing to return--that is, until the (allegedly) dying patriarch summons them back in a way they can't refuse. Now Garnet gets to meet the family she's always dreamed of, but the blood ties to the house, the patriarch, and a family curse make this reunion a gloomy and potentially deadly occasion. Each chapter starts with a description of a precious stone, its properties, and how to care for it, a great way to educate about stones in a way that ties into the story and Garnet's powers. A fun page-turner that touches on the deeper themes of family, identity, and what it means to pay for the sins of the past. Readers not yet ready for Kate Alice Marshall will appreciate the emphasis on spooky mysteries and family secrets tinged with magic.

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March 1, 2023
This spooky, dark, and utterly delicious tale begins with a bang: protagonist Garnet is vomiting up frogs, a pestilence that will ease only when she returns to Crossroad House, the house her mother grew up in and fled, vowing never to return. The occasion is a fraught one. Family patriarch Jasper Carrefour is dying, and the last time he was seriously ill, two decades ago in 1998, a wing of the house burned down, four family members were killed, two were gravely injured, and another girl went missing. The suspicion is that Jasper recovered by stealing each one's life force. At Crossroad House, Garnet learns the reason for her mother's self-imposed exile: a cousin foresaw Garnet's disappearance while visiting ruins on the grounds of Crossroad House. Unable to leave this magically enforced family reunion until Jasper "transitions, " Garnet promises to avoid the ruins, but with the house itself playing tricks, her promise might be difficult to keep. Building on a family where element-based magic is commonplace (Garnet and her mother work with stones; others wield weather, plants, or even fire), Salerni sustains an atmosphere of menace through a death, several near-fatal accidents, and revelations of other ancestors' fates that Garnet learns about through a newfound talent for time-walking that connects her to her great-great-grandmother and the missing girl from 1998. Interconnected ­mysteries keep readers turning pages, and when they all converge, the payoff is spine-chilling and satisfying. Anita L. Burkam

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from November 15, 2022
A magical lineage threatens to crumble under the weight of its own secrets. The Carrefour family is imbued with magic. Each branch of the family tree has powers relating to nature and names to match their abilities: 12-year-old Garnet (like her mother, Emerald) can hear the magic in stones. Garnet connives to meet her large, estranged, extended family, which has both intrigued and fascinated her for much of her life; Emerald has told Garnet about the Carrefours but has never let her meet them. Jasper, Garnet's nonagenarian great-grandfather, seems in poor health but mysteriously never stays that way, leaning on a cane one moment and striding steadily the next. Given his advanced age, Jasper must choose his successor, the person who will ultimately shape the future of the family's crumbling ancestral manse, Crossroad House, the quasi-sentient source of their vast power. However, buried secrets and years of unexplained disappearances haunt the Carrefours, and before long Garnet must face--and ultimately try to address--the consequences of past generations' wrongdoings. Salerni's gothic charmer is deliciously creepy and atmospheric, building an immersive fantasy world that gently explores intergenerational trauma. A surprise ending hints that there may be more to discover in the Carrefour world. Main characters mostly read White. An enchanting and evocative tale. (floor plans) (Paranormal mystery. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2023
This spooky, dark, and utterly delicious tale begins with a bang: protagonist Garnet is vomiting up frogs, a pestilence that will ease only when she returns to Crossroad House, the house her mother grew up in and fled, vowing never to return. The occasion is a fraught one. Family patriarch Jasper Carrefour is dying, and the last time he was seriously ill, two decades ago in 1998, a wing of the house burned down, four family members were killed, two were gravely injured, and another girl went missing. The suspicion is that Jasper recovered by stealing each one's life force. At Crossroad House, Garnet learns the reason for her mother's self-imposed exile: a cousin foresaw Garnet's disappearance while visiting ruins on the grounds of Crossroad House. Unable to leave this magically enforced family reunion until Jasper "transitions," Garnet promises to avoid the ruins, but with the house itself playing tricks, her promise might be difficult to keep. Building on a family where element-based magic is commonplace (Garnet and her mother work with stones; others wield weather, plants, or even fire), Salerni sustains an atmosphere of menace through a death, several near-fatal accidents, and revelations of other ancestors' fates that Garnet learns about through a newfound talent for time-walking that connects her to her great-great-grandmother and the missing girl from 1998. Interconnected mysteries keep readers turning pages, and when they all converge, the payoff is spine-chilling and satisfying.

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)