A Cure Ever After by Angharad Walker – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Imaginative, emotional, absorbing, gothic, fantasy.
Children’s book title: A Cure Ever After.
Children’s authors: Angharad Walker.
Genre: Fantasy.
Published by: Chicken House
ISBN: 9781915026293.
Recommended for children aged: 12-16.
First published: Paperback February 2024.
This children’s book is ideal for: KS3 & KS4 fantasy fans.
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Our review:
Orphan Kitt is used to being alone. After his parents died, he spent years fending for himself in the markets of Lundain. Things became more complicated however when Kitt developed Midas-fingers, a dangerous greed-induced affliction that turns everything he touches into gold.
“Flakes crusted in the corner of his eyes and in his hair. Liquid globules formed in his mouth. He spat them out on the street when nobody was looking.”
When the methics at St Jude’s hospital are unable to treat him, Kitt reluctantly accepts help from the powerful Guild of Finance. Enrolled at the prestigious College for future bankers and city leaders, Kitt feels out of place amongst his wealthy, healthy classmates and is soon a target for bullies. When he accidentally injures one of his tormentors by turning part of his face into gold, Kitt is given a second chance under the protection of the Guild Master himself.
“There are much better things to be in this life than ‘normal’.”
Five years later, Kitt is now a College graduate and new intern at the Guild of Financers. Put to work on a dangerous project designed to extract – and control – feelings, he encounters struggling medical student Os who can see feelings in multi-coloured auras. The pair soon realise that the Guild has a much darker ultimate purpose and that it is up to them to stop the impending disaster.
A Cure Ever After is set in the same steampunk-esque, gothic world of Once Upon a Fever, which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in 2023. Although not a direct sequel, many of the characters and settings from the earlier novel reappear and fans will relish this second trip to Walker’s alternate London. The power-crazed Guilds and the focus on ‘curing’ emotions are highly relevant to a young adult readership who may feel out of place in the modern world and at the mercy of overwhelming hormones.
A Cure Ever After is a clever, immersive tale of friendship, deceit and finding your own place in the world. It will appeal to fans of Philip Pullman and Rainbow Rowell as well as readers who appreciate a well-crafted fantasy.
- Read a sample chapter.
Many thanks to Chicken House for the review copy.
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If you like A Cure Ever After by Angharad Walker you might also like: our reviews of Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell, Stone by Finbar Hawkins, Once Upon a Fever by Angharad Walker, When Shadows Fall by Sita Brahmachari and The Ash House by Angharad Walker.
Browse our list of books for year 8
