The Witches of New York Summary
Ami McKay

The Witches of New York Overview

Ami McKay's The Witches of New York is a fantastical story set in 1880. Beatrice is a young orphan obsessed with magic who lives in upstate New York. On her way to the city to apply for a job, Beatrice happens across Cleopatra's Needle and touches the obelisk, which activates dormant magical abilities inside her. Beatrice arrives in the city and gets a job with two witches who run a tea shop in which they tell fortunes, read futures, and prescribe herbal medications for their female clientele. After holding a séance with a ghost who proclaims that Beatrice will be the first witch who is made rather than born, the elder witches begin to teach Beatrice how to be a witch. Before she can fulfill her destiny, Beatrice is kidnapped by a religious extremist who hates magic, and the older witches must find a way to save Beatrice. The novel explores themes of religion, feminism, family, belief, and science and technology.