New2theScene
Blood to Poison
Mary Watson
Blood to Poison
Synopsis
An epic South African fantasy from award-winning author Mary Watson, for fans of Children of Blood and Bone and The Gilded Ones.
Seventeen-year-old Savannah is cursed. It's a sinister family heirloom; passed down through the bloodline for hundreds of years, with one woman in every generation destined to die young. The family call them Hella's girls, named for their ancestor Hella; the enslaved woman with whom it all began. Hella's girls are always angry, especially in the months before they die.
The anger is bursting from Savannah - at the men who cat-call her in the street, at her mother's disingenuous fiancé, even at her own loving family. Each fit of rage is bringing her closer to the edge and now Savannah has to act to save herself. Or die trying. Because the key to survival lies in the underbelly of Cape Town, where the sinister veilwitches are waiting for just such a girl.
Blood to Poison is a furious and mesmerising story about discovering magic, historical rage and love in all its guises.
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About the author
Mary Watson
I grew up in Cape Town where I worked as an art museum custodian, library assistant, actress in children's musicals, front-of-house duty manager, and university lecturer. My PhD was in film studies and I've always been obsessed with stories.
I attempted my first book (with illustrations) when I was five. At sixteen, I had a vivid dream about a girl and her father who walked a magic garden, hiding an awful secret. This grew into a collection of connected short stories, Moss (Kwela, 2004) which I wrote under the mentorship of André Brink at the University of Cape Town. I was awarded the Caine Prize in 2006. My second book, The Cutting Room (Penguin South Africa, 2013), is about ghosts, sort of, and crime.
In 2009, I moved to Galway, Ireland. After The Cutting Room, I knew I wanted to write a fantasy book. When my youngest child was born, I found reading YA books kept me awake during the long nights. I was lost in stories of brave girls. Of magic worlds and dystopias, zombies and vampires, queens and assassins while (almost) everyone around me slept, and the first seeds of The Wren Hunt were planted.
