Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

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When Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer began exchanging letters as part of the Letter Game they had no idea of how far the game would progress. But after a few weeks of Caroline writing as Kate and Patricia as Cecelia, one letter a week wasn't enough. The two women had quickly become absorbed by the characters they had created, and the story that was coming together, and the letters between them became more frequent. Eventually, as the story headed to its conclusion, Patricia and Caroline took a look at all the letters they had written each other and realized that it would make an excellent book, and from those letters emerged Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot.


When Kate is taken to London for the season, along with her beautiful younger sister, her cousin Cecelia is disappointed at being left behind. But Kate has promised to regularly write to Cecelia everything about her London debut and in return Cecelia will keep Kate up-to-date on the news back home, in Essex. What neither Kate or Cecelia expected was to get embroiled in a sinister plot involving a magical chocolate pot and the Mysterious Marquis. But when Kate nearly gets poisoned by a witch and Cecelia befriends an enchanted young woman with an evil stepmother, both girls tumble headlong into the adventures of their lives. Through regular correspondences, Kate and Cecelia share the details of their individual escapades, which they soon come to realize are connected. And so it is up to Kate and Cecelia to pool their resources together and come up with a way to save a certain marquis from a tragic end, because you can never count on men to get things done properly.

Sorcery and Cecelia includes all of my favorite fantasy book elements; feisty and intelligent heroines, magic, adventure, and a dash of romance. I loved the characters of Kate and Cecelia and by the end of the book wished that I could adopt them as my best friends. Both girls are clever, witty and sensible though they are not above getting into the occasional bit of mischief or in bending the rules when something needs to get done. And when it becomes apparent that the Marquis and his friend are making no progress in defeating the witch and her cohort, Kate and Cecelia step in to take things in hand and get the job done right.


While I usually avoid books written in a letter format in this case I really enjoyed it. For most of the book two different stories are being recounted, one of Kate's adventures in London and the other of Cecelia's in Essex. Both girls comment on each others stories, offering advice and commiseration, and eventually the events in London and Essex begin to intertwine. I really liked the explanation, in the back of the book, of how the story came together through real letters written by Patricia and Caroline, and I thought it gave the book an authentic feel (or as authentic as a fantasy book can get).

It's been years since I last read a book by Patricia Wrede and Sorcery and Cecelia makes me wonder why I've waited so long. It was a delightfully charming book that I had a lot of fun reading and which I'm sure I will be returning to many times. It was a wonderful break from some of the darker books that I've been reading lately and I'm now determined to seek out any other books of Patricia Wredes that I've missed out on (and Caroline Stevermer as well, as I've never heard of her before). After finishing Sorcery and Cecelia I was pleased to discover that it is followed by two more books featuring Kate and Cecelia, and I look forward to reading those books as well.