FANTASY & MAGICAL REALISM (CHILDREN'S / TEENAGE). Be careful what you wish for. Fourteen-year-old Rachel Hollingsworth ('that's Ratchet, you eejit') is sick of living in foster care. Desperate for her independence, she runs away. But unaware she's a witch, she accidentally travels back in time to the notorious Essex witch trials, along with her social worker-witch mentor Bryony and Oscar the cat. They all face execution, but their powers are failing and tim is running out. They manage to escape, but to Old Istanbul. Ratchet, now a skilled fortune teller, is invited to the Palace to read the Sultan's wife's future. But the Sultana has something else in mind. She holds Ratchet's friends hostage, until she does 'one small favour'. With her friends' lives in the balance, Ratchet has to make the most difficult decisions of her life, and carry them out - all on her own. Ages 9+

本作の真の魅力は、単なる冒険譚を超えた「居場所を求める魂」の叫びにあります。里親家庭で育ち、自らをラチェットと定義する少女が、魔力で過酷な歴史のうねりに放り出される姿は、思春期のアイデンティティ模索そのものです。歴史という鏡を通じて己の孤独と向き合う構成は、児童文学の枠を超えた文学的な深みを感じさせます。 エセックスの魔女狩りやイスタンブールの宮廷を舞台に、抑圧と自由が鮮明に描かれます。極限状態で迫られる選択は、自立を切望していた彼女が他者のために覚悟を決めるまでの精神的成長を刻んでいます。魔法を単なる道具ではなく、運命を切り拓く意志の象徴として描く著者の筆致は、読者の心に強烈な自立の火を灯すことでしょう。