44 pages • 1 hour read
Sarah Beth DurstThe Spellshop
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: The Rise of “Cozy” Fiction
The Spellshop falls into a contemporary subgenre called “cozy fantasy,” which grew into explosive popularity during the coronavirus pandemic. Although the genre has only been named in recent history, it’s part of a much larger literary tradition that originated with the “cozy mysteries” of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Margery Allingham (notably all women in a male-dominated genre). Cozy mystery is defined by its overall positive tone and its lack of visceral gore—murders are generally bloodless and off-page, intended only as a device to set the plot in motion. Cozy mystery series gained significant popularity through social media communities such as “BookTok” on TikTok and inspired other “cozy” genres, including fantasy, romance, and even horror.
Cozy fantasies such as The Spellshop are defined by what’s generally called “low stakes,” although Sarah Beth Durst says that cozy fantasy is about a “commitment to hope” (Durst, Sarah Beth. “The Rise of Cozy Fantasy.” Reactor Magazine, 9 July 2024). The Spellshop is technically a work of high fantasy rather than low fantasy because it takes place in a secondary world; however, contrary to common high fantasy 
