The Spellshop

The Spellshop is a 2024 high fantasy novel by Sarah Beth Durst. It occupies tropes of the “romantasy” and “cozy fantasy” subgenres, as the book focuses on a more rural setting, a close-knit community, and the development of relationships over the completion of an adventure typical to the fantasy genre. In Durst’s novel, an introverted librarian named Kiela minds the spellbooks for the empire, a ruling class that forbids magic from being shared with commoners. When revolutionaries attack the empire and burn the library, Kiela flees to her childhood home, a cottage sequestered among a community comprised primarily of working-class people and farmers. Despite the risk, she opens a secret spellshop, selling spells to help the townsfolk thrive and developing a romantic dynamic with her new neighbor. The story uses its fictional world and magical elements to explore themes of knowledge sharing and community, restoration and rebirth, and second chances. 

This guide refers to the 2024 hardcover edition from Tor Books.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide mention domestic abuse.

Plot Summary

The Spellshop begins with Kiela, a librarian for the Great Library of Alyssium, fleeing the library as it is violently ransacked by revolutionaries. She escapes with her only friend, a sentient spider plant named Caz, to her childhood home on the island of Caltrey. Her parents’ cottage there is in her name, but it has weathered with age, and Kiela has no supplies or gardening skills to support herself.

After venturing into town despite her anxiety around people, she meets Bryn, the local baker, who is open and friendly. Kiela learns that Caltrey has fallen on hard times due to the hoarding of magic in the city. She then meets her neighbor Larran, a local merhorse farmer, and they become attracted to each other. However, Kiela bristles at his lack of tact and invasiveness. He frequently arrives at or enters her house without notice, as is common in their small community. Nonetheless, he is clearly compassionate and helpful, so she accepts his help when needed to refurbish her home and understand the island culture.

Kiela realizes that she will need to earn some money while there, so she decides to open a jam shop and secretly sell helpful spells, which she calls “remedies,” taken from the spellbooks she rescued from the library. She begins creating charms that will help plants grow faster and restore decaying trees to health. Guardian spirits of the forest learn of her skills and enlist her to heal some of the older trees.

Soon, Kiela is building a happy life with her new friends and the potential for a relationship with Larran. She uses her magic to help where she can, including bringing a dormant fountain back to life and healing a sick merhorse. She is uncertain about lying to her community about magic, which she still frames as home remedies, but she feels obligated to do so to protect herself from legal consequences. 

However, a terrible storm incited by the imbalanced use of magic in the kingdom brings a shipwrecked stranger to the island. After being rescued and cared for by Larran—inciting jealousy in Kiela—the woman claims to be an imperial investigator named Radane set on exposing illegal magic. Kiela hides her spellbooks and attempts to deflect the woman’s suspicion. The investigator soon discovers the hiding place and is accosted by Caz and his new plant friend, Meep. After they subdue her, Radane admits that she was only masquerading as an investigator; she’s really an escaped heiress to the throne. She also says that she is a trained wind-speaker, meaning that she can magically manipulate wind. Kiela is compassionate, and they become friends. 

Kiela’s friends are willing to forgive Radane after Kiela vouches for her. As both Kiela and Bryn have had to flee their homes and seek refuge on Caltrey, they’re sympathetic to Radane’s cause. Kiela also admits to her friends and Larran about using magic, and the women decide to start a coven, though Kiela calls it a “society” for their own safety. Things enter a brief peace as the characters settle into their new dynamic of friendship and community on the island.

Shortly after, a royal fleet arrives helmed by Captain Varrik, Radane’s former betrothed in an arranged marriage and an official tasked with bringing Radane back home. Kiela enlists the forest spirits’ help to hide Radane within a tree. Captain Varrik orders his men to search Kiela’s home, yet he shows mercy when he realizes that she and Radane do not pose any threat. He leads his men away, and they depart. 

However, they’re caught by another magical storm. Kiela, her coven, and Radane perform an elaborate spell to calm the storm and rescue both the crew and the islanders. The crew returns to uncover the source of the magic. Though caught between morality and duty, Varrik ultimately leaves the island in peace. Radane decides to stay on Caltrey, and Larran asks Kiela to marry him.