A Buzzfeed Best Gift Book of the Year

"A dark, atmospheric, and feminist story of three women in New York City's Gilded Age, each determined to thrive in a society hell-bent on keeping them down, and using their coven to do so." --Buzzfeed

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

Respectable Lady Seeks Dependable Shop Girl. Those averse to magic need not apply.

New York in the spring of 1880 is a place alive with wonder and curiosity. Determined to learn the truth about the world, its residents enthusiastically engage in both scientific experimentation and spiritualist pursuits. Séances are the entertainment of choice in exclusive social circles, and many enterprising women--some possessed of true intuitive powers, and some gifted with the art of performance--find work as mediums.

Enter Adelaide Thom and Eleanor St. Clair. At their humble teashop, Tea and Sympathy, they provide a place for whispered confessions, secret cures, and spiritual assignations for a select society of ladies, who speak the right words and ask the right questions. But the profile of Tea and Sympathy is about to change with the fortuitous arrival of Beatrice Dunn.

When seventeen-year-old Beatrice leaves the safety of her village to answer an ad that reads "Respectable Lady Seeks Dependable Shop Girl. Those averse to magic need not apply," she has little inclination of what the job will demand of her. Beatrice doesn't know it yet, but she is no ordinary small-town girl; she has great spiritual gifts--ones that will serve as her greatest asset and also place her in grave danger. Under the tutelage of Adelaide and Eleanor, Beatrice comes to harness many of her powers, but not even they can prepare her for the evils lurking in the darkest corners of the city or the courage it will take to face them.

New York City in the spring of 1880 is a place alive with wonder and curiosity. Séances are the entertainment of choice in exclusive social circles, and many enterprising women--some possessed of true intuitive powers, some gifted with the art of performance--find work as mediums. At their humble teashop, Tea and Sympathy, Adelaide Thom and Eleanor St. Clair provide a place for whispered confessions, secret cures, and spiritual assignations for a select society of ladies who speak the right words, and ask the right questions.

When Tea and Sympathy posts an ad that reads, "Respectable Lady Seeks Dependable Shop Girl. Those averse to magic need not apply," seventeen-year-old Beatrice leaves the safety of her village to answer, though she has little inclination of what the job will demand. Beatrice doesn't know it yet, but she has great spiritual gifts, ones that she will come to harness under the tutelage of Adelaide and Eleanor. But not even they can prepare Beatrice for the evils lurking in the darkest corners of the city or give her the courage it will take to face them.

McKay, Ami

Ami McKay is the author of the number-one Canadian bestseller The Birth House, winner of three Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Awards, and a nominee for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and The Virgin Cure. Originally from Indiana, she now lives with her husband and two sons in Nova Scotia.