Among Others - Jo Walton

n nNow in a Tor Essentials edition, Jo Walton's Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel about the power of story to transform our lives.n nWinner of the 2011 Nebula Award for Best Novel nWinner of the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Noveln nThere are the books you want to give to all your friends, and there are the books you wish you could go back and give your younger self. And then there's the rare book, like Jo Walton's Among Others, that's both. -Charlie Jane Andersn nRaised by a half-mad mother who dabbled in magic, Morwenna Phelps found refuge in two worlds.

As a child growing up in Wales, she played among the spirits who made their homes in industrial ruins, but her mind found freedom in the science fiction novels that were her closest companions. When her mother tried to bend the spirits to dark ends, Mori was forced to confront her in a magical battle that left her crippled - and her twin sister dead.n nNow, having fled to a father she barely knew, Mori is sent to boarding school in England--a place all but devoid of true magic. There, she tempts fate by doing magic herself, in an attempt to find a circle of like-minded friends.

But her magic attracts the attention of her broken and malign mother, pulling Morwenna toward a reckoning that will draw on everything she has learned in her years of engagement with stories and books.n nIt leapt onto my all-time favorites shelf. -Rainbow Rowelln