A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher, 336 pages.
Cordelia has always been frightened of her mother's violent moods and punishments. Years of total isolation under her mother's absolute control have made her timid and afraid to speak to other people. She has no idea how afraid she should be until she finds out her mother has decided to move on to greater ambitions. Soon she learns that her particular torments are unusual because her mother is a sorceress, and she has her eyes set on a bachelor nobleman. They are soon living the house of the man called the Squire and his intelligent unmarried sister, and Cordelia finds herself desperate to protect not only them, but also herself.
This was a truly disturbing book. Kingfisher did a masterful job blending supernatural horror with tragically human horrors, and in doing so elevated the dread from both. This is also, perhaps strangely, a really beautiful found family story. Kingfisher has always excelled at making deeply compelling and interesting ensemble casts, and that skill really shines in this book. That being said, I think the two primary protagonists (Cordelia and the squire's sister Hester) could also have carried this book on their own. My only note is that this book is marketed as a Goose Girl retelling, and I would say that it has very little of the original myth in it. Overall all I can wholeheartedly recommend this book as an emotionally gripping story that takes care of it's reader.
