A Home in Percival

The Percival Stories #1

by Paula K. Berman

Macrina loves her little house by Orchard Lake and her work as a freelance magic-user—but life in Percival is quieter and lonelier than she expected. As neighbors—and even her house—reveal secrets, stories, and hidden magic, she discovers that small-town life can be full of unexpected adventures, new friendships, and everyday magic.

At Home in Percival is a cozy, low-angst fantasy with warm community and a home that has mysteries of its own.

Genres: Fantasy

285 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 20, 2025

About the author

Paula lives in a small lakeside town in Oregon that is rather like her fictional town, Percival, along with her husband and two cats who bear an even stronger resemblance to Merlin and Morgana (the cats, not the husband). Her house is not self-aware, unfortunately. When not working on a sequel to A Home in Percival, she reads, rows, reads, knits, reads, kayaks, reads, and hangs out with friends who bear no resemblance at all to any of her characters.

Reviews

[Linda Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charming debut novel

Set in a low-key magical town, in a low-key magical world, with both magical and non-magical residents, this thoughtful novel addresses the real-life issues of finding/building community in a new location; friendship and love, and the adjustments required by both, in midlife; and the world of late 2021/2022, emerging from pandemic restrictions--do you eat indoors? where do you wear a mask? how do you re-engage with other people in person? The "Home" of the title is key; this house is sentient and eventually has quite a few surprises in store for its new owner and her friends. Perhaps best of all, the reader becomes invested in the characters' lives, hoping for more of their story to come.

[Kathy Colette Andersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent world and characters!

Lovely relaxing book. Extremely likable characters and setting. Well written; couple of errors/typos at the beginning of the potato party but sentences are well written and easily digested.

Not much in the way of plot/conflict in the classic sense (events linked by something other than just time) but a relief from too much drama IRL.
Hoping for more!

[Michelle Baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is well written and I would say it is almost the world building for a book with a story. Nothing actually happened, it felt like a diary. A magical diary, sweet characters, zero negativity, zero angst, zero story.

If there is a book 2, I hope there will be a story to follow, because the world building is top notch.

[Barbara Holland · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cozy read with a touch of magic

I enjoyed reading this book. It drew me in with its characters, who were both magical and believable. I look forward to reading more, and also about the special home.

[Rachel Gorham · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want a cozy read, low-conflict, about building a friend group and making a house into a home, and if you're also into books with diverse magickal characters including the house itself, this is a great example of this combination of genres. The deep-first-person writing felt chummy, with humor and personality and a real sense of place.

It's not, I confess, my usual genre, and for that reason it took me a while to get through, more like occasionally catching up with a friend over our knitting than a high-emotion marathon to find out what happens.

The light mystery does pick up a bit closer to the end, with a few satisfying, heartwarming and original twists.

[Cindy Toy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would put this book into the genre I’m calling “cozy, meditative, fantasy”. It’s very simple and low stakes with an emphasis on everyday activities and day to day life, but with the addition of magic! I’ve read several books in this vein recently and they are like a bowl of stew on a cold day, comforting and brain soothing with an almost zen quality to the pace and descriptions; perfect for a bedtime read. Interestingly, at one point near the end of this book the author actually lists several of these books and she and I seem to agree on their similarities. I don’t think these are for everyone but I’ve found them very helpful for calming my mind in these troubled times.

This particular book could have stood some better editing as there were a couple of problems with continuity but in general it was a fun and comforting read. It’s about a modern witch ( I loved that her magical focus was spells that work like computer coding), living on a lake in Oregon right as the pandemic is ending. It has found family, a sentient house, lots of food, magical beings, and of course cats.

[Spinneretta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

Macrina moved to Percival, Oregon at the height of the lockdowns. Now they're coming out of lockdown, she's trying to meet some of her neighbours and make some new friends, while juggling a long distance relationship.
Working from home with her magical business, Macrina's new social life brings to light something special about her house, which might just be the start of something wonderful.

This is a slow, cosy story featuring an unusual magical system, and a house that's a little something extra.
The characters are interesting, and even though the post-lockdown stuff made me grimace in remembrance, the sweet story of a woman in midlife finding her home was an enjoyable read.
There are no tense situations to worry about, and it was refreshing to read a new start story with a healthy relationship already established.
This is a great read for people who want something cosy and low tension to read, or who need a comfort read.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute read

Found this book on a rec from another authors reader group bc this author mentions that one. Love sentient house stories. This story is adorable, cozy, and well written. Some inconsistencies, typos, grammatical errors, and formatting but not enough to distract from the story itself. The author does mix in quite a bit of English terminology, which is fine, but a bit odd for a MC who is from the States and the story is based in Oregon. Overall a cute read for a rainy day.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Home in Percival is a low key cozy fantasy about a witch coming out of seclusion as the Covid pandemic was winding down. Having moved to a lakeside house in Oregon during the pandemic and working from her home, she’s looking to find friends in her new community.

I really enjoyed the community that’s created and her sweet relationship with her longtime boyfriend Gil. The magic and magical creatures are interesting and low key. There’s no danger or angst. This is just a sweet, restful story with minor mysteries, a few lakeside gatherings, and kind people.

[Mary Duda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learning about this world, and how the magic works, was fun. Started slow but really picked up about 2/3 through.

My quibble, and this is a "me" thing, is that I do not enjoy reading about the pandemic, or the time immediately afterward. I think this book would have been fine without that detail.

[SheReaps - Teresa Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable!

This is a very enjoyable story. It’s cozy and fun. It does, however, have a continuity issue. And typos. The typos are not a big deal, but the continuity issue made me stop, say, “Wait. What?,” and go back to earlier in the book where what I had just read was contradicted.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Home in Percival

This is a thoroughly enjoyable book and town. I loved the back story of the town origins and Sasquatch neighbors, plus anything with sentient houses.
In particular, the kindness and community that she finds after Covid. I'm looking forward to the sequel. A gentle and lovely book.

[Berry Beresford · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF

This is a good start for a first novel but I was looking for a bit more action and discussion. By a third of the way through the most exciting thing was she fell off her bike and there was a drop of blood on the ground.

I’m sure there would be some good and interesting bits later on but I’m a bit too impatient to wait for them.

[Renae V · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful!

Very much worth the few hours it takes to read. I really hope there will more books in this series. Paula Berman is an excellent writer and the story is charming. I would enjoy more books about the house, but it looks like the next book is more about the village of Percival. I'm hoping for at least 8 in the series

[Karen Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, cozy, slice-of-life book

I adored this book! Well-written, engaging, with the types of characters I’d like to be friends with. It takes a village to emerge after the pandemic.

[Julie Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Cozy Magical Place

This book isn't as much about magic as it is good friends, love and a very special home (of course with magic, and magical species). I really hope this isn't a one of as I would love to get to know more about the people.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cosy and charming

A lovely, light and cosy read, with magic woven through it, while being very much set in recent times. There are plenty of surprises along the way and some cute felines to keep everyone in their place.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

not much fantasy

Too much pandemic references. We learned more about her socializing than any magic she did. We didn’t really learn much about the house till we were 91% done with the book.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magic is just another personal talent

Enjoyable tale with magical & non-m's beings with a sentinent house at the center. Love stories, personal discoveries and friends making families of themselves. Plus some practical magicks too.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want more!

Just what I like! Entertaining to the point where I read it in one day.
Have read all Linzi Day Gretna Green to date and this ranks right up there!
Please continue the series, two is not enough😀

[Trine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Low-key cosy story that at times felt mostly like a diary. Charming characters and a town where all are kind and helpful.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by an online friend (who I have also been lucky enough to meet in person) this is a sweet, magical story. I very much enjoyed all the house parts, and I really liked Laxmi :)

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

enjoy

Took a bit to get into but was worth it. Enjoyed meeting the characters and the book. Hope there may be a follow up

[Elizabeth Franks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful

Quickly pulled me in. Loved the characters. Felt myself enter the book and become the story. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Linzi Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful and gentle book by a debut author. Highly recommend it for a day when you just want to curl up with a fluffy blanket, a mug of drinking chocolate and visit somewhere lovely to read about characters who welcome you to the page and a house that gives you a hug.
I'm looking forward to the next one.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cozy novel with magical and non-magical beings in a small town emerging from social distancing. A nice short read.

[Maria Elmvang · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really sweet and charming story about finding friends and getting settled in a new place :) I love love love descriptions of setting a house to rights and making it your own, so this was right up my aisle.

This is cozy fantasy at its best. No real conflicts, no real crises - just people being people. It is definitely character-driven rather than plot-driven, but as long as I like the characters, that's never bothered me :-D

And at the end of the day I picked up the book at every opportunity I got, and feel almost book hungover now that I've finished. This is right up my aisle, and I will definitely need a physical copy of it at some point.

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was even more delightful than I remembered from the last time I read it. Unlike many other magical series, the pandemic is here and part of life, and part of the story. This is a world where there is magic. The characters are realistic and the plot is entrancing. Highly recommended!