Orla and the Magpie's Kiss

by C.J. Haslam

New-found witch and eco-warrior Orla is up against some seriously dark magic in this creepy and funny adventure, the second in the series.

Orla, her brothers and Dave the dog are on holiday in Norfolk, visiting their eccentric Uncle Valentine. Orla may have recently learned she's a witch, but she's not looking for trouble. Nope. Definitely not.

Unfortunately, her timing is terrible.

She quickly discovers the beautiful Anna's Wood, due to be bulldozed any minute for shale gas. The locals are all convinced that GasFrac's plan is a great one. Make way for a new shopping centre and car park! But why doesn't anyone care about the destruction of the wood? Where are the protests? Orla soon begins to suspect that this isn't just indifference ... there's dark magic involved here. With the help of a magpie, she finds out who is behind GasFrac. And what he wants is worse than she could possibly have imagined.

304 pages, Paperback

Published April 7, 2022

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book - I have ended up reading the two CJ Haslam books the wrong way round but it doesn’t really matter. I purchased this book to read to my Year 6 children as part of their work on the human impact on the planet. It’s a fascinating read with lots of twists and turns along the way. Would definitely recommend!

[Trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aimed at about age 8+. If you like Famous 5 and Haŕry Potter, this book would be good for you. The setting of Norfolk coast is well described and I loved the characters (especially Dave) the plot is exciting
Book 2 so I suggest reading first book, Orlando and the Serpent's Curse. Orla, her brothers and Dave T Dog are on summer holiday at their Uncle Valentine's house on the Norfolk saltmarsh. A wild place with muddy creeks. Uncle Valentine's has a few rules for the children which 8nclude not going to Anna's Wood, an ancient wood about to be bulldozed by a fracking company. Orla and her brothers set out to investigate. Why aren't people trying to save the wood? And most puzzling of all is where has all the magic in the air gone?

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fan of Haslam's other books I picked up this and the first book out of interest to read to my children. The story moves along nicely but the stand out is definitely the character of Dave T Dog. A great adventure book for kids with humour and suspense.

Maybe Dave T Dog and Martin Brock have crossed paths somewhere.

[Anita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Um 🤔 I liked that it was based in my local area.
The storyline is ok...
ok the book is based for 8+ or something and it was sitting in a charity shop so grabbed it for a quick read. Also managed to get audiobook for it so that was cool 😎

[eliza · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE IT!