By Elyse
A Fragile Enchantment is a gentle, cozy fantasy romance (I refuse to use the word romantasy–you can’t make me), and it’s perfect for anyone looking for a romance that’s got a solid conflict, but isn’t angsty. I loved this book. This book is like being wrapped up in a blanket that just came out of the dryer. This book is like drinking the perfect cup of tea while watching it snow outside, knowing you don’t have to leave the house.
This is a historical fantasy, and it’s loosely based on Ireland and England after The Great Famine.
Niamh is a Machlish seamstress with the ability to sew enchantments into her work. She’s so talented she’s been invited to make the wedding clothes for Prince Kit Carmine of Avaland. For Niamh this is the opportunity of a lifetime, but it’s bittersweet. Machland suffered a blight that led to famine and its eventual separation from Avaland. Poverty has driven many of the Machlish to Avaland to look for work, but there’s still a great deal of bitterness that Avaland (and its royal family) essentially abandoned the Machlish to starvation when their own policies led to the blight. Niamh doesn’t want to leave her home, but her success in creating the wardrobe for the prince could give her the money to open a shop in Avaland and support her mother and grandmother.
When Naimh arrives at the palace she finds Kit to be insufferable. He’s clearly going along with his marriage to appease his older brother, the king, and he’s being a brooding child about the entire thing. He insults Niamh’s abilities and without thinking, she tells him off. Instead of being fired, she finds herself earning his grudging respect. This is a Grumpy/Sunshine book in which Kit is obvious the grumpy one. That said, Niamh isn’t a Pollyanna; she’s got some real stuff going on in her life, but she refuses to take it out on anyone else.
There’s a lot happening in this book, but it all blends together wonderfully. Kit and Niamh start to fall in love, but there’s no chance of them being together because she’s so significantly below him in status and his marriage is needed for a political alliance. One of the things that solidifies their love story is that they both recognize in each other a person healing from generational trauma. Kit’s father was an abusive monster, and his brother has learned to cope by inertia. He just doesn’t deal with any issues that are presented to him. Niamh loves her mother and grandmother deeply, but her entire life has been about ensuring their survival. For Niamh and Kit, loving each other is the first selfish thing they’ve really allowed themselves to do.
I also loved the world building and magic system. This is a low-magic fantasy where only some people have magical abilities and those are relatively limited. Kit’s magic would be considered on the more powerful side, and it’s limited to an affinity with plants that allows them to grow and thrive. In one scene he’s very upset and barbed vines close around him like a cage, but he can’t do more than that. Niamh’s ability to imbue her creations with magic was so cool and as a I knitter I really appreciated the concept. There’s also some political intrigue in the book with regard to why the king refuses to address any conflict coming his way, why Kit’s marriage is so important, and why there is a continued push by some of the Machlish for reparations.
That’s a lot to put into one story, but it blends together and unfolds seamlessly. The romance here is gentle and tender, with Kit and Niamh helping each other heal from familial trauma and set out on a path where they are allowed to put their own needs first. Even though the conflict is significant the book never feels dark. With excellent world building and a fun magic system, plus a really beautiful romance, plus coziness (I love the cozy), I couldn’t find a single flaw in A Fragile Enchantment. This may well be my favorite fantasy romance I’ve read yet.
https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/a-fragile-enchantment-by-alison-saft/
A tailor and a prince become entwined in a tenuous romance.
When Niamh, who’s from a working-class Machlish family, receives an invitation to serve as the tailor for the royal wedding of Avaland’s Prince Christopher to the Castilian Infanta Rosa, she boards the ship, convinced that this Season will change her family’s fortunes. Her ability to imbue emotions into her embroidery has earned her a reputation among the high-born, but using magic comes at a cost to her lifespan.
Niamh arrives on Avaland’s shores, only to find the country in turmoil. The exploited Machlish are striking in droves, a gossip columnist has alienated the court, and most troublesome of all, the brooding and reluctant Christopher, who goes by Kit, simultaneously vexes and beguiles her. With patience and persistence, Niamh pierces Kit’s thorny, magicked defenses, but personal and political histories threaten their future.
The descriptions of Niamh’s handiwork are delicately crafted, as is the worldbuilding, which evokes a European historical setting and population. Names, the Machland crop famine, and Machlish legends point to Irish influences. Kit’s prickliness and Niamh’s empathetic nature create a heated attraction of opposites that risks positioning Niamh as overly self-sacrificing at the expense of her individuality and a satisfying character arc. However, well-rendered supporting characters are gratifying additions to the narrative, which wraps up somewhat hastily.
A bit uneven, but fans of Regency romances will revel in this fantastical affair,
Independent booksellers across the country have chosen Allison Saft's A Fragile Enchantment as their top pick for the Indie Next List top Pick. The novel follows Niamh Ó Conchobhair, a dressmaker whose magically enhanced garments have caught the attention of the royal family. Hired to design the wardrobe for the royal wedding, Niamh must brave the city and the political games of the nobles.
Here, Saft discusses her work with Bookselling This Week.
Bookselling This Week: Like a lot of fantasy, A Fragile Enchantment features a kingdom loosely based on England. But with Niamh and her people’s plight, you also sort of incorporated some of Ireland’s history. Do you want to tell us a little bit about that?
Allison Saft: The book had an interesting evolution. Initially, it was sort of a 1930s LA/ Hollywood vibe and then my agent said, “Let’s reconceptualize.” The magic was also initially glassblowing. (I took some glassblowing classes in college and one day I’ll put it in a book, but it was not this one.) My agent suggested, “Why don't you do something with dressmaking or clothes in general?” And I said, “Okay.”
I like to build my worlds around characters. So, with this change to make Niamh a dressmaker instead of a glassblower, I thought to myself, “what kind of world can we build that would be interesting to showcase this magic?” And I thought, why not just commit fully to the bit and go with a Regency-inspired world with all of the glitz and the glamour that that entails.
I think what fascinates me about the Regency period is that people think of it as this very pastel, sparkly, very romantic time period. But what’s very interesting about its history is there’s a ton of social inequity seething just beneath the surface. It was a big moment for class tensions — the Peterloo Massacre for example, and of course, England’s colonial projects. It was important to me to capture that full spectrum of what makes the Regency period the Regency period. Niamh, I’d already decided, would be Irish. That felt like a very natural extension of the initial concept.
BTW: What I was really struck by was how you excel at building these little intimate moments between the characters. Not just Niamh and the prince, but also all the other people that she bonds with along the way. When you’re writing, do you plan how these characters are going to get along? Or do they do they just have minds of their own?
AS: I think it’s a little bit of both. I’m a fairly extensive outliner. Characters are my interest and plot not so much. So, I feel like I need kind of that framework, otherwise who knows what will happen. I had a pretty general sense of the major turning points and the relationships. I generally like to plan out the starting point and the end point, and then the interstitial scenes will develop organically as I’m writing. I really just like to let the characters go, that’s kind of the only element of my writing process that I’ll pants. Although a few characters surprised me. Sinclair, for example, I had a very different arc in mind for him.
BTW: I’m very excited to see what’s next. A Dark and Drowning Tide will be out in September. Do you want to tell us a little bit about it?
AS: It was probably one of the most difficult things I’ve written. And as a result, I think it may be the book I’m most proud of. It was a lot of fun. I crammed a whole bunch of stuff that I loved into it. And as I was writing, I sort of found myself kind of buckling under the weight of the new age category, the new scope (it's a much bigger cast that I'm used to). After Down Comes the Night, my debut, I swore I would never ever, ever write another mystery. Lo and behold, I wrote another murder mystery. I am very excited for people to read it. It is my debut sapphic rivals-to-lovers adult fantasy. I pitch it as if the quintessential dark and brooding love interest narrated the book and also was a woman. That’s kind of the overall vibe of book. And the love interest is the whimsical, endlessly optimistic character. I had a ton of fun with their dynamic. Essentially, the two of them have to team up to solve the murder of their mentor figure and the only person that they can trust is each other.
BTW: Did you plan on moving into a new age demographic or did that just happen by accident?
AS: It happened a little bit by accident. I started writing the book a couple of months after my debut novel came out, and when I pitched it to my agents, they were like, “We love this, but we think maybe this would translate a little bit better to adult” and I agree. A Dark and Drowning Tide allowed me to be a little bit more bleak, in a way. I feel a certain responsibility in my YA novels to give readers a soft place to land and A Dark and Drowning Tide is a little bit more punishing. I think it ultimately has the Allison Saft brand of the healing power of love, and finding belonging and shared not-belonging, etc.
BTW: Can you tell us a little about the role of books and indie bookstores in your life?
AS: I honestly do not think that I would have the career I do without indie bookstores. Indie bookstores have shown up for me so consistently. From the beginning, they were always behind me. My favorite part of every book launch is working with my local indie bookstore, Kepler’s, to run a signed pre-order campaign. It’s just given me this community that I otherwise wouldn’t have had. There’s something really magical about Kepler’s kind of giving me access to readers that I wouldn’t otherwise have — like getting their comments in the books that I’m going to sign. But also just hanging out for a couple hours with people who are just really cool and lovely. It’s also just great to walk into the store. Every time I think I’m going to pop in and out for just one book. Inevitably I leave with a mountain [of them]. I can only hope to support indie bookstores as much as they’ve supported me.
Authors and Agents Interview with Allison Saft
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR0jsn7VJ5k
35 minutes
Allison Saft is the New York Times and indie bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic and A Fragile Enchantment. After receiving her MA in English Literature from Tulane University, she moved from the Gulf Coast to the West Coast, where she spends her time rolling on eight wheels and practicing aerial silks. She lives with her partner and an Italian greyhound named Marzipan.
Her debut adult fantasy, A Dark and Drowning Tide, will release on September 17, 2024.
Author’s website: https://www.allisonsaft.com/