Lucy Derrick is a young woman of good breeding and poor finances. After the death of her beloved father, she becomes the unwanted boarder of her tyrannical uncle, fending off marriage to a local mill owner. But just as she is resigned to a life of misery, a handsome stranger—the poet and notorious rake Lord Byron—arrives at her house, stricken by what seems to be a curse, and with a cryptic message for Lucy.
 
With England on the cusp of revolution, Lucy inexplicably finds herself awakened to a world where magic and mortals collide, and the forces of ancient nature and modern progress are at war for the soul of England . . . and the world. The key to victory may be connected to a cryptic volume whose powers of enchantment are unbounded. Now, challenged by ruthless enemies with ancient powers at their command, Lucy must harness newfound mystical skills to preserve humanity’s future. And enthralled by two exceptional men with designs on her heart, she must master her own desires to claim the destiny she deserves.
 
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Amazon.com Review

What makes a witch? Today a witch is usually a frightening woman dressed in a pointy hat. But for most of European history, magic occurred along a continuum of moral and spiritual value, in which conviction and execution as a witch was only the farthest extreme. In fact, everyday people routinely relied on folk magic to solve all sorts of commonplace problems that couldn't be addressed by other legal, medical, or religious means. All that was required was a bit of cunning.

Cunning folk, as they were known in England, offered occult services, such as placing charms and lifting curses, usually for a fee. The word “cunning” has a double connotation in English – it means clever and capable on the one hand, but it also means sneaky and dubious. As such, men and women who were skilled in folk magical arts tended to have mixed reputations; they served an important role in English village society, but they were also regarded with suspicion.

This fascinating nether world weaves through David Liss's intoxicating new novel, The Twelfth Enchantment. Set in Regency England, The Twelfth Enchantment tells the story of Lucy Derrick, a vivacious heroine in the tradition of Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennett, compelled by her loss of fortune after her father's death into a marriage of convenience to save herself from destitution. On the eve of her engagement, a handsome stranger appears on her doorstep, proclaiming that she must “gather the leaves,” and above all, must not marry her betrothed. He then collapses into a fit, vomiting pins, which the local doctor is powerless to explain.

The stranger's appearance plunges Lucy into an adventure that will remake our notion of what magic is, and what it does. To unravel the stranger's mysterious pronouncement, Lucy must venture deep into her own past, and into the farthest realms of English imagination, of charms and changelings, of fairies and witches, as David Liss spins a modern fairy tale that is equal parts Pride and Prejudice and The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. Braving danger and duplicity, Lucy Derrick must uncover untold depths of fortitude to save her family, and herself, from a horrifying truth that could shake England to its very foundations. It takes a cunning novelist, indeed, to tell a story as gripping – as magical – as The Twelfth Enchantment.