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Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil: A Novel
Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil: A Novel | Oliver Darkshire
4 posts | 6 read | 5 to read
A hilarious and surprisingly moving cozy fantasy novel from the best-selling author of Once Upon a Tome. In a tiny farm on the edge of the miserable village of East Grasby, Isabella Nagg is trying to get on with her tiny, miserable existence. Dividing her time between tolerating her feckless husband, caring for the farms strange animals, cooking up scrunge, and crooning over her treasured pot of basil, Isabella cant help but think that there might be something more to life. When Mr. Nagg returns home with a spell book purloined from the local wizard, she thinks: what harm could a little magic do? This debut novel by beloved rare bookseller and memoirist Oliver Darkshire reimagines a heroine of Boccaccios Decameron in a delightfully deranged world of talking plants, walking corpses, sentient animals, and shape-shifting sorcerers. As Isabella and her grouchy, cat-like companion set off to save the village from an entrepreneurial villain running a goblin-fruit Ponzi scheme, Darkshires tale revels in the ancient books and arcane folklore of a new and original kind of enchantment. A delightful and entertaining story of self-discoveryas well as fungus, capitalism, and sorceryIsabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil is a story for those who cant help but find magic even in the oddest and most baffling circumstances.
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thegirlwiththelibrarybag
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Mehso-so

I swung from ☺️ to 🙄, wildly throughout this - I‘m perhaps not cut out for cozy fantasy but I‘m also just not here for stories that are driven by men feeling entitled to women‘s care & labour (in this case, the hapless Mr Nagg & well, the basil plant). Also not quite enough character depth & everyone except Grimalkin the not quite cat was hard to root for. There was some lovely moments & I really did enjoy the authors narration of the audiobook.

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sebrittainclark
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Pickpick

3/5

Isabella Nagg acquires the local wizard's magic book and begins a journey to change her generally unpleasant life as the wife of an unsuccessful farmer who she doesn't particularly like to something new and magical.

There were many things about the book that I loved: Goblins being a type of fungus, Bottom the talking Donkey, and the grimalkin. There were some pacing issues, but I still thought it was a fun and engaging book.

#netgalley

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Jen2
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Pickpick

Very fun

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BookmarkTavern
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Pickpick

What happens when a miserable farm wife gains access to a wizard‘s books of magics & thinks “why not”? Chaos. & then add a sassy familiar, the goblin market getting introduced to capitalism, & a talking plant.

Such fun! You can tell this is a writer raised on Terry Pratchett. There‘s humor & a moving story of a woman deciding what she‘s worth. I wish the side characters hadn‘t been so 1 dimensional, & too many threads left unresolved. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

BookmarkTavern Release Date: Tomorrow! #ARC #NetGalley CW 👇🏻 2mo
BookmarkTavern Chapter 36, spousal murder, past and present 2mo
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