Like a Charm
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After the death of her grandfather, nuerodivergent tween Ramya uncovers a world of mystery and magic—and she’s the only one who can see it! From the award-winning author of A Kind of Spark.
“Ramya, you have something this city needs. And it’s something that’s going to change everything.”
Ramya Knox is used to feeling cursed. People only notice her long enough to call her a troublemaker. Except Grandpa. He sees Ramya and her neurodiversity as enchanting. But when Grandpa dies, Ramya's world loses its charm...until she discovers he left behind one big secret: that magic is real and Ramya can see it.
Trolls, vampires, kelpies, and more fantastical beings hide in the shadows for Ramya to discover. But the Hidden Folk need protection from the most dangerous creatures of all: the sirens. These beautiful monsters use their voices to get whatever they want, and lately they want power. And anyone who resists, anyone who is different, simply...disappears.
It's up to Ramya to finish her grandpa's work and expose the sirens for the villains they are--before their voices frown out the human and Hidden worlds forever.
Elle McNicoll
Elle McNicoll is a bestselling and award-winning novelist and screenwriter. Her debut, A Kind of Spark, won the Blue Peter Book Award and the Overall Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, as well as Blackwell’s Book of 2020. She is a four time Carnegie nominated author, and was shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Awards 2020, 2021 and 2022, the Branford Boase Award 2020 and The Little Rebels Award 2020 and 2021. She was also honoured in the US with the Schneider Award, 2022. Her second novel, Show Us Who You Are, was Blackwell’s Book of the Month and one of The Bookseller’s Best Books of 2021. Her first fantasy middle grade, Like a Charm, was nominated for Best Children’s Book for Older Readers in the first ever Week Junior Book Awards, and was highly praised in the New York Times. Her debut novel, A Kind of Spark, has also been adapted for television, is Emmy nominated and won Best Children’s Programme at the Broadcast Awards and a Royal Television Society Award. She is twice nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and the winner of the 2025 Books Are My Bag Young Adult Readers Award for Wish You Were Her. Her adult debut, Unapologetic Love Story, published in 2026.
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