‘Enchantee’ by Gita Trelease

Paris in 1789 is a labyrinth of twisted streets, filled with beggars, thieves, revolutionaries – and magicians . . .
When seventeen-year-old Camille is left orphaned, she has to provide for her frail sister and her volatile brother. In desperation, she survives by using the petty magic she learnt from her mother. But when her brother disappears Camille decides to pursue a richer, more dangerous mark: the glittering court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

Using dark magic Camille transforms herself into the ‘Baroness de la Fontaine‘ and presents herself at the court of Versaille, where she soon finds herself swept up in a dizzying life of riches, finery and suitors. But Camille’s resentment of the rich is at odds with the allure of their glamour and excess, and she soon discovers that she’s not the only one leading a double life . . .

I have been studying the French revolution to prepare for my A-levels next year and Enchantee was set during this time so it talked about some key events which I really enjoyed as it made the book that much more real.

‘Enchantee’ follows a young girl Camille living in France during the time of King Louis, her and her sister do not have much money and the small savings they do collect get stolen by their drunken brother. The only way Camille keeps her and her sister alive is by using the little magic her mother taught her before she died, to turn scrap metal into coins. However, as the girls become more and more desperate and food prices continue to increase. Camille has to find a more reliable source of income. After coming across a box with all the tools for a Glamour spell (transformation) Camille must enter a world of Aristocrats and gambling to try to win enough money to protect her sister and give her the life she deserves. But when she begins to realize the Palace of Versailles has more secrets than she originally thought she begins to realize she may not be the only one using magic to win money and other magicians are looking for much more than money at Versailles. Camille must learn to walk among the rich while also watching out because anyone can be watching around the corner. A story of love, betrayal, secrets and magic.

I feel like I was immersed in the story line due to the mix of fiction and real events. We follow Camille in her two separate lives, one looking after her sister and living off the money she made in her second life and falling for a kind man whose dream is to fly-no spoilers, the second as a baroness in the Palace of Versailles using magic to change cards and win at the games. I really loved the two different people Camille had to become, they were very different characters but towards the end she began to lose her true self and merge into part of both. How Gita Trelease ran multiple other story lines and small notes at the beginning which later all interlinked was brilliant and made the book seem more whole as every part of it linked with the one main idea. I didn’t completely love Camille or completely hate her, Gita Trelease found a good level of the two which made the book so much better and more realistic.

A story of love, betrayal, secrets and magic. I adored this book and can’t wait for the sequel which is coming next year.

Rating: Plot-4 1/5 pink pyjamas Character-4 pink pyjamas Setting-5 pink pyjamas

Author’s twitter: @gitatrelease

Publisher’s twitter: @Flatironbooks