Just So Stories

Hachette Australia

April 2025

ISBN: 9780734421029 

$18.99

If you saw my recent excited posts regarding Nevermoor and finally meeting Jessica Townsend, you will also realise how mad keen I was to read this. I started it the Friday night after the event and finished it the following Thursday – all 660ish pages of it! I admit, this was not as fast as I would normally read, nor did I read as much each night as I would have liked but in my defense, The Kid started her new traineeship/job that week and it was full-on for both of us, as I drove her to new locations and picked her up again in the evening until she got her head around where she was going and so on. So by the time I got to bed I was pretty whacked each night!

But boy, did I want to keep reading as I was glued to the pages… Morrigan is well ensconced in her Nevermoor life, both at home at the Hotel Deucalion and with her Unit 919 siblings and Wundrous studies, but she has her own set of problems.

Her contract with Ezra Squall is still under the Hush but not for much longer, with Squall reminding her that the time limit for it is running and Mog’s own guilt plaguing her. The Concerned Citizens, that group of venomous critics are howling for her expulsion from both Nevermoor and the Society especially after a debacle at the annual Hollowmas Black March. She is beset by Holliday Wu, from the odious Public Distractions Department, to improve her public image, along with that of her unit brothers and sisters.

But it is publicist Wu, who has uncovered the connection between Morrigan and the Darling family of the Silver District. It’s a shock to Morrigan and creates a huge chasm between her and Jupiter when she comes face to face with her mother’s family – and realises that she is, after all, perfectly entitled to be a Nevermoorian. There is a lot to deal with and a lot to go into on that account, but I think you need to read it yourself.

The wonderful side angle to this (and one that Jessica happily talked about) is the murder mystery which underpins the entire Silverborn saga as Mog wrestles with her conscience, her own muddled feelings about family (yes, we could have told her that often the family you find is often far more important and valued than the family you were born into), her guilt over the pact with Squall and her rage at the bigots who want to bring her down and, ultimately, the deceit and treachery to which she’s been subjected.

But along the way, she also discovers new friends and a different kind of family member to add to her circle. It’s a big, fat rollercoaster of a book that will leave the reader breathless and then panting for the next instalment (AGAIN!). I will be re-reading it at some point [as I did with the first three more than once!].

I have been enthusiastically telling one and all that it was definitely worth the wait, and I can understand why there was one because it’s wundrously complex and intricate, and takes a lot of telling. Jessica pointed out that it is ”the length it had to be’, and I totally get that. [if you think about Order of the Phoenix being the longest HP, same same – a LOT to tell]

I loved it from the first page to the last and you, along with your readers, will as well. The devotees will not care one whit about the length, they will just relish every word. I can’t imagine that anyone hasn’t already got their hands on at least one copy for their collection but you never know, so Step Boldly and do so…it’s a definitely Wundrous 5 ☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️ rating from me.