LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
Caroline O'Donoghue’s All Our Hidden Gifts is an accomplished debut - the first in what’s set to be an exhilarating quartet exploring friendship, love, responsibility, and the repercussions of supernatural gifts. Thrilling, funny, and tingling with the intrigue of ancient magic, tarot cards, and a troubling disappearance, it’s a multi-layered, myth-infused inclusive mystery that will have fans of edgy contemporary YA utterly enthralled.
Witty, endearingly self-effacing Maeve (“if I think I’ll get a laugh for it, I’ll do it”), goes to a posh private school in Ireland. Having driven away her best friend Lily in an attempt to find popularity, she’s accepted her lot in life as an ungifted individual. All that changes, though, when she finds an old pack of tarot cards in school and becomes the centre of attention after discovering a gift for delivering uncannily accurate readings. Maeve’s fate switches yet again when she finds a mysterious card in the pack - the menacing Housekeeper - and then Lily vanishes.
Reeling with mystery, drama and real-life issues, this tackles themes of intolerance, bigotry and justice with timely, thought-provoking dynamism. What’s more, it’s an absolute page-turner.
Joanne Owen
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All Our Hidden Gifts Synopsis
Maeve Chambers doesn't have much going for her. Not only does she feel like the sole idiot in a family of geniuses, she managed to drive away her best friend Lily a year ago. But when she finds a pack of dusty old tarot cards at school, and begins to give scarily accurate readings to the girls in her class, she realizes she's found her gift at last.
Things are looking up - until she discovers a strange card in the deck that definitely shouldn't be there. And two days after she convinces her ex-best friend to have a reading, Lily disappears. Can Maeve, her new friend Fiona and Lily's brother Roe find her? And will Maeve's new gift be enough to bring Lily back, before she's gone for good?
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Press Reviews
Caroline O'Donoghue Press Reviews
A supernatural mystery plays out against the backdrop of contemporary Ireland, exploring the theme of acceptance without ever being heavy-handed. O’Donoghue has a keen eye for the complexities of friendships; I predict this one will be catnip to teenage readers. - The Observer
From the author of Scenes of a Graphic Nature, this genuinely creepy novel is veined with mordant comedy and dreamy romance. - The Guardian
Fabulous, richly imagined YA, full of folklore and romance: delicious. - Katherine Rundell
overall this is a satisfying, entertaining read - with a well-deserved sequel due next year - SFX
Thankfully, All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline manages to present a non-binary character with subtlety and warmth. Perhaps it works so well because, being an occult-tinged mystery-romance steeped in Irish folklore, there’s a lot else going on. […] O’Donoghue’s intriguing story takes in myth, history, tensions between Catholic and Protestant, and race in Ireland. Helping the repentant Maeve search for the missing girl is Lily’s nail-polish wearing brother Roe, formerly Rory, who is the essence of fluidity in a novel that’s all about the power of liminal spaces. - The Financial Times
Author
About Caroline O'Donoghue
Caroline O'Donoghue is a Contributing Editor for The-Pool.com who has written for Glamour, The Irish Times and Grazia. She also co-hosts the podcast, School for Dumb Women. Find out more on Twitter @Czaroline or at https://www.czaroline.com/.
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