The Scapegracers

Scapegracers, Book 1

By: Hannah Abigail Clarke, Liz Gorinsky - editor

Narrated by: Eileen Stevens

An outcast teenage lesbian witch finds her coven hidden amongst the popular girls in her school, and performs some seriously badass magic in the process.

Skulking near the bottom of West High’s social pyramid, Sideways Pike lurks under the bleachers doing magic tricks for Coke bottles. As a witch, lesbian, and lifelong outsider, she’s had a hard time making friends. But when the three most popular girls pay her $40 to cast a spell at their Halloween party, Sideways gets swept into a new clique. The unholy trinity are dangerous angels, sugar-coated rattlesnakes, and now - unbelievably - Sideways’ best friends.

Together, the four bond to form a ferocious and powerful coven. They plan parties, cast curses on dudebros, try to find Sideways a girlfriend, and elude the fundamentalist witch hunters hellbent on stealing their magic. But for Sideways, the hardest part is the whole "having friends" thing. Who knew that balancing human interaction with supernatural peril could be so complicated?

Rich with the urgency of feral youth, The Scapegracers explores growing up and complex female friendship with all the rage of a teenage girl. It subverts the trope of competitive mean girls and instead portrays a mercilessly supportive clique of diverse and vivid characters. It is an atmospheric, voice-driven novel of the occult, and the first of a three-book series.

Cover art by Anka Lavriv
Cover design by Dana Li
First published by Erewhon Books in 2020

©2020 Hannah Abigail Clarke (P)2020 Audible, Inc.

Not bad but not great

I like most of the characters in the book. The characters felt like real life people. People you could meet on the street. However, there wasn’t a lot of conflict in the story. And whenever there was the solution was ridiculously easy. The main character managed to escape from the bad guys house because one of the bad guys left a window open. I thought the author was going to do something clever with that, like the bad guys let her escape so they could track her. But no, it goes nowhere. Another time the bad guys father shows up as a cop, pulls the girls over and then just lets them go. Like why even have that scene at all. To summarize the author is great at creating likable/believable characters but needs to work on creating tension and conflict.

Everything I hoped it would be

I found this book because I read a book review of the last unicorn on torr, and even in that format I knew I wanted to read more of this author. I loved the style of Hannah right away. I'm so glad Hannah brought this book into existence, it's just what I needed. The prose is delightful and poetic, drawing scenes with slashes and then the fine tips of fingernails, the story is unapologetically free and perfect. I hope one day I can speak with Hannah in the real world and thank them personally.

Great book !

Such a great read (listen) I can’t wait for the 2nd book to come out!!!!

Worth the listen just for the wordsmithing alone The story adds the cherry.

I’m in awe of the descriptive genius in every paragraph of this novel. I loved the story, but I think I enjoyed the poetic descriptions that added a whole new dimension to the overall production just as much or more. This novel is a masterpiece of wordsmithing that I will definitely recommend. The narrator did a phenomenal job as well. This book was an easy five stars. I’m enjoying the second book right now. Thanks for the great story!

Keep coming back

I literally have listened to this 5 times if not more! Love the whole series