All Our Hidden Gifts
by Caroline O’Donoghue
High School    Walker US/Candlewick    384 pp.    g
6/21    978-1-5362-1394-2    $19.99

When Maeve finds a tarot deck in the basement of her Kilbeg, Ireland, school, she immediately feels a connection to the cards and begins telling fortunes for the girls in her class. Lily, Maeve’s ex-best friend, is peer-pressured into getting a reading, and when the pair’s conflicts come out into the open, Maeve tells Lily that she wishes she’d just disappear. The next school day, Lily is nowhere to be found. Maeve teams up with Lily’s musically talented, gender-nonconforming sibling to solve the mystery of the girl’s disappearance, which they believe has some connection to the sinister “Housekeeper” card that exists in Maeve’s deck but isn’t part of traditional tarot decks. They encounter a conservative cult and must sort out major misunderstandings to discover Lily’s whereabouts and uncover other truths, including some they’re hiding from themselves. This atmospheric, witty, disarming tale is a page-turning dive into occult forces portrayed alongside teenage concerns. Both modern Irish politics and the meanings of tarot cards are incorporated into the story without becoming burdensome. Impeccable dialogue and true-to-life characters make this a great choice for YA readers with a mystical bent.

From the September/October 2021 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.