Love and hope bloom where magic grows in this debut novel. North Carolina native Sarah Addison Allen mixes magical realism with Southern romance in a tale about the unusual Waverly sisters.

Set in the fictional college town of Bascom, Garden Spells follows the lives of Claire and Sydney Waverly, who each possess peculiar gifts passed on to them from previous generations. Living alone in the family home, Claire runs a catering business where she creates dishes with special powers. Her secret ingredients come from the mystical Waverly garden, where a magical apple tree knows the destiny of everyone.

Sound a bit implausible? It is. Yet Garden Spells grows on you, if you let it. --Sara Askew Jones