VenCo by Cherie Dimaline

A subversive and imaginative adult novel about a coven of modern-day witches

Image | VenCo by Cherie Dimaline

(Random House Canada)

Lucky St. James, orphaned daughter of a bad-ass Métis good-times girl, is barely hanging on to her nowhere life when she finds out that she and her grandmother, Stella, are about to be evicted from their apartment. Bad to worse in a heartbeat. Then one night, doing laundry in the building's dank basement, Lucky feels an irresistible something calling to her. Crawling through a hidden hole in the wall, she finds a tarnished silver spoon depicting a story-book hag over letters that spell out S-A-L-E-M.

Which alerts Salem-born Meena Good, finder of a matching spoon, to Lucky's existence. One of the most powerful witches in North America, Meena has been called to bring together seven special witches and seven special spoons—infused with magic and scattered to the four directions more than a century ago — to form a magic circle that will restore women to their rightful power. Under the wing of the international headhunting firm VenCo, devoted to placing exceptional women in roles where they can influence business, politics and the arts, Meena has spent years searching out witches hiding in plain sight wherever women gather: suburban book clubs, Mommy & Me groups, temp agencies. Lucky and her spoon are number six.

With only one more spoon to find, a very powerful adversary has Meena's coven in his sights — Jay Christos, a roguish and deadly witch-hunter as old as witchcraft itself. As the clock ticks toward a now-or-never deadline, Meena sends Lucky and her grandmother on a dangerous, sometimes hilarious, road trip through the United States in search of the seventh spoon. The trail leads them at last to the darkly magical city of New Orleans, where Lucky's final showdown with Jay Christos will determine whether the coven will be completed, ushering in a new beginning, or whether witches will be forced to remain forever underground. (From Random House Canada)
Cherie Dimaline is a Métis author and editor whose award-winning fiction has been published and anthologized internationally. Her first book, Red Rooms, was published in 2007, and her novel The Girl Who Grew a Galaxy was released in 2013. In 2014, she was named the Emerging Artist of the Year at the Ontario Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts, and became the first Aboriginal Writer in Residence for the Toronto Public Library. Her book A Gentle Habit was published in August 2016.
In 2017, The Marrow Thieves won the Governor General's Literary Award for Young people's literature — text and the Kirkus Prize for young readers' literature. It is currently being adapted for television.
The Marrow Thieves was defended by Jully Black on Canada Reads(external link) 2018.
The sequel to The Marrow Thieves, Hunting by Stars, was published in 2021 and was shortlisted for best YA book by the 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Awards.

Interviews with Cherie Dimaline

Media Audio | The Next Chapter : Cherie Dimaline on her new novel, VenCo

Caption: The Métis author talks about the inspiration behind her latest novel, VenCo, which is a rollicking adventure of magic, mystery and witches.

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Media Audio | Q : Cherie Dimaline on how working in the world of magic made her a better writer

Caption: Cherie Dimaline on her new young adult novel Funeral Songs for Dying Girls, and how she sneaks social commentary into children's books.

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Other books by Cherie Dimaline

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