A fantastic story about pirates, love, finding your place and discovering your true self.
Feature image credit: Allen & Unwin
Karen Foxlee is an Australian author who writes for children and adults. She has received multiple wards for books such as Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy, Dragon Skin, and the absolutely delightful Lenny’s Book of Everything.
The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe is a story about pirates. But nothing that happens on this pirate ship is predictable. Magic, stolen treasure, snatched children, and a captain who has long blonde hair, violet eyes, and a birds wing instead of an arm are all part of this voyage that has a year to break a curse.
It begins with a small girl called Lavender Wolfe who is taken from the wharf where she was sitting waiting for her mother to return with something to eat. She finds herself on The Good Marchioness, where she must live as a boy named Hans Whitby. She spends her time in the galley with Big Agatha, a foreboding and large woman who is in charge of the cooking, helped by the kitchen rats (the collective name for all the stolen children).
Each child has been stolen because, according to Big Agatha, they possess some form of magic. Throughout this story the ship sails to ports around the world. Names of ports and oceans are very familiar to us. In the author’s notes, Foxlee tells us the year is 1719. Everything is the same except ‘there are wizards, curses and children who can catch storms in bottles.’
There is so much information in this story and sometimes it is hard to keep track of all the characters and places. Each character is very different in their manner, their looks, their abilities and their way of seeing the world. Children being kidnapped could be confronting for some and there are several tragedies as well. Life on the sea is not easy.
But it is the relationships that carry this story. It teaches us never to judge a book by its cover. Kindness can come in many different packages.
Each chapter begins with a recipe, many of them being Big Agatha’s magic recipes: Magic Return Home Porridge, Magic Fried Golden Ananas, or Magic Coconut Draught. The story is split into six sections, each beginning with a 1719 calendar showing how many days have passed. As readers we know there is an urgency as the year goes on to find the treasure before everyone who sails on the ship turns to sand.
Because of the sometimes complicated story line, it may take some a while to get through it. The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe is a big story with big ideas but as bystanders of this magical tale, we are all on the side of Lavender as she uses her magic to try and break the curse.
Reviewed by Sue Mauger
The views expressed in this review belong to the author and not Glam Adelaide, its affiliates, or employees.
Distributed by: Allen & Unwin
Released: November 2025
RRP: $24.99
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