For centuries, writers from Mary Shelley to Ted Chiang have used genre fiction to explore contemporary social issues. The best genre authors weave serious themes into their narratives with a lightness of touch that ensures the issues never overwhelm the story, and instead create something emotionally and narratively rich and satisfying. Juno Dawson is one of those writers.
An award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction for young adults, in 2022 Dawson published her best-selling debut adult novel, Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, which managed to explore issues around bigotry and elitism while also being a gripping, emotionally engaging adventure. The first of a planned trilogy, HMRC was the story of a group of 30-something women, friends since they were formally initiated as witches in their early teens under the watchful eye of Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, an increasingly divided secret branch of the British government. It ended on a shocking cliffhanger, leaving readers both desperate for more and crossing their fingers that Dawson could avoid the dreaded mid-trilogy slump with the second volume.
Those readers will not be disappointed. The Shadow Cabinet is possibly even better than its predecessor, expanding the first book’s impressive world-building and introducing some shocking narrative twists that literally made me gasp. Ciara Kelly has taken her twin sister Niamh’s place as the next High Priestess of HMRC (yes, the twins are Irish and if you’re raising an eyebrow at two Galway girls being part of all this, Ciara is equally sceptical – “His Majesty wasn’t theirmajesty” – and we learn it’s part of the British establishment’s familiar habit of claiming Irish people “when it suited the coven”).
Ciara is a brilliantly complex anti-heroine. She wants to find her old ally, magic supremacist Dabney Hale, who has escaped from custody. Her old friends Leonie and Elle are both facing very different family problems, and teenage witch Theo is coming to terms with her new life. But none of the witches spot the threats that are hiding right in front of them. Humane, thrilling and often darkly funny, The Shadow Cabinet left me wanting to cast a spell to hasten the arrival of the final volume. It’s a thrilling triumph.
