A door across the world

literally.

Magic or Madness / Justine Larbalestier, this book is great.

Reason has been brought up to fear magic, and her magical grandmother Esmerelda. Reason's mother, Sarafina has always taught her grandmother practices horrifying rituals and never to trust her. When Sarafina is hospitalised after a mental breakdown, Reason is sent to live in Sydney with her grandmother.

Reason has been taught well by her mother, and she plots her escape from her grandmother's house, going out the back door, Reason walks into the New York night. From here she descovers that magic is real, and that Reason is magic.

Larbalestier is an Australian author who lives in both Sydney and in New York. She obviously loves both locations, and uses the strength of both in her writing. I enjoyed this book a lot, although found myself encouraging Reason to do better, and to be more accepting than she was. There is something quite compelling with flawed characters that I enjoy though. Somewhere between fantasy and reality, the world of Magic or Madness is worth a trip.