The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

A lonely caseworker is sent to inspect an orphanage of magical children on a tiny island, and slowly, hilariously, his grey careful life cracks open into colour. It's about a six-year-old Antichrist, a sea sprite, and the radical idea that you're allowed to be loved. Read it when you need a good cry of the happy kind.

A cold-hearted lawyer dies and lands at a teashop that doubles as a waystation for the recently departed, where a kind ferryman serves cakes and helps people let go. It's a book about dying that is really about how to live, full of warm rooms and reluctant tears. Read it when you're quietly grieving something.

A faerie stole half of Theodora's soul as a child, leaving her unable to feel fear or follow polite rules, which makes her a delightful disaster in Regency drawing rooms. What follows is gentle magic, sharp wit, and a courtship built on genuine kindness rather than swooning. Read it when you want Austen with a thread of cold faerie iron.