Theodora's Tea Shop: A beguiling must-read fantasy debut full of witchy magic and secrets

Perfect for fans of TJ Klune and Sarah Beth Durst, Theodora's Tea Shop by Christy Anne Jones is a cosy fantasy full of witchy magic, found family, self-love and lots of warm cups of tea.


Dorothy Louise Walcott should have died at fourteen. Instead she is twenty-three, timid, chronically ill, and yearning for a life she can never have. Her peers make jokes she doesn't understand. Her family ignores her. Dot's dreams of being a bright young thing of the city, studying magic and publishing her discoveries, can only ever be dreams: even if license-less magic weren't outlawed, her family would never allow it. But if Dot stays at home any longer, she will die there. And she would never forgive herself if she didn't try to live, at least once.

With nothing but a carpetbag and her ambergris tonic, Dot flees dreary Seafarthing for the capital city of Alliaster, where she tumbles headfirst into an apprenticeship with the most powerful witch in the city: Theodora.

Empress of an underground syndicate peddling magic through the quaint façade of her tea shop, Theodora is everything Dot wants to be: beautiful, witty, confident. An esteemed oil painter one day, a member of parliament the next, the many faces of Theodora have charmed power from the city's elite: spirits, daemons, and mortal gentry alike. Under her tutelage and in the company of the tea shop's eccentric staff - headstrong teenager Rupert, brooding and Byronic magician Lio, and the kindly spirit Belchambre - Dot finally has the opportunity to be her true magical self. She may even have found a place to belong.

But the dazzling and enigmatic Theodora has more secrets than she does faces. When her dark past comes calling, it threatens to drown her entire empire - and take Dot, the tea shop, and the city of Alliaster with it.

• Publication date: 28 July 2026
• Page count: 432
• Dimensions: Height 163 mm; Width 242 mm; Thickness 39 mm
• Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
• Format: Hardback
• ISBN-13: 9781035438518