To Sabrina McClain for believing in me the most and for her uncanny ability to spot plot holes. To Kosoko Jackson for making me laugh when I felt like crying. To Lindsay Landgraf Hess for reading a draft of this story years ago and giving me the encouragement I needed to keep going. To Kristin Dwyer, whose friendship feels like a gift and for responding to every unhinged 2 am text.
To Emilie Sowers, this book feels as much yours as it is mine. It would not exist without you or your endless faith in me. I don’t know much about the universe, but I’ll always be grateful to it for giving me you. I could write one million words about friendship and never capture exactly what it is yours means to me.
To Casey McQuiston, whose brilliant mind is only eclipsed by their giant heart. I’m so glad I found you in this lifetime, I’m sure we’ve known each other in so many. I have you, I’m good forever.
To Charles Wilson, who makes sure our home is filled with snacks and fall-scented candles. You’re more than I ever let myself hope for. Thank you for loving me in the endless, unconditional ways I thought I’d only ever get to read about.
To my family, whose love is the closest thing to magic I’ll ever experience.
To my parents who spent countless hours reading to me, who filled our home with stories and art
Mom, your love makes me brave. Thank you for always cheering me on the loudest. Dad, you’re the most creative person I’ve ever known. It is from you that I learned to love creating something from nothing.
To my brother Thomas and his wife, Sayaka, thank you for always being the first to celebrate with me.
To my sister Hannah, who taught me what hard work looks like.
To my grandmothers; Jo, brilliant and kind, forced to leave school at fourteen, who taught me never to take my access to education for granted, and Polly, born before women had the right to vote, locked up in a tuberculosis sanitarium for years of her twenties, whose life inspired much of this book. I wish I’d gotten to hear your stories.
And finally, to Leah. My twin. My first and forever best friend. I wrote you a book. I really hope you like it.
I began this book with a Mary Oliver quote, and it feels right to end it with one, too.
“Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”
If this book has found its way into your hands, I am astonished. Thank you for going on this journey with me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alissa Paige Photography
SASHA PEYTON SMITH grew up in the mountains of Utah, surrounded by siblings, books, and one very old cat. She attended the University of Utah and the George Washington University, where she studied biology and public health. She is not a witch, though she does own a lot of crystals and always Knows what phase the moon is in. She currently lives in Washington DC.
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/teen
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Sasha-Peyton-Smith
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Simon & Schuster, New York
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text © 2021 by Sasha Peyton Smith
Jacket illustration © 2021 by Faceout Studio
Jacket design by Heather Palisi © 2021 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Peyton Smith, Sasha, author.
Title: The witch haven / Sasha Peyton Smith.
Description: First edition. | New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2021] | Audience: Ages 12 up. | Audience: Grades 10-12. | Summary: Whisked away to Haxahaven Academy for Witches in 1911, seventeen-year-old Frances Hallowell soon finds herself torn between aligning herself with Haxahaven’s foes, the Sons of St. Druon, to solve her brother’s murder or saving Manhattan and her fellow witches.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020057256 | ISBN 9781534454385 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534454408 (ebook)
Subjects: CYAC: Witchcraft—Fiction. | Wizards—Fiction. | Murder—Fiction. | Brothers and sisters—Fiction. | New York (N.Y.)—History—1898-1951—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.P51515 Wit 2021 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020057256
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