48 pages • 1-hour read
A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping
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Chapters 19-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism and mental illness.
Chapter 19 Summary
Luke and Posy drive to Edinburgh to visit their parents, but it is clear that Posy would have preferred to remain at the inn, where she is most comfortable. Posy adores Theo, and he is her favorite person. Luke also realizes that Matilda has learned to manage him by weaponizing Jasmine, the only person with whom he cannot bring himself to use his “arctic politeness.”
Matilda asks Luke if she should tell Jasmine about her romantic feelings, as they are both old and probably haven’t got much time left. Matilda says that the inn is the first place she has ever felt really accepted; she suggests that Luke could feel this way too if he were to let himself.
Meanwhile, Sera is losing hope of getting the ingredients for her spell. Luke begins to help around the inn, and his life has started to feel normal. However, although everyone else at the inn sustains hope for a future that is brighter than their pasts, he does not.
Chapter 20 Summary
Posy and Luke’s mother is due to visit, but she cannot find the inn. Against Sera’s better judgment, she agrees to Luke’s request that she tell her magic to allow his mother to reach the inn. Malik takes Sera for a drive as Luke visits with his mother. Malik understands that he and Sera are both “rootless”; they have never discussed the “Immigrants Out!” sign that was hung at what used to be their favorite pub. Now, he doesn’t ask her why she is upset, and she doesn’t feel the need to explain.
When Sera returns home, the inn magically shows her the version of her past self that she least wants to see. It is the Sera of a few years ago, when she was deeply angry and had not yet begun taking medication for depression. She hates that version of herself, feeling that she had no control over anything at that time; that version of herself even kicked the cabinet door hard enough to break toes. Suddenly, Luke steps up to this ghostly Sera and sits down next to her, keeping her company. His action doesn’t change the memory, but it draws Sera’s attention to her pain rather than to her shame. His gesture helps her see her past self with compassion rather than judgment.
Chapter 21 Summary
Luke admits that he missed spending the evening with her and that he has grown accustomed to spending those hours together. Sera’s heart thumps. They flirt over dessert, and Sera explains how pitiful that old version of herself has felt to her. Now, because of Luke’s gesture, Sera no longer feels alone. However, she does see herself as being fundamentally different from when she was younger. These days, she and her world feel less magical, as though she has lost parts of herself that she can never recover. Luke says that he often wishes that he were more like Sera, more like Posy, and more like he was before he learned to make himself smaller to please others. Sera calls him brave, and he credits her with inspiring him. She sees herself as being “smaller” than she was, but he disagrees. She puts her hand on his heart and says that it doesn’t feel like tin. They are about to kiss when Nicholas stumbles in.
Chapter 22 Summary
Matilda is desperate to know whether something romantic happened between Sera and Luke. Sera confesses that there was “a moment,” and Matilda crows with delight. Sera admits that she wanted something to happen, but she’s not sure if Luke did. After Sera leaves, Jasmine, Matilda, and Clemmie discuss Luke’s obvious feelings for her.
Meanwhile, Luke finds Sera’s list of ideas for the spell, which contains a reference to the essence of sunlight. Sera remembers when Chancellor Bennet used the essence to test her magic years ago. When she touched a droplet of it, she lit up like the sun, proving how much magic she had. Now, Luke says that the only way to get the essence of sunlight is to steal it from Bertram-Mogg’s estate. Sera points out that Luke could take her as his date to the man’s masquerade party. She enlists Clemmie to lure Albert away from the party so that they can find the essence of sunlight and steal a few drops.
Chapter 23 Summary
Sera plans to wear a low-cut gown, and she will also wear her swan necklace hanging down her back, hidden from view. Clemmie reveals that she is a Bennet herself and is the granddaughter of the former Chancellor. Sera claims to be Clemmie’s family now, regardless of her name. Clemmie complains that she never planned to love Sera, Jasmine, Theo, or anyone else at the inn. Sera realizes that her spell on the inn has been ongoing, continuously cast by her magic. Luke agrees, and they theorize that Sera’s love for the inn keeps her magic going, even though spells are usually supposed to be finite. An hour into their drive, they realize that Matilda is hiding in the backseat, dressed up; she is dying to go to the masquerade. Sera and Luke give her rules to follow.
Chapter 24 Summary
Luke’s friend Howard meets them when they arrive at Bertram-Mogg’s estate. Matilda introduces herself as “Fortuna,” Luke’s grandmother. Howard and Matilda dance, and Sera can sense Albert’s presence as soon as he arrives. Sera and Luke watch in horror as he punishes a young man who didn’t greet him quickly enough.
Chapters 19-24 Analysis
In these chapters, Sera begins to see herself more clearly as a result of her conversations and experiences with Luke, and their growing romantic attraction highlights a different angle of The Healing Power of Love. She realizes that Luke doesn’t see himself accurately or realize that Posy feels free to be her real self because he has given her a form of protection that he never had. When Sera watches Luke comfort the ghostly version of her former self—the one that she finds the ugliest and most upsetting—she is suddenly empowered to view her past self with compassion instead of anger and shame. In this moment, Luke has extended the same emotional protection to Sera that he regularly offers to Posy, accepting both of them precisely for who they are and refraining from judging who they have been.
Additionally, Sera realizes that Luke sees something in her that she couldn’t acknowledge, just as she sees parts of him that he refuses to appreciate. At this thought, she experiences “a sudden peculiar, upside-down sort of feeling and she want[s] to laugh because if [Luke], who c[an] see right through her, ha[s] not seen this about himself, how much ha[s] she, who c[an] see him as clearly as if he were glass, not seen about herself?” (202-03). Her private epiphany highlights The Inaccuracy of Self-Perception and sheds more light on The Value of Found Family, demonstrating the importance of allowing other people to provide compassion and new perspectives. Luke’s decision to sit in silence with the past version of Sera is a deeply loving act that foregrounds the primacy of her pain and his tacit acknowledgement of it. Ultimately, this vulnerable moment allows the present version of Sera to be gentler with herself, thereby undergoing a crucial emotional transformation.
The value of found family is further celebrated by primary and secondary characters alike, and this pattern can be seen in interactions as disparate as Sera and Malik’s friendship, Posy’s eagerness to spend time at the inn, and Clemmie’s grudging admission that she loves Sera like family. Within these kaleidoscopic dynamics, the author also uses the characters’ interactions to address more serious social issues. Specifically, Sera and Malik understand each other in a way that no one else can. Because they are both racial minorities in a majority-white country, they give each other grace without even having to acknowledge it. Their innate compassion and sensitivity to people’s differences also allows them to create an ideal setting for Posy to thrive. As the narrative states, “It wasn’t a coincidence that Posy, who used to retreat into herself and put her headphones on for hours a day, almost never did anymore” (177). This shift shows that Posy feels safe at the inn with Luke, Theo, Sera, and the others; this safety is something she never experienced with her parents or at school. Even Clemmie, who typically does not show emotion, tells Sera, “I never expected to love you, you know […] None of you. I don’t like it. I don’t appreciate the way it’s snuck up on me” (220). In her own past history, Clemmie was essentially excluded from her family when they disapproved of her behavior, but despite her shortcomings, she also finds acceptance and love with her found family at the Batty Hole.
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