48 pages • 1-hour read
A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child abuse, emotional abuse, and ableism.
The Value of Found Family
Most of the characters in the novel experience some form of family trauma, and the protagonist is no exception. When Sera was a child, her parents all but abandoned her to the care of her great aunt Jasmine, and Jasmine herself still suffers from a scarred self-image because her own family taught her that she was ugly and unlovable. The other residents of the inn experience similar issues; for example, Nicholas’s father shames him for dressing and acting like a knight, and Luke and Posy’s parents reject their children for being “too much” of a burden. Theo’s parents are afraid of him because of his magic, and Clemmie was rejected by her famous magical family when she tried to curse Albert Grey. Yet despite the trauma and rejection in their family backgrounds, each of the inn’s residents finds acceptance and belonging with the family they create at the Batty Hole, and their bond aptly demonstrates the true value of a found family that makes up for the deficiencies of a biological one.
The found family of the inn coalesces after Sera cast a spell so that the Batty Hole would only attract good, kind people who need something that this safe space can provide. Her spell made “the inn a beacon in the dark for the lost and adrift” (27). Most of the inn’s guests need a safe place to land for a night or two, but others need much more and end up staying a lot longer. For example, Matilda has never given up on finding love and secretly grows to love Jasmine, while Nicholas, the would-be knight, needs “someone to see him, armour and sword and all. To hear his ridiculous introduction and accept his courtly bow. And still say Come in” (31). Both guests therefore find much-needed acceptance at the Batty Hole among Sera, Jasmine, and the others. Likewise, Luke and Posy need to feel the love and acceptance that their parents have long denied them. Of his past, Luke tells Sera, “I was loud and excited and too much of everything as a child, but I learned very quickly that […] my parents liked me better when I wasn’t so me” (202). Because Posy has autism, which has a genetic component, her similarities to Luke suggest that he may also be on the autism spectrum. Neither sibling has ever felt particularly welcome at home or at school, and Sera correctly guesses that the school was “fine with [Posy’s] magic part, but not the rest of her” (102). In short, each of these individuals has been rejected in some way, and the inn therefore shines brightly for them because they need the love that it has to offer.
Sera and Jasmine work to create a found family that operates as a group of loved ones should. When Nicholas criticizes himself, Sera reassures him that he has acted as “a good knight would” (95). Jasmine even makes his favorite meals for dinner whenever he is upset. Most importantly, no one judges Posy for her autism; Matilda even offers to homeschool her, undeterred by the child’s disability. As she says to Luke, “Posy’s a lovely child, you know. It would be a pleasure to spend more time with her” (162). Notably, Posy “almost never” puts on her headphones and disappears into herself while she’s at the inn, making it clear that she sees the inn as a safe space and as one that does not trigger her sensory sensitivities.
Despite his own doubts and insecurities, even Luke acknowledges that Posy is giving and receiving “the purest love [he] ha[s] ever seen” during their time at the inn (178). Posy particularly adores Theo because he meets her where she is, rather than insisting that she match an arbitrary developmental milestone. However, Matilda most accurately encapsulates what the inn’s found family offers when she says, “This is the life I wanted. This life of contentment and unexpected excitement, of little everyday joys, where I don’t just get to be myself but also get to be embraced as myself. It’s miraculous” (253). Sera’s spell invites these people in, but the inn’s inhabitants then work together to create this found family; their community gives them all a sense of belonging, identity, and purpose.
The Inaccuracy of Self-Perception
In the past, the inn’s inhabitants frequently struggled to find acceptance and approval from others in the outside world, so even now, they continue to doubt their worth and value. Their unresolved emotional issues sometimes trick them into thinking that they are unworthy of love, even when they are surrounded by a loving found family. Sera, especially, wrestles with unwarranted self-doubt that arises from her early education with the Guild. After she resurrects Jasmine, an act that physically hurts her and drains most of her magic, “[s]he d[oes]n’t know who she [i]s without [her power]. If there [i]s one thing the last five years with the Guild ha[ve] taught her, it [i]s that her power [i]s everything” (15). The young Sera was never told that she had inherent value; instead, Chancellor Bennet told her that she was “wasted” at the inn, and she “believed him” (19). Now, as an adult, she tells Jasmine, “I do need [my magic]. I was better when I had it” (165), and although Jasmine reassures her, Sera routinely fails to give herself the same compassion that she offers to others. Without her magic, she thinks that she is small, though everyone else knows how vital and capable she is.
Likewise, Jasmine and Luke are unable to appreciate their own strengths, mostly because their birth families made them feel unlovable. When Sera and Jasmine discuss the older woman’s potential for finding love, Sera points out that Matilda hasn’t given up on her. Jasmine says, “Matilda is not me, dearest. She’s beautiful and vibrant” (163), but Sera responds, “So are you […] You are. No matter what our family told you” (163). Jasmine grew up being told that she was ugly and now incorrectly sees herself that way. Similarly, Luke thinks of the Batty Hole as a place held together by “people who […] w[ill] not go gently down the path the world ha[s] decided [i]s inevitable, but Luke [is very good at] resigning himself to the inevitable” (183). Luke cannot see that his love and protection has enabled Posy to be confident enough to be her true self. Because of their past experiences with others who failed to see their value, Luke and many of the characters are unable to see themselves clearly. They focus only on their shortcomings and ignore their innumerable strengths, at least until their found family helps them develop a more truthful sense of themselves.
The Healing Power of Love
Fortunately, for the characters who look at themselves and see something wanting, the love of others can help them see themselves with more compassion. Love, ultimately, is what guests are offered at the inn, and the author uses this unique setting to examine the many ways in which this emotion can serve as a healing balm to the worst forms of hurt. Specifically, Sera’s love for others—especially those who don’t feel loved—is manifested in her spell on the inn, which makes the Batty Hole itself synonymous with love and acceptance. The spell itself is described as something that has “transformed an inn into a flame in the dark, an outstretched hand to the ones falling over the edge and a warning to the ones pushing them” (77). That metaphorical “hand” reaches out to catch people who need it, just like a parent might take the hand of their child to keep them safe or help them up again. When Sera sees the pain that her aunt feels due to an unkind guest’s mistreatment, she acts to protect Jasmine and anyone else who might need protecting. As Luke later tells Sera, “In a moment of rage, that was the spell you cast […] It just happened. And yet in spite of that, it didn’t hurt the people who’d made you so angry. […] That’s why your spell was a shield, not a sword” (175). As the narrative immediately establishes, magic itself responds to and rewards love, and this is what Sera’s spell offers potential guests.
Later, the love that Sera and Luke feel for each other helps to heal them both of their past wounds and trauma. When they each realize how the other has misjudged their own abilities and essence, they develop loving self-compassion as well. When Luke sits down with the version of her past self that Sera feels is the ugliest, she comes to see herself through his more compassionate gaze, relinquishing her hard feelings toward this past version of herself. She even apologizes to the person she used to be, and in this moment of growth, “[a]ll the shame that had been tangled up in memory [i]s annihilated” (194). When she meets herself with love and compassion, she realizes that Luke sees her more clearly than she has ever seen herself, and she likewise understands him more accurately than he does. Eventually, they both realize that they have closed themselves off from love in order to avoid feeling more pain. When they first have sex, the narrative states,
They did see, at long last. Each other, yes, but also […] their own selves too. He, the Tin Man who recognised his own heart at last, and she, not a shadow or a ghost of what she once was but alchemy, a phoenix who had gone up in flames again and again and yet, each time, had outlasted the fire (281).
In the end, the novel drives home the idea that love and magic are intrinsically linked, and therefore, Sera easily makes the decision to sacrifice her magic to protect her loved ones from Albert. Afterward, she thinks, “Magic for family. Magic for home. Wasn’t she really just trading one kind of magic for another?” (320). For a long time, she thought that she needed to regain her magic in order to heal her pain, but she discovers that what she and her found family really needed in order to heal was love.
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