Half Spent Was the Night: A Witches' Yuletide [Hardcover]

Beloved author Ami McKay is back, bringing us a magical follow-up in the tradition of Victorian winter tales to her mesmerizing bestseller,The Witches of New York.

During the nights between Christmas and New Year's, the witches of New York--Adelaide Thom, Eleanor St. Clair and the youngest, Beatrice Dunn--gather before the fire to tell ghost stories and perform traditional Yuletide divinations. (Did you know that roasting chestnuts was once used to foretell one's fate?)
     As the witches roast chestnuts and melt lead to see their fate, a series of odd messengers land on their doorstep bearing invitations for a New Year's Eve masquerade hosted by a woman they've never met. Gossip, dreams and portents follow, leading the witches to question the woman's motives. Is she as benevolent as she seems or is she laying a trap? And so, as Gilded-Age New York prepares to ring in the new year, the witches don their finery and head for the ball, on the hunt for answers that might well be the end of them.#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

“The sequel to Ami McKay’sThe Witches of New Yorkis worth the wait.” —Parents Canada

“Beautiful.” —The Chronicle Herald

“A Christmas ghost story is a tradition that hearkens back to pagan times and earlier. McKay’s sweet little book about three witches makes a lovely stocking stuffer.” —Deborah Dundas,The Hamilton Spectator


Praise for Ami McKay's previous book, THE WITCHES OF NEW YORK: 

“A magical little book. . . . Combines humour, the occult and history into a fascinating and fun novel of women supporting each other.” —The Vancouver Sun

“Widely considered part of the A-list of contemporary writers, McKay has created and occupied a vital territory in Canadian letters, with scrupulously researlÓ+