★Darkshire, Oliver. Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil. Norton. May 2025. 256p. ISBN 9781324105916. $27.99. FANTASY

DEBUT A spell book’s bevy of argumentative footnotes and annotations would confound Isabella Nagg—they greatly entertain readers—if her life weren’t so hard and dreary that she doesn’t have time to worry about the details. Her husband is as useless as her donkey, a goblin market is overrunning her village, and the HOA president is proposing topiary requirements, even though she knows the Nagg farm can only grow mandrake roots near a cursed stone. The spell book does come with a mangy magical cat-thing that might like Isabella a bit and, more importantly, awakens her ability to dream of a life that’s a little better. As Isabella bluffs her way through each magical improvement, obliviously strewing consequences in her wake, her mind opens bit by bit. Darkshire’s prose is incredibly funny, even as it makes sure Isabella’s pain is still visible. Life can be as ludicrous as it is hard, offering unexpected chances for the unsatisfied to transform. VERDICT Darkshire (Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller) makes his fiction debut with this humorous fantasy novel that every library needs.