Quinn, a sixteen-year-old botanical prodigy, has more plants than friends. Unaware she descends from a magical Irish bloodline, she yearns for a sense of belonging. Her summer spirals into chaos when a mystical family ring awakens her clairvoyant sight into the unseen world of plants. Reluctant to accept her new, untamed powers, Quinn resents being told she’s the Keeper of this ring, an artifact that unleashes and amplifies ancestral magic. Her gifts come at another cost: she’s now visible to Neris, an aristocratic Victorian ancestor, skilled in black magic and lethal poison, who has coveted the ring’s power since childhood. But to become the ring’s next Keeper, she must first kill Quinn.

To hone her magic and hide from Neris and other dark family members, Quinn travels with her cousin and their quirky, time-traveling uncle to a protected family enclave in the Oregon forest. During her training, she falls into an unexpected romance with a freethinking wanderer—a welcome escape that becomes a dangerous distraction when a love triangle forces her to choose between being swept away and being truly seen.

Meanwhile, Neris tracks her down, threatening to tear through time itself to claim the ring. If Quinn fails to stop her, Neris will use the ring to expand her powers and drain the magic from every family member who dares to defy her. When Neris arrives in modern times, Quinn runs through a hidden portal in an oak tree, desperate for advice. Here, a realm of plant spirits empower her to fight back. With their help, she embraces her magic and makes a plan to stop Neris before she kills Quinn and reshapes the bloodline in her own twisted image. In the process, Quinn discovers something more powerful than magic: her rightful place in a bloodline worth fighting for, giving her the belonging she’s craved all along.

This standalone with series potential combines botanical magic, Irish folklore, and the intrigue of elite Victorian poisonings in a mystical Pacific Northwest setting. It will appeal to readers who enjoy the nature-based magic of Rachel Griffin’s The Nature of Witches, the poison intrigue of Judy I. Lin’s A Magic Steeped in Poison, and the Gothic family secrets of Netflix’s Wednesday.

Character illustrations by Roscheri Art. Below: Quinn going through the Door in the Fernwood—a portal in an oak tree that leads to a realm of plant spirits that overlay the Earth.