Among Others

by Jo Walton

The novel is presented as the diary of Morgana, a 15-year-old Welsh science fiction and fantasy fan, in 1979 and 1980. She and her twin sister Morwenna, both frequently using the nicknames "Mor" or "Mori", grew up playing and occasionally working magic with beings they call faeries in the hills of Wales. Several months before the start of the novel, their mother, who is described as both insane and a witch, attempts to gain more power to take over the world. The sisters are able to stop her, but in the process their mother causes them to struck by a car, killing Morwenna and disabling one of Morgana's legs. Morgana begins mostly using Morwenna's name, though still typically going by Mori.

As her mother is insane and her grandfather (with whom she previously lived) has a stroke and is in a care facility, she has run away from her home and been sent to western England to live with her father and his three half-sisters, none of whom she has ever seen. Bereft of her sister, her joy in running, and her beloved Welsh countryside, Mori must reconcile to her new life as a disabled, friendless outsider. She feels that she can do this as long as she has books to read, and her one connection to her father is the love of books they share. Her paternal family send her to a nearby girls' boarding school, which she finds unmagical and very uncongenial. She has few friends and considerable free time because she can do her schoolwork quickly and because her injury prevents her from participating in sports. She spends most of her time reading books provided by her father (also an SF fan), the school library, the local public library, and interlibrary loan. Throughout her diary she records her and other characters' reactions to these books with as much interest as any other events of her life. At one point she casts a spell to locate friends who can unite with her on a common purpose and then is invited to join a SF/fantasy readers' club at the library. She makes a few connections there and eventually a boyfriend who not only shares her interested in books but in magic, although he can barely see the fairies and cannot himself work spells.

Magic remains a persistent feature in Mori's life. Shortly after her arrival at the school, Mori's mother begins sending her letters and family photographs in which Mori's image is burned out and launching magical attacks to control her daughter. Mori tries to work with the fairies near her school but finds she must return to her home in Wales to truly connect and do her own protective magic. She is offered the opportunity to join her dead sister in becoming a fairy herself, but to do so must also die. She chooses instead to embrace her new life and whatever the future might hold. She confronts her mother in a final magical conflict, and, victorious, returns to her new family and her boyfriend.