Well, Zacharias' visit is something of a disaster, as some of the girls, instead of showing their docile suppression of their magical gifts, get into a fight, complete with hurled spells. As such they are incredibly valuable, especially as Faerie has cut off the supply of familiars to England. On the day of Zacharias' visit, Prunella is set to cleaning the attic (in part of keep her out of Zacharias' way) - and there she discovers an old valise that must have been her father's, containing (as she eventually realizes) several magical treasures, in particular seven eggs that might hatch familiars. She is also, we quickly learn, an extremely accomplished magician - as, indeed, are several other young women at the school, despite the efforts of the headmistress. This of course makes Prunella an outcast too, and she has been doing chores at the school, including teaching, in exchange for her keep. Prunella never knew her mother, though her looks make it clear that her mother hailed from India. One of the women at the school is Prunella Gentleman, who was sort of adopted by the school's headmistress after her father committed suicide. It is Rollo who prevails on Zacharias to give a lecture at a magical school for "gentlewitches" - a school which aims to teach young women to suppress their magical abilities. Zacharias has few allies - his stepmother, Lady Wythe, is one and he has a couple of supporters in the Society, an older magician named Damerel, and a younger, rather foolish but quite pleasant man named Rollo. Moreover, the Sultan of Jondarbyke is demanding magical help from England, to deal with a plague of vampiresses on his island - and England may not have the magical ability to do so. And finally, this is a time of crisis for English magic - its supply is diminishing, evidently because of some dispute with the King and Queen of Faerie. And he is privately subject to a mysterious and painful malady - in addition to the fact that the ghost of Sir Stephen continues to give him advice. He is even covertly accused of having murdered Sir Stephen. But his position is delicate - many English magicians are offended by the thought that a lowborn former slave is now their leader. And then, some 20 years later, Sir Stephen dies suddenly - and Zacharias inherits his staff, which makes him the new Sorcerer to the Crown. But with Sir Stephen's influence, Zacharias is trained in magic, and becomes very accomplished. As for women, they are deemed too weak to perform powerful magic, though it is discreetly accepted that many women use household magics to help with cooking and cleaning, etc. Zacharias is a curiosity, because of his color. At least, of the acknowledged English magicians - mostly gentlemen, and all men. The novel opens with Zacharias Wythe, a young black boy, demonstrating his magical abilities before a meeting of the Society of Unnatural Philosophers, sponsored by his master (and eventually adoptive father) Sir Stephen Wythe, who is Sorcerer to the Crown - that is, the leader of English magicians. (As is traditional, I will mention the pronunciation I learned from it: "geas" is pronounced "gesh" (roughly), instead of "jee-us" as I had always read it.) Sorcerer to the Crown, then, is the latest such novel I've listened too (the 12th, beginning at the end of last year with Piranesi.) It is read by Jenny Sterlin, very nicely. However, in 2021, I have made a focused attempt to catch up on novels I've missed in the past several years, particularly novels by women and I have been using my (new) Audible account to help. but I remain obstinately behind on my novel reading. She caught my attention with some fine short fiction, and when this novel appeared, advertised as a Regency romance with magic, I was intrigued - because I like Regencies, and I like magic. Cho is a Malaysian writer, based in the UK, where she works as a lawyer. This was Zen Cho's first novel, published in 2015.
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