The Stitchwort Curse

The Stichwort Curse is a book about a pair of youths discovering the secrets of their family’s colourful history. Written by Alexandra Dawe, this book explores the large house and grounds at Stitchwort: a place where some have gifts of magic. It is a building like no other as it is magically protected so no outsider may enter. This makes life rather dull for Etta Starling, the youngest direct descendant of a long line of intelligent people. That is until a relative they did not know they had decides to visit.
During the Nazi dictatorship the young Starling cousins are meeting magical creatures, ghosts and spiders. Uncovering long-forgotten controversy and learning about each other. Key to the book is the Stitchwort curse which prevents the Starlings from leaving the grounds for fear of death. But does it exist, and if so why?
In a more thematic sense, this book shows young readers a message against colonialism in a simple but specific way, teaching us when we do not realise when we are being taught.
It is an overall engaging and enjoyable piece of fiction for younger readers containing developed and amiable characters.
– Matthew, Year 9, Millthorpe School

This is an intriguing book with a lot of mysteries in it. I liked how it was written and how the author (Alexandra Dawe) makes the mysteries seem exciting to the reader. All the characters are different from each other and the story includes some supernatural creatures to make it more interesting.
– Catherine, Year 8, Millthorpe School

I have loved reading this book! I think that the descriptive writing is so creative. The way she came up with all these magical settings is so intelligent. The book is a perfect mix of adventure, mystery and non-fiction, my favourite genre. 
I love the character Etta as she is very reckless and adventurous.
Felix is the more shy character, a bit afraid of Etta’s crazy plotting.
I think the Mer are very protective but misunderstood.
I really felt the emotions the characters were feeling as I was reading the book.
At first, I was very confused about what was going on as I didn’t know about the magic but as I read more, everything clicked into place. The story flows very well and I think that each chapter blends into the next. The story follows main characters Etta and Felix who are on a mission to save their family from a curse and find out why. There are a few twists on the way, one of which when the pair find out that maybe their family wasn’t cut out to what it was supposed to be.
I would definitely recommend this book!
– Edith, Joseph Rowntree School

The Stitchwort Curse by Alexandra Dawe is about a thrilling adventure that takes place on an island that is hidden from the outside world.
Its main character is a girl called Etta who lives with her family on the island of Stitchwort. After years of a boring life on the island, her cousin Felix and his parents arrive in their car to Stitchwort – bringing with them modern ideas and technology while fleeing the harrowing events of World War 2. After arriving at the lofty gates of Stitchwort, Felix and Etta explore the history of their family and the grounds of the island. While exploring they discover dark family secrets and a hidden seal skin which they return to a selkie ghost.
This book is well written, easy to read and has a thrilling story line.
– Alexander, Year 7, St Peter’s 8-13

The Stitchwort Curse is an amazing fantastical novel about two young children unmuddling the stories of their family’s shadowed past.
This book really combines the essence of the Victorian times, shown in Etta’s family home and the way that the family dress, and the more modern time in inventions and ideas, such as cars and women wearing trousers. It has a very clear plotline and though no new species of mystical beings were introduced to me, Alexandra Dawe really took common folk tales such as mermaids, selkies and sirens and wove them into the fabric of the story as if it was where they were always supposed to be.
The characters themselves inside Etta’s family each have unique personalities and special ‘talents’. Etta’s mother is a strong independent women who can control plants and foliage, Etta’s father a very reassuring and calm personality with a gift for baking and cooking, and of course Etta herself, who is a headstrong young lady with a gift of communicating with spiders, though the communication is never fool-proof as is shown throughout the novel. Felix, Viola and Rupert are also very signature characters, with Felix rather shy and reserved and Viola headstrong and stubborn. We do not find out much about Felix’s father but we know enough to assume that he was injured as he was speaking out against the Nazi dictatorship which we learn was happening at the time. He is also the reason for the family coming to Stitchwort. Although at times, Felix’s gift of speaking with the spider’s webs rather confused me, I felt that all in all it added to the plot and the development of the story.
All things considered, I felt that this story was amazingly written and really transported me into the lives of Felix and Etta and the struggles through war, deceit and betrayal to find the truth about their family.
– Alice, Millthrope

The Stitchwort Curse is a novel that explores friendship, trust, and betrayal. The story begins in the Stitchwort House, where Etta and her family are forced to live under a family curse. One day, they have a surprise visit from their relatives – Felix and his parents – who aren’t supposed to be alive out of Stitchwort under the curse. These living relatives lit Etta’s hope of escaping Stitchwort and the wish for freedom in the outside world. While absconding from Stitchwort, Etta also discovers some ambiguous relationships and pasts her family have.
Etta is an adventurous girl with the power to hegemonize spiders. However, as a result of the curse, she has no experience of friendship. Therefore, when she meets Felix, having a friend often irritates her. In contrast, Felix is timid and has a more amiable personality.
One of my favourite things in the book is how the author shows the growth of the characters. Not just the kids, but the adults as well. In the story, Felix’s mother realises that hiding from the war and the world, like the Starlings comes with a price and is not a solution. The growth in matureness of Felix and Etta’s friendship takes you into the story, as well as the moving storyline, which relates to my favourite quote, “Everything is going to change.”
The book’s layout is truly astonishing, with hundreds of spiders crawling on your page, you can sense the pressure of the danger (especially if you have arachnophobia). The illustrations are candidly remarkable as they befit the genre and storyline.
This book is notable as my start of 2025, with its disturbing setting and obscure storyline. However, understanding what is happening in the beginning will be more complex, with its complicated background. As a result, you might find it different when you reread it.
– Isaac N, Year 8, St Peter’s 8-13

The Stitchwort Curse is a thrilling tale of a young girl named Etta, as she explores the secrets of her ancestral home. Life is going on as normal, until a mysterious machine arrives at the gates. As she delves deeper into many mysteries the hidden tales unravel and become much more dangerous.
In my opinion, Etta was my favourite character because she doesn’t care about what other people think about her and she never loses her determination to push the boundaries of her world. To me, the story has a very smooth flow to it as the storyline doesn’t skip over any details but it doesn’t linger on any part or description in the book for too long.
I think this book could have been improved into the perfect version if it didn’t describe her ancestors to that much description. All of their different stories were quite difficult to wrap my mind around as I tried to follow the main story line.
This story made me laugh and cry as I followed the twists and turns of Etta’s story. I would recommend this book to readers of ages 10+ and would rate it a strong five stars.
– Abigail, Year 8, St Peter’s 8-13

The story was about a boy from the Netherlands called Felix and a girl called Etta discovering a curse. The curse is whenever a person from the Starling family travels, they always die. They discovered an old parlour in a disused part of Stitchwort manor and found a ghost there. The length of time during the story was a couple of days. A bit when it was unusual was when they found a merperson and healed Felix when he drowned. The most ordinary bit was when they were grounded and sent to their rooms for a day. The opening was a bit weird. The events followed on through all the chapters.
The writer was very passionate about the story and was inspired by WWII when some people from the Netherlands evacuated to England. There were very good illustrations. I would definitely recommend this book to others. I thought it was very interesting.
– Manor CE Academy

I did not like this book and struggled to finish reading it. By the end of the first chapter, I knew the book was not something I wanted to continue reading. This was because I found the book dull.
In the opening chapter, the author tries to set the scene with lots of description but I found this too detailed and as a result I lost interest. I would however praise the author for her wonderful use of illustrations which help the reader to visualise the author’s ideas and characters.
The story starts with a girl called Etta who lives with her family under a deadly curse and this forms the intriguing plot of the story. This is a gothic adventure aimed at young teens but would appeal to a wide-ranging audience and even though I did not enjoy the book, I would still recommend it to others.
– Louisa, Year 8, The Joseph Rowntree School