Wynter’s Thief
Sherryl Jordan
OneTree House
pub. 2019

09 March, 2021

Wynter’s Thief by Sherryl Jordan and published by OneTree House in 2019, is set in medieval England and explores the lives of Fox and Wynter. Fox has lived a thief’s life ever since he can remember, and the one time that he wasn’t in the wrong he got caught and is now branded for life, with a large T on his right cheek. Wynter is a water witch, tasked with finding water for villages and towns where there isn’t any, a seemingly impossible task. However, ever since she was born, Wynter has had a special connection with water, and it is this connection that allows her to find water in the depths of the earth. Wynter’s Thief follows the journeys of these two characters and their paths to self discovery and freedom.

Wynter and Fox first meet in a village called Nettle Hill, a small place in the middle of nowhere, where Wynter was divining for water. Nettle Hill is experiencing a severe drought, and despite their praying, God still won’t relieve Nettle Hill of its dry spell. The priest of the village, Father Villicus, takes this as a sign that God has brought this lack of rain upon his town for a reason. When Wynter and her father come along, claiming that she can uplift the drought he is of course skeptical, and that scepticism soon turns to animosity. He thinks her powers are of the devil and accuses her of witchcraft, a crime punishable by death. Due to these circumstances Wynter is forced to flee, Fox going with, but many obstacles are in their way, and little do they know Father Villicus and Wynter’s Father are not far behind.

Wynter’s Thief is an adventurous novel, interspersed with romance and magic. Both Fox and Wynter have different problems but together they help each other figure out who they are. Jordan does a really good job intertwining their lives and I found that the way she weaves together different aspects of the story is so different from what I expected and what I thought other authors would do. She isn’t predictable in the way that some authors are and just as I thought one thing was going to happen another thing did that was completely different, but it still fit in with the storyline. She sees things from a different perspective and I love that about this book.

The storyline is quite fast-paced at times which keeps it interesting, however there are moments where it gets slower, but then again every book has those moments. One thing I thought was quite unique was the way that Jordan differentiates between the two main characters. She uses two different fonts when alternating between Fox and Wynter, and she also has a little symbol at the corner of each page that can indicate which character’s perspective it is from. Fox has a little fox symbol, and Wynter has waves for hers. I think this is a really cute little addition and it’s also very useful for when you are coming back to the book after a while and you are not sure whose perspective it is. Instead of flipping to the beginning of the chapter, you can just look at the top of the page and immediately identify whose perspective it is.

• Ashika is 15 years old and lives in Hastings.