44 pages • 1 hour read
Sarah Beth DurstThe Spellshop
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: The Rise of “Cozy” Fiction
The Spellshop falls into a contemporary subgenre called “cozy fantasy,” which grew into explosive popularity during the coronavirus pandemic. Although the genre has only been named in recent history, it’s part of a much larger literary tradition that originated with the “cozy mysteries” of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Margery Allingham (notably all women in a male-dominated genre). Cozy mystery is defined by its overall positive tone and its lack of visceral gore—murders are generally bloodless and off-page, intended only as a device to set the plot in motion. Cozy mystery series gained significant popularity through social media communities such as “BookTok” on TikTok and inspired other “cozy” genres, including fantasy, romance, and even horror.
Cozy fantasies such as The Spellshop are defined by what’s generally called “low stakes,” although Sarah Beth Durst says that cozy fantasy is about a “commitment to hope” (Durst, Sarah Beth. “The Rise of Cozy Fantasy.” Reactor Magazine, 9 July 2024). The Spellshop is technically a work of high fantasy rather than low fantasy because it takes place in a secondary world; however, contrary to common high fantasy narrative structures, cozy fantasy doesn’t directly deal with world-altering battles and major political conflicts. Instead, it focuses on interpersonal drama and self-discovery. While The Spellshop contains some peripheral political unrest, this element functions only to enhance the novel’s core themes. Cozy fantasy is intended to create a fantastical world filled with hopeful, positive imagery without demanding significant exploration of broader conflicts within the text. Due to many of the social, economic, and political problems plaguing the world today, increasingly more people are turning to cozy fantasies, mysteries, and romances to find respite from uncertainty and unease.
Psychological Context: The Restorative Effects of the Natural World
The Spellshop is set in motion when the protagonist, Kiela, moves from her constrained urban life to a much more open rural life. She becomes a gardener and engages with the natural world in a new way. Extensive studies have been done on the link between nature and mental health and comparing the mental health of those who live in cities to those who live in less urban areas. In particular, “connectedness”—such as planting, harvesting, or caring for the earth—has a major impact on mental well-being. In addition to improving mental health and lowering stress levels, engaging with nature has been shown to improve cognitive function, aid in healthy sleep, lower blood pressure, and lower risks for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease (“Nature: How Connecting With Nature Benefits Our Mental Health.” Mental Health Foundation, 2021).
Although there is some debate on how much mental health is affected by urban or rural living, it’s widely agreed upon that the healthiest groups are those with access to quality green spaces. Moreover, these green spaces often create a sense of community, something Kiela experiences in The Spellshop. She moves from a completely isolated existence, refined mostly to her solitary workplace, to one brimming with human connection. Kiela experiences a boost in mental health on two levels: In engaging with the natural world, she improves her body and mind; then, she creates a community around her by sharing this engagement with others.
This focus on the natural world falls under the recent trend known as “cottagecore,” which describes a specific internet aesthetic, design trend, and lifestyle. It depicts a bucolic way of living, usually in an actual cottage surrounded by meadows or woods, wherein someone partakes in the more pleasant or fulfilling aspects of rural life and homesteading without the struggles of farmwork or isolation from larger society. While idealistic, it largely appeals to a desire to reconnect with nature, as well as with a smaller, more intimate community. This trend has spread throughout literature, particularly “cozy” fiction, which aligns with the central aesthetic of cottagecore. In The Spellshop, Kiela abandons her city life to seek refuge in the cottage she lived in during her childhood, and she takes up a lifestyle of casting small spells and making jams with her friends. This positive portrayal of pastoral lifestyles represents the restorative effects that reconnecting with nature can have.
