Spells for Forgetting Summary, Characters and Themes

Spells for Forgetting, published in 2022, by Adrienne Young, is a fantasy novel set against the mysterious backdrop of Saoirse Island, a fictional Pacific Northwest locale steeped in magic. This atmospheric tale blends elements of romance, magical realism, and mystery. 

At its heart, the story explores the haunting power of the past as it draws two former lovers, August Salt and Emery Blackwood, back into a web of secrets, betrayals, and lingering island magic. As August returns home after years away, unresolved tragedies resurface, leading the characters on a quest to uncover the truth that has bound them all to the island’s dark enchantment.

Summary

After more than a decade away, August Salt makes his reluctant return to Saoirse Island, a place heavy with personal loss and mysterious history. Fourteen years earlier, a devastating fire consumed his family’s orchard, and on the very same day, a girl named Lily Morgan, who was Emery Blackwood’s best friend, was found dead. 

Fleeing the island after the tragedy, August has been shrouded in suspicion ever since. 

The locals have long believed he was behind Lily’s death, and his arrival now, after the death of his mother, stirs old fears and resentment.

August’s sole purpose is to bury his mother’s ashes near their former home. However, his return also reawakens complicated feelings, particularly for Emery, his former girlfriend. Emery has remained on the island, bound by family ties and the unresolved grief of losing her best friend. 

She is now involved with Dutch Boden, a childhood friend of both her and August. Dutch, eager for Emery to marry him, finds himself caught in the shadow of Emery’s enduring love for August, a connection she has never truly let go.

As August settles back into the hostile environment, he’s met with more than just cold stares. The island itself seems to hold a magical sway over its inhabitants, intensifying emotions and events in strange ways. Emery, too, is not immune to its pull. 

When she uncovers the deed to August’s family orchard, she discovers that his signature had been forged, giving the property to the town council. 

Despite the tension between them, August and Emery are drawn together, determined to uncover the truth behind Lily’s death and the fire that changed everything.

Through mystical visions and eerie revelations from the island’s magic, August and Emery begin to piece together fragments of the past. Their investigation leads to startling discoveries, including a painful admission from August. 

Desperate to escape his oppressive family legacy, he had started the fire, hoping to free himself from the hold his grandfather had over his life. But there is more to the story of Lily’s death, a truth hidden in the island’s dark enchantments.

Lily, it turns out, had been consumed by jealousy when she learned of August and Emery’s plan to leave the island together. In a fit of rage, she attempted to cast a curse on Emery, intending for her to drown. 

However, the curse backfired, and Lily tragically met her own end, the island’s magic turning her own spiteful intentions against her.

In the wake of these revelations, August is captured by the town’s council, including Emery’s uncle, who intends to exact justice for the past. However, Emery and her father intervene, rescuing August, and the two flee the island, leaving behind the weight of their shared history. 

The novel concludes with Emery and August building a new life together on the mainland, though the island’s magic proves inescapable. Their children, tied to Saoirse’s lingering enchantment, reveal through drawings that the island’s influence will remain a part of their lives forever.

Characters

August Salt

August Salt is a complex character, shaped by his difficult upbringing and the events surrounding his departure from Saoirse Island. He returns to the island after 14 years, burdened by the weight of the past, particularly the suspicion that he was involved in Lily Morgan’s murder.

August is introspective and haunted, reflecting a deep sense of loss and longing, not only for his deceased mother but also for the life he could have had with Emery. His character embodies the tension between fate and free will, as his life has been directed by external forces, including the island’s magic and the town’s collective judgment.

August’s act of setting fire to his family orchard was a desperate attempt to escape his controlling grandfather and the suffocating destiny tied to his lineage. His relationship with Emery reveals a more vulnerable side to him, showing his capacity for deep love, even as he wrestles with guilt and the burden of the island’s secrets.

Emery Blackwood

Emery is one of the central figures in Spells for Forgetting, defined by her enduring love for August and her connection to the island’s magic. Emery is both strong and conflicted, caught between her loyalty to Saoirse Island, where her family has deep roots, and her unresolved feelings for August.

Her past, particularly her friendship with Lily and her subsequent loss, weighs heavily on her throughout the story. She is initially portrayed as someone who is somewhat resigned to her life, especially with Dutch’s pressure to marry, but August’s return reawakens her desires and sense of agency.

Emery’s investigation into the truth behind Lily’s death highlights her courage and determination to confront painful truths, even when they challenge everything she thought she knew. Her mystical connection to the island emphasizes her role as both a protector and a conduit for its magic, but ultimately, she chooses to leave the island with August, signaling her need to break away from its hold over her life.

Lily Morgan

Though Lily Morgan is deceased when the story begins, her presence looms large over the events of the novel. Lily is portrayed through the lens of other characters’ memories and the mystery surrounding her death.

Once a close friend of Emery’s, Lily’s jealousy, rage, and her own feelings for August catalyze the central tragedy of the story. Her failed attempt to curse Emery reveals her darker, more vengeful side, showing the destructive potential of emotions like envy and unrequited love.

Lily’s death, though initially blamed on August, is eventually revealed to be the result of her own actions backfiring. This twist highlights how the island’s magic can serve as both a protector and an avenger, punishing Lily for her malicious intentions.

Dutch Boden

Dutch Boden serves as a foil to August, embodying the possessive, controlling aspects of love and loyalty to the island. Dutch is determined to marry Emery, driven partly by his affection for her but also by a desire to claim ownership over her and the island’s legacy.

His hostility toward August upon his return stems from jealousy and a desire to protect his standing within the community, which blames August for Lily’s death. Dutch’s character reflects the insular, rigid nature of the island’s society, which resists change and clings to old grudges.

As the story progresses, Dutch becomes increasingly aggressive, embodying the darker side of the island’s collective consciousness that seeks to preserve its myths and secrets. His character ultimately represents the dangers of unchecked emotions, especially when combined with the insular, mistrustful nature of a small, tight-knit community.

Eloise Salt

Though she is deceased by the time August returns to Saoirse Island, Eloise Salt’s influence over the story is profound. As August’s mother, she represents the protective and nurturing aspects of familial love, but she is also a tragic figure, burdened by the events that led to her departure from the island.

Through the letters Emery discovers, Eloise’s sorrow and fear for her son are revealed. She is a figure torn between her love for August and her understanding of the island’s darker, magical forces.

Her grief over the fire and her family’s broken legacy underscores the central theme of generational trauma in the novel. Eloise’s character serves as a reminder of the emotional toll that the island’s magic and the town’s expectations can have on those who live there.

The Town Council and Uncle

The town council, including Emery’s uncle, serves as the embodiment of Saoirse Island’s collective will. They represent the island’s deep-rooted traditions and the lengths to which its inhabitants will go to protect their way of life.

The council’s actions, particularly their decision to kidnap and attempt to kill August, reveal the darker, more authoritarian aspects of their governance. They are less concerned with justice than with maintaining the status quo, and their complicity in the cover-up of Lily’s death underscores their willingness to sacrifice individuals for the perceived good of the community.

Emery’s uncle, as a member of the council and someone with personal ties to her, adds complexity to the narrative. His role shows how familial loyalty can be overshadowed by loyalty to the island.

Themes

The Inevitability of Fate and the Conflict Between Personal Autonomy and Destiny

In Spells for Forgetting, the theme of fate is interwoven with the lives of the characters, particularly August Salt and Emery Blackwood. From the moment of August’s birth, the island’s magic seems to mark him for a particular destiny, one that binds him to the land and its hidden, mystical forces.

August’s attempt to break free from this predetermined path—symbolized by the fire he sets—illustrates the deep conflict between personal autonomy and the weight of destiny. His return after 14 years underscores the idea that no matter how far one runs, fate inevitably calls them back.

The island’s influence represents not just a geographical hold but a metaphysical one. Its magic dictates the lives of its inhabitants, reducing them to participants in a drama they can neither fully comprehend nor escape.

The novel questions whether individuals can ever truly carve their own paths or if they are perpetually bound to a larger, mystical design.

The Cyclical Nature of Grief, Trauma, and Collective Memory

Grief and trauma are deeply rooted in the community of Saoirse Island, which functions as a living repository of past tragedies and unhealed wounds. The island becomes a character that harbors memories of loss and suffering, from Lily Morgan’s death to the burning of August’s family orchard.

These unresolved events circulate in the collective consciousness of the townspeople, influencing their attitudes and actions even years later. The hostility directed at August when he returns, though seemingly about Lily’s murder, is also tied to the unresolved grief of the orchard fire.

The past becomes a cyclical force, passed down through generations, amplified by the island’s magic, which prevents old wounds from healing. Emery’s discovery of old letters further emphasizes the role of collective memory in sustaining trauma.

The town’s refusal to move beyond these events entraps its people in a loop of fear and vengeance, perpetuated by both human action and the island’s mystical influence.

The Interplay Between Nature’s Magic and Human Emotion

Nature and its magical properties are not mere backdrops in Spells for Forgetting but dynamic forces that interact with the emotional lives of the characters. The island’s magic, deeply tied to its land, serves as both a protective and vengeful force, reacting to the emotions of its inhabitants.

This is most poignantly realized in Lily Morgan’s attempted curse against Emery. Lily’s jealousy and rage toward Emery and August are mirrored by the island, which turns the curse back on her, causing her death.

This event blurs the line between human intention and natural consequence. The island’s magic operates with a consciousness of its own, attuned to the emotional currents of its people.

The magical realism of the novel suggests that human emotions—love, hate, jealousy, or sorrow—are not isolated experiences but forces that resonate with the natural world, creating a synergy between the characters and their environment.

The Convergence of Personal and Collective Responsibility in the Face of Moral Dilemmas

At the heart of the novel lies the tension between personal responsibility and collective action, particularly regarding Lily Morgan’s death and the secrets that surround it. While the town blames August for the tragedy, the truth is far more complex, involving Lily’s own misguided actions and the island’s magic.

The theme explores how communities often seek scapegoats to manage their guilt and grief. The real culpability is dispersed throughout the community, implicating figures like Emery’s uncle and the town council.

This dispersal of responsibility reveals how collective guilt becomes intertwined with personal failings. August’s eventual abduction by the town council and their plan to kill him illustrate how moral dilemmas are externalized and enacted through communal decisions, even when individual motivations are unclear.

The novel poses difficult questions about justice, guilt, and the ethical complexities of community life. Personal and collective responsibility converge in ways that make resolution elusive.

The Relationship Between Love, Memory, and the Burden of the Past

Love in Spells for Forgetting is deeply tied to memory, history, and the ghosts of the past. Emery’s enduring love for August, despite years of separation, reflects how their relationship is haunted by their youthful plans and the shadow of Lily’s death.

Love, in this context, is not just an emotional bond but a force that keeps the past alive. It holds Emery and August captive to memories of what they lost.

The island’s magic, frequently manifesting through visions and cryptic messages, reminds the characters that love and memory are inseparable from the burdens of the past. As Emery and August try to build a new life, the lingering presence of the island suggests that love, like memory, is both an escape and an eternal return.

The Ambiguity of Justice in a World Governed by Mystical Forces

Justice in Spells for Forgetting is portrayed as an elusive and ambiguous concept, complicated by the island’s magic and the unclear motivations of its inhabitants. The town’s belief in August’s guilt for Lily’s murder and their attempt to punish him raises questions about the nature of justice in a world influenced by supernatural forces.

The island seems to enact a form of mystical justice when Lily’s curse backfires, leading to her death. However, this justice is not straightforward or comprehensible by human moral standards.

The town council’s plot to kill August in the name of justice reflects the community’s warped sense of retribution, rooted more in fear and superstition than any objective moral code. The novel explores how justice, influenced by forces beyond human understanding, becomes a murky and subjective affair.

Right and wrong often become indistinguishable, and the truth remains hidden until the island chooses to reveal it.