Elizabeth Kay Books In Order

Publication Order of The Divide Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Elizabeth Kay is an English author of humor, children’s books, literature and fiction books popularly known for her series of children fantasy books The Divide Trilogy. She went to Nonsuch High School and later attended Bath Spa University, where she graduated with an MA in create writing. The author has won a couple of awards, including the Canongate Prize and Cardiff International Poetry Competition for her short story Cassie.

Her 2012 novella Beware of Men with Moustaches was published on the iPad and Kindle. The novel features four British poets who accept an invitation to tour an ex-soviet country but soon find themselves entangled in a web of mistaken identities, high stilettos, fake email addresses, and cheap vodka. The four men become aware of their ignorance in a country struggling to find its new identity where the locals have much more to worry about other than when their next poet is to be published.

The Divide

The first book in The Divide Trilogy introduces the reader to a 13-year-old boy named Felix vacationing in Costa Rica. This is a crucial trip both for himself and the parents because he has a rare heart condition that would likely see him dead before his 14th birthday. While hiking up to the Great Divide, the young boy suddenly feels dizzy and faints. He wakes up in a place far from Costa Rica, a place where humans are imaginary, and magic is real, a place where most of its population are the winged Brittlehorns, Brizzles, Tanglefolk, and many other magical creatures.

You’d bet that Felix would want to stay in this magic place like right? But you’re wrong because all that Felix wants is to sleep in his own bed, he wants his beloved parents to know that he didn’t just vanish in the jungles and then he also holds a secret wish that cure could be waiting for him when he goes back. In a place where both science and humans are imaginary, Felix embarks on a tough journey to find a way back home when time is not on his side.

Elizabeth Kay has created a beautiful sideways magical world filled with fanciful contradictions. Felix and the creatures that he meets speak the same language and understand each other. The author provides a one-page vocabulary dictionary at the beginning of the book to help the reader get a better understanding of the language spoken in the magical society. The magical society is a place where no one has a concept of farming, yet wearing makeup has become important. A place where riding dragons is normal, but a pen is an instrument of wonder. This new world is both interesting and full of twists.
While the main character in the story doesn’t die, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t a death occurrence in the book. Death is a theme here, and several characters die. At times Felix’s thoughts often turn to his death, and there is also a discussion of death as a normal part of the food chain. However, it’s to be noted that the death theme is only thought-provoking and not gross or gratuitous. The author manages to keep the story light with funny scenes and absurd coincidences that keep the characters amusingly weaving in and out of the several storylines that tie up nicely at the end.

The Divide is a funny and yet serious story in a magical world with creative vocabulary. The characters both the main and the supporting ones are beautifully defined with unique voices. The protagonist’s illness makes him vulnerable, but the author never makes him a victim. Death isn’t the main theme but one of the many themes along with friendship, perseverance, and a short term stupidity for long term growth.

Jinx on the Divide

The third book in Elizabeth Kay, the Divide Trilogy series, opens up when Felix receives the Christmas gift he’s been waiting for arrives. The gift is a visit from his friend Betony from the magical realm. However, the thing doesn’t go as planned for Felix. A long forgotten brass lamp is found in Felix school bag, and before he even knows it, a genie escapes from the lamp, takes the school bully hostage and demands to be taken to a scientist to be freed from the enslavement to the brass lamp.

In a desperate attempt to resolve this complicated situation without having to bring magic into the science world, Felix and his magical friend Betony rush back to the magical world, the Divide. But things on that magic side soon deteriorate. Inside the genie lamp, Stephen, a flamed-haired bully opens a bad jinx box. Probably wicked would be a better phrase to describe it. The jinx box demands that Felix or Stephen or any mythical creature from the magic world to the speaker a couple of power words aloud. And each word causes something so big to happen, something that has the potential to destroy everything.
But not saying the magic words isn’t as simple as any reader might think. The jinx box will do anything in its powers to force or even trick Rhino and Felix into doing its evil bidding and destroying the jinx box won’t be a simple task either. Additionally, Rhino foolishly tries to sell a recipe for gunpowder to the japegrins, and the consequences of selling this art of science in a magic world would be unthinkable. In the meantime, other plots are happening.

Snakeweed returns from a supposedly 100-year sleep. A slave of the jinx lamp who wants his freedom is commanded to kill Rhino. Encounters with wild dragons, interracial issues, wolf-like creatures, beings set free from spells in the middle of a race against time. And while all these is happening, Felix develops feelings for Betony, and these love feelings could complicate the decision that he makes when things sour up. The Divide Trilogy series comes to a satisfying end, given all the dread and suspense that leads up to it. The series is multi-layered, quirky, and most readers will remember it for its unique storyline and cover design.