Bigoted Book Burners Bloodily Bludgeoned by Badly Burnt Books

Loxwick is a normal English town full of normal English people who want normal English things... like Zosime, a normal trans teenager. She simply wants to live her life, help her best friend, Amethyst, with Amethyst's new baby, and work in the local museum of witchcraft.

Zosime's mum is a normal English gender critical bigot. She goes to Church, she's spent a decade abusing her trans kid, and now she's organising a book burning. Y'know, normal English gender critical bigot things.

Book burning is generally a bad idea. Tossing the grimoire of a genuine 16th century witch on the fire is a worse idea. Bigots don't have good ideas, so it's not entirely unexpected.

The grimoire releasing magic that animates every book in town? The animated books going on a killing rampage? Mandy Green, homewrecker, showing up with a sword and a love for monster slaying. That's unexpected.

Zosime just wants normal English things normal English people would want when they're trapped in a magical murder town, like getting Amethyst and her baby to safety. But instead she's running around saving the lives of bigots who mistreat her, bumping into everyone she's ever had sex with, and coming to terms with the trauma decades of abuse has forced on her. Would it really be an apocalypse if it was baggage free?