Witches and magic and family strife and love and generational influence and surprises at every turn: that’s what you’re in for with Spells to Start Believing, a truly compelling and original book. I read it mesmerized, all the way through, at the clever and beautiful prose, at the author’s vulnerability and resiliency, at the way these lyrical vignettes create a constellation of all the strange, interconnected experiences that make a life.

–Patrick Madden, Brigham Young University

"Vivid, grounding, and exquisitely clear—especially for a book about the mystical. With mesmerizing prose, Sasha illuminates the ambiguous loss of her mother, the same woman who introduces her to magic. This is not your typical witch memoir. This is a raw, compelling story that explores an atypical mother-daughter bond, and how the human heart processes wounds for which we don't have simple names.” – Diana Helmuth, author of The Witching Year

– Diana Helmuth, author of The Witching Year

“From a plastic dagger to the power of empathy, Bailyn shows us what it means to grow up and keep hold of magic and belief in oneself. In vivid, alchemical prose, Bailyn transforms generational trauma into understanding and forgiveness for survivors to pass on to children. This is an urgent, magnificent, compelling tale for our time.”

–Sue William Silverman, author, Selected Misdemeanors: Essays at the Mercy of the Reader