The Blue Star

by Fletcher Pratt

"The Blue Star" by Fletcher Pratt is a fantasy novel first published in 1952. Set in a parallel world where witchcraft has evolved into a science while technology has stalled at an eighteenth-century level, the story follows Lalette Asterhax, a hereditary witch, and Rodvard Bergelin, a clerk recruited by revolutionaries. When Rodvard seduces Lalette to gain her magical talisman—a mind-reading jewel called a blue star—both become pawns in a larger conspiracy. Forced to flee, they embark on adventures that transform them from shallow conspirators into something greater.