Not sure who recommended this book or why I added it to my to-read wishlist, but it turns out to be a charming modern YA book with just the right twists of wistfulness and magic. Our protagonist Linus Baker is leading a dreary life of boredom as a caseworker assigned to investigate "orphanages" for children with magical abilities to ensure they are being properly run. When he's tapped to investigate a particularly unusual orphanage with six particularly unusual kids it means traveling out there to stay for a month and send back weekly reports. For the first time Linus stays long enough to develop a personal acquaintance with the kids and to start to see some of the bigger issues around the system he works for. The development of Linus's relationship with the kids and his own personality is lovely to see; all the kids are a joy; and there is also a low-key growing gay romance (quite chastely described, iirc there is one dance and one kiss and that's the extent of the detail). It's a charming, feel-good, easy read that I couldn't put down until I finally finished the last page about 2 hours after I'd meant to go to sleep.