Mockingbird, by Sean Stewart. Ace Books, 1998

Putting me somewhat in mind of Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic, Stewart's Mockingbird is about a pair of sisters living a magical life- albeit reluctantly on one's part. But it's a superficial similarity; Hoffman's sisters are not much like Stewart's. Despite the death and horror at one point in Hoffman's book, Stewart's is the darker one. Toni and Candy Beauchamp's (pronounced 'Beechum') mother, Elena, who spent her life ridden by her gods in the manner of a Voodoo priestess, has died, and, Toni hopes, the little gods have died with her. The little gods, when not living in the body of Elena Beauchamp, have lived in a china cabinet, each fetish occupying its own space. These gods have made Toni and Candy's lives miserable, as they aren't all friendly gods. Some are sexual adventurers who leave the children home alone, some are abusive. So Toni's reaction, along with grief over losing her mother, is "Thank God I am finally free".

After the funeral, Candy reveals to Toni that their mother has left Toni one last gift- a bottle of Mockingbird Cordial, that she must drink. This odd concoction opens the gateway for Toni's own possession by her mother's gods. This is the last thing Toni wanted; she's all set to create her own life for once. She has a good job, she's newly pregnant with a sperm bank baby and is looking forward to a normal life. In no time at all she finds herself possessed, out of a job, cashing in her savings to pay the debts her mother left, and finding that her mother left everything- except the debts- to a woman in Canada who turns out to be a daughter she had from a first marriage but kept a secret. Not the life she intended, at all.