Books about witches take many different forms. some are horror novels; others are historical accounts. some are charming children’s stories; others are strange and disturbing mysteries.
Putting witches at the center of a novel, comic, or non-fiction book can mean many different things and encompass many different genres, settings, and styles.
You are reading: Fantasy books about witches
In this list, you’ll find a variety of different types of books about witches and witchcraft: fantasy novels, magical manga, non-fiction stories, historical fiction, and more.
the best books about witches and witchcraft
some of the witch books on this list are full of magic; others are haunting mysteries. some are dark gothic tales; others are your stories.
Here’s a great cocktail of witch books, spanning many different genres and styles, written by some of our best modern authors.
the close witch of v.e. brat
author v.e. Schwab is perhaps best known for her A Darker Shade of Magic series and her fantasy novel The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, but The Nearby Witch was her first published novel, and she’s great! p>
the near witch is an excellent place to start this list of magical books about witches, given how excellently it leans into the mood and tone evoked by the very concept of witches.
the actual history of witches and witchcraft is grim, but in the close witch, v.e. schwab manages to use the fear and hysteria conjured up by the witches as fuel for his novel.
the nearby witch tells the story of a town, the titular nearby. it’s never clear if fence exists in our world or not (and if so, when). It almost seems to float in the ether, surrounded by endless wastelands and forests.
There is a legend in the town of near, that of the witch of near, who befriended the local children and let them play in her garden, until a child suddenly appeared dead.
Our story begins with Lexi Harris, a young woman who sees a stranger up close. this never happens; there are no strangers around. At the same time this child appears, the children begin to disappear one by one.
Is this stranger the cause of these disappearances, or is it something linked to the legend of the nearby witch?
For its simple narrative like a pseudo-fantasy novel, and for its delightfully somber and lonely tone and atmosphere, The Nearby Witch stands out as one of the best magical books about witches.
the lighthouse witches by c.j. kitchen
Set on a lighthouse that sits on a lonely island off the coast of Scotland, Lòn Haven, The Lighthouse Witches blends folklore, mystery, death, superstition and the supernatural into a dark, gothic family drama. .
the island of lòn haven has seen a history of witch hunts, and now the locals are disappearing. It certainly looks like lòn haven’s cursed.
Our family is led by Liv Stay, a woman on the run for her freedom with her daughters. They arrive at Lòn Haven lighthouse and Liv ignores the stories of witches and curses. However, very soon only one member of her family, Liv’s daughter Luna, will be left alive.
After twenty years have passed, we follow Luna as she returns to the island and the lighthouse, to discover the truth.
The best books about witches are based on folklore and mystery; they are gothic and full of suspense. lighthouse witches are certainly successful in these areas.
cunning women by elizabeth lee
Set in 17th century Lancashire, a time of witches and witchcraft, whispers and mistrust, Cunning Women is a book about love and female empowerment.
as the catchphrase of the book says: “when it’s no longer safe to be a witch, they call themselves cunning.”
in a dilapidated village, sarah haworth’s family lives in isolation after the famous pendle witch trials (in which ten accused witches were tried and hanged for witchcraft).
They make a living treating the people of the neighboring town with their balms and medicines. people don’t trust them, they despise them, but they also need them. And one of these villagers, a boy named Daniel, gets to know Sarah Haworth very well.
Soon, the smell of strange death leads a magistrate to investigate the area, and his witch hunter’s nose is pointed squarely at Sarah and her family of cunning women.
Not many books about witches deliver on the promise of atmosphere and excitement in the way that cunning women do. is an absolutely exciting novel.
the witches of manningtree by a.k. blakemore
manningtree can still be found today: a small town in essex. and this is also the setting for a.k. Blakemore’s beloved and award-winning novel, The Manningtree Witches.
With an initial setting similar to the misericords (below), the manningtree witches begins in 1643, in a place almost devoid of men, after so many left to fight in the English civil war.
Now, we follow Rebecca West and her bitter mother, Beldam West, as they come face to face with the Witch Hunter General.
This is a novel that reveals the blackest hearts of men and the true power and reason behind Europe’s and America’s witch hunts.
We follow a battle between the powerful and the vulnerable, men and women, the distrustful and the suspicious, the strong and the weak.
The Witches of Manningtree is a beautiful novella about the patriarchy, written with wit and force and stunning language that evokes the time period perfectly.
hex by jenni fagan
jenni fagan is one of scotland’s most celebrated writers, and her novella hex is a wonderful example of why.
hex can be read in a single sitting, and in that time it will take you on a journey through time; teach you about the plight and pain of women throughout the centuries.
As far as books about witches go, this is an extremely literary affair, but also one not without fantastical elements. Our protagonist is a modern woman named Iris who has cast a spell to transport herself half a millennium into the past.
iris’ goal is to reunite with geillis duncan, a woman who has one night to live before being hanged for the crime of witchcraft.
See Also: 100 Amazing Middle Grade Books to Read in 2022 (2022 Middle Grade)
We follow the conversation between these two women as they sit together in a cold prison cell for a single night. iris teaches gellis about the modern world and keeps him company before he faces the gallows.
alexis henderson’s year of the witches
if you want your books on witches and witchcraft to be true gothic fantasy games, look no further than the year of witchcraft.
Set in the city of Bethel, the place where the first prophet hunted down and killed four dangerous witches, we follow Immanuelle as she does her best to follow the sacred protocol of the church.
Beyond the borders of Bethel is the dark forest, a place haunted by the ghosts of those witches. When Immanuelle is drawn to the dark forest, the witches’ ghosts give her her mother’s diary.
When the diary reveals that her mother associated with witches, Immanuelle sets out to uncover the truth. This means the truth of the witches, the church, and the sinister goings-on behind it all, and behind the town of Bethel.
the mercies of kiran millwood hargrave
While not strictly about witches, like many of the other witch books on this list, Misericords deftly embodies the concept of what witchcraft meant and represented in centuries past.
kiran millwood hargrave’s first adult novel is set in 1617, on a lonely and isolated norwegian island. One Christmas night, all the men on the island drown in a freak storm, leaving the women alone to live free and fend for themselves.
That is, until a Scottish Christian on a mission arrives on the island. Absalom is here to restore religious law and order through patriarchal repression, and he has brought his miserable new young wife with him.
Beginning with the storm, then with the arrival of man, the mercies end in a climactic third act called “hunt”, which given the tone of this novel, the time, the dogma and the theme of this list, is exactly what you might assume it is.
The Mercies is not one of the more obvious books about witches; instead, it is a book about the paranoia and systemic religious oppression that led to the witch hunts of history and legend.
everyone knows your mother is a witch from rivka galchen
just like stacey halls’ relatives (below), everyone knows your mother is a witch is a work of historical fiction inspired by real people and events. in the case of this novel, that real person is/was katharina kepler.
kepler was a 71-year-old woman accused of witchcraft, and this novel tells her story. she was the mother of a renowned royal court astronomer and mathematician. Indeed, the name of Johannes Kepler remains important and influential to this day.
it’s incredible to think that the mother of one of the world’s greatest mathematical minds was put on trial for witchcraft, but that absurd series of events is what everyone knows your mother is a witch documents with passion, verve and rawness .
Set in the 17th century, this is also a time of plague, and the time when the 30 Years’ War was just beginning. As far as books about witches go, this one is educational, impactful, and full of heart.
all the birds in the sky by charlie jane anders
all the birds in the sky is a novel of great ambitions that wants to cater to several different types of readers. and he gets it! Combining witchcraft and folklore with science fiction, All the Birds in the Sky is one of the most unique books about witches you’re likely to read.
patricia is a witch. Laurence is a scientist. they both went down to berlin, joined the ice caps (that part is not true, it’s a reference to ramones).
As strangers in their own unique way, the two bonded as children: she discovered magic and witchcraft, and he built a supercomputer in her bedroom.
As adults, Laurence is an engineering genius based in San Francisco, while Patricia is a graduate of the secret school for magically gifted people: Eltisley’s Labyrinth.
The world is ending. Laurence, a mad scientist, searches for a way to escape from a doomed world. As a witch, Patricia is working to heal the world’s wounds. Her exploits and efforts will unite these childhood friends and strange misfits.
all the birds in the sky are your fantasy goodness. he’s funny, charming and full of great ideas. one of the most unique and strange books about witches, without a doubt.
the witches of the past and future by alix e. harrow
alix e. Harrow’s historical novel is set in 1893: a time when the social paranoia surrounding witches has all but faded, and witchcraft now means nothing more than hilarious, funny superstitions.
However, in the midst of the fight for women’s suffrage and equal rights, we have three sisters looking to mix a dash of the supernatural and the dark into this fight.
What makes Witches Past and Future one of the best books on witches is its willingness to be stern and direct about its own love of witch-related folklore and its passion for feminism and women’s rights. women.
empowering and exciting in equal measure, witches past and future is a fun, frenetic, and fast-paced novel.
a secret history of witches by louisa morgan
Beginning in Britain in 1821, and following several generations of Roma travelers through the 19th century and into World War II era England, A Secret History of Witches is a grand family saga about the Orchière family and their power as witches.
As witches and Roma, the Orchière family faces prejudice and persecution as they try to survive and hold on to their traditions.
hurricane season by fernanda melchor
translated from Spanish by sophie hughes
hurricane season is one of those rare master novels. Difficult, demanding, and exhausting, it’s not an easy read, but it’s absolutely worth your time and dedication.
Initially framed as a kind of crime novel, the first and shortest chapter of hurricane season (on a single page) takes us by the hand to see a dead body. that of a woman known to the locals in the book as the witch.
To find out who did it, we have to trace the lives of the different people who, in one way or another, knew the witch.
These people all reside in the Mexican town of La Matosa, and the woman they simply refer to as the witch was someone many of them turned to from time to time.
The women of the village sought her out for “potions” and “spells”, often regarding illness, pregnancy, or other problems.
while the men took refuge at home to enjoy orgies that outside of society would not approve of. the witch, in other words, took on the burdens that people couldn’t, or didn’t want, to take responsibility for. and she now she is dead.
each chapter of hurricane season is, in part, a stand-alone story. characters are shared, and often we get to know a character as our protagonist after seeing him on the fringes of a previous chapter.
every time they are framed differently, it is clear that this is a misleading book.
See Also: FBI Suspense Thriller – Book Series In Order
everyone is an unreliable narrator. Or is it just that we can’t help but be biased when it comes to events around us. we change the blame, we color ourselves in brighter or darker tones. we lie, either comfortably or guiltily.
That’s the pain hurricane season brings: unwanted honesty. while his characters are undeniably despicable, for reasons of their own or not, they are never less than human. and honesty there can bring us some real guilt.
read more: the best modern Mexican novels
stacey halls relatives
Set in 1612 Lancashire, UK, and inspired by real people and events of that period, Stacey Halls’ first novel, The Familiars, tells the story of Fleetwood Shuttleworth. Not yet twenty years old, Fleetwood is pregnant by her husband, a rich lord of the land.
However, fleetwood has had several failed pregnancies and is unlikely to survive another. in fact, her husband received a letter from her doctor stating so.
Early in Familiars, Fleetwood meets a young woman named Alice who is accidentally hunting on her husband’s land. Alice is a healer and midwife who becomes a beloved companion to the frightened Fleetwood.
but the familiars is also a historical british novel about witch hunts and the superstitions surrounding witches at that time in british history. In fact, King James himself wrote a book called Daemonologie: A Compendium of the Lore of Witchcraft.
While there is nothing explicitly supernatural about the familiars, this is still one of the best magical books on witches and witchcraft by virtue of dealing with the very real superstitions of the time period in which it is set.
equal rites by terry pratchett
apart from his standalone disco world novel, the little gods (which also happens to be a favorite of many readers), all the books in terry pratchett’s extensive disco world series follow one of the seven main protagonists :
rincewind the wizard, death, the witches, the ankh-morpork city watch, the wizards of the unseen university, the sore tiffany apprentice witch, and the dank hustler von lipwig.
Most Pratchett fans have their own favorite protagonist. here, of course, we focus on its witches and the novel in which they first took center stage: Equal Rites, published in 1987 as the third official discworld novel.
equal rites begins with a wizard, drum billet, who wishes to pass on his staff and its power to the eighth son of an eighth son. that son turns out, however, to be a daughter: a girl named esk (a character based on pratchett’s own daughter, rhianna pratchett).
As Esk grows and reveals incredible powers, Grandma Witch Weatherwax takes her in and travels with Esk to the Unseen University to help her harness her magical powers.
equal rites, its name a clever play on the term “equal rights”, is the perfect place to start reading pratchett’s series of discworld novels about witches, and is also one of the smartest and most intelligent books memorable stories about witches and witchcraft. chances are you’ll ever read.
the witches: salem, 1692 by stacy schiff
every other book on this list is either a novel, a comic, or a manga. The Witches, however, is a non-fiction history book by Stacy Schiff. As its subtitle makes clear, The Witches takes a closer look at the history of Salem in the year 1692.
takes Witches as a story—perhaps the definitive one—of paranoia and hysteria in an age of accusations, witch hunts, and hangings. Set in the infamous town of Salem, Massachusetts, the witches take a look at the year that changed everything.
stacy schiff combines astute writing with detailed research to pen a meticulous, haunting, and unsettling account of a community that turned on itself, cannibalized, and slaughtered itself; infected with fear and superstitious fervor.
A document of the historically infamous and moving Salem Witch Trials is, of course, one of the most essential books on witches you will ever read.
comics and manga about witches and witchcraft
witch hat workshop (manga) by kamome shirahama
translated from japanese by stephen kohler
Kamome Shirahama has drawn some fantastic comics and comic book covers for Marvel and DC, but she really established herself as an outstanding mangaka with her debut series: Witch Hat Atelier.
Like magical books about witches, this manga series is absolutely one of my personal favorites, both for its characters and imaginative art style.
witch hat atelier has true diana wynne jones energy, with a character reminiscent of howl from howl’s moving castle and a setting reminiscent of what you see in an enchanted life.
This magical manga series begins with a young girl named Coco, who lives in a rural area with her dressmaker mother. One day, a magician named Qifrey arrives and helps Coco out of a jam. Coco observes her magic and tries to copy it.
This attempt fails and causes Coco’s mother to be petrified. qifrey promises coco that there may be a way to restore her mother, but he will have to become her apprentice to find it.
Thus begins a fantastic journey filled with unique magic systems, charming and eclectic characters, beautiful scenery, and exciting events.
the witch hat workshop is beautiful and imaginative in its world building. It has the energy of Harry Potter as well as a heavy Diana Wynne Jones influence, and Shirahama’s stunning textured art works wonders to enhance the story and events of Witch Hat Atelier.
little witch academia by yoh yashinari (story) and keisuke sato (art)
translated from japanese by taylor engel
Little Witch Academia, initially an anime franchise created by brilliant animation studio Trigger, has also been adapted into a manga, written by series creator Yoh Yashinari.
Little Witch Academia is perhaps the ultimate answer to Harry Potter. takes many of the established tropes, rules, settings, and magical ideas of the Harry Potter franchise and twists, distorts, reimagines, and plays with them in endlessly inventive, delightful, and often hilarious ways.
It can’t be overstated how much sweetness, charm, and creativity exist in this adorable and magical series. it’s beautifully drawn, skillfully plotted, and filled with endlessly likeable characters.
Little Witch Academia is an absolute dream of a series. any manga fan needs to read this if he is looking for the best books on witches and witchcraft.
wytches (comic) by scott snyder and jock
Although most famous and celebrated for his stellar run on DC’s Batman and his own American vampire series, one of Scott Snyder’s greatest creations was the comic image he created with Scottish artist Jock Wytches.
>
Books about witches take different forms: they can be sweet and charming, they can be historically accurate, they can be colorful and cartoonish. wytches chooses to be dark as hell. gloomy, twisted, terrifying and completely unhinged; wytches is the true terror of comics.
Opening out in the style of true American horror stories, Wytches begins with a family moving to a rural town in New Hampshire (a state famous for its witch hunts) in search of a fresh start. but there is something horrible, evil and violent hidden in the woods on the outskirts of the city.
wytches uses jock’s raw, visceral style of art better than almost any other comic he’s worked on. Together, he and Snyder have created one of the most shocking and terrifying books about witches ever written.
See Also: 15 Best Happiness Books and Are They Worth Your Time?