Will you join me on a journey down, down, down the road, down the Witches’ Road? Where all that’s wrong is right and all that’s bad is good? I’m sure you can tell, but I’m a wee bit obsessed with wicked witches as of late. I wandered high and low to find these five witchy titles—sorry not sorry about all the Agatha All Along references, you’re just gonna have to deal with it. These books don’t feature any actual circles sewn with fate or unlocked hidden gates, but there will be blood and tears and bone… and a little romance to balance out the darkness. Something something maiden mother crone.
The Lost Coast by A. R. Capetta
A. R. Capetta always manages to write queer young adult fantasy so lovely yet so devastating that I can’t help but be impressed. Their novel The Lost Coast feels as haunted and atmospheric as its Northern California setting. That part of my home state, on the northern coast and nestled in the towering redwoods, is a place where fog is more common than not and it’s easy to feel isolated and lost. Danny moves there from Michigan, not entirely by chance—the coven cast a spell that pulled her and her family west. She ends up in a queer coven, the Greys, and discovers her power as a dowser. They enlist Danny’s help searching for their missing leader, Imogen, but instead she finds the corpse of a local boy, murdered with a tree branch. Something terrible haunts the woods, and it has its sights set on the coven. (Candlewick Press, 2019)
The Factory Witches of Lowell by C. S. Malerich
Witches go on strike! I’m into it. Unions forever. This historical fantasy is set in Lowell, Massachusetts in the mid-19th century. It is loosely inspired by the real textile mills there and the “mill girls” who went on strike for better working conditions. In the novella, the real history gets a witchcraft twist. Hannah is a secret witch, and Judith, who is a strike veteran, knows a good opportunity when she sees one. Hannah casts a spell to unite the striking women, but her magic is put to the test when Mr. Booty, the agent overseeing the mill, brings in scabs and threatens their lives. Magic and class solidarity aren’t the only things keeping Hannah and Judith in each other’s orbits; a romance blooms between the two women and they strive for something better. (Tordotcom, 2020)
How to Succeed in Witchcraft by Aislinn Brophy
How about a young adult contemporary fantasy with Pride & Prejudice vibes? Shay Johnson is a junior at T.K. Anderson Magical Magnet School and doing everything she can to prove herself worthy of a full-ride scholarship to a magical university. Getting a degree from one of those elite schools opens a whole new world of professional and economic opportunities to her as a witch, and not getting in means being relegated to “lesser” jobs. The only person standing in her way is Ana Alvarez, her (very cute) competition. To impress the head of the scholarship committee, Mr. B, she agrees to perform in his school play. She doesn’t agree to put up with his increasingly creepy behavior. Shay and Ana put their rivalry aside and decide to take down their teacher, no matter what the cost to their futures. (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2022)
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
Cozy fantasy is all the rage right now, and for good reason. Sometimes you want to read a book that makes you feel like you’re wrapped in a fuzzy blanket and sipping on a cup of hot chocolate on a rainy day. Mika Moon is a loner. She’s an orphan and a witch who, by necessity, keeps away from other British witches. When she gets an invite to a secret house to teach secret magical children how to control their witchcraft, she jumps at the chance. There she meets a host of strange and kooky characters, but it’s Jamie, the attractive librarian, who she can’t stop thinking about. Sangu Mandanna’s book is as charming as it is romantic. (Berkley, 2022)
VenCo by Cherie Dimaline
Lucky St. James, a Métis woman living in Toronto and taking care of her grandmother Stella, discovers a magical spoon. The spoon is one of seven needed for a prophecy about a coven of witches regaining their lost power. Myrna is one of those witches. She has been looking for Lucky for a while now. Lucky and Stella are sent to New Orleans to locate the final spoon, and they better do it before Jay Christos, notorious witch-hunter and general asshole, gets it. Both Christos and VenCo try to use Lucky as a means to their own ends, but she has her own plans. Cherie Dimaline is one of those authors who should always be on your TBR. Her books center Métis characters and culture in a way that feels both bracing and revelatory. (William Morrow, 2023)
