October marches on and Halloween is only a week away- it is time to go big or go home. And that means witches. Witches (and supernatural creatures) are very popular in literature, and it isn’t hard to see why- the drama, the danger, it makes for a good story. Today I am sharing my favourite books about witches and magic to get in the spooky and dark mood! (In terms of fiction, these are as dark as I go, friends…)
Note: these are my personal favourite books about witches and magic, not a definitive list by any means. There are several books, like Practical Magic, that are really popular but didn’t really land with me.
Malleus Maleficarum, Heinrich Kramer
The Malleus Maleficarum is the most famous early modern text on witches and witch hunting. Often known as “Hammer of Witches,” the Malleus consists of a demonstration of the existence of witchcraft and a discussion of both the practice of witchcraft and cures for the injuries caused by it, together with a recommended method of exterminating it judicially. It was republished twenty-six times in the early modern period, and remained a standard text on witchcraft for centuries. Yet this key text has never before been available in a reliable modern scholarly edition. This fully annotated edition is based on the first edition of 1486-7 and presents the Latin text together with a full textual apparatus. The extensive introduction discusses the authorship, method of composition, and intellectual background of the work. The second volume provides the only accurate English translation available, together with detailed explanatory notes. This important edition makes this vital text accessible to historians of the period and offers extraordinary insights into the attitudes and prejudices inspired by the fear of witches.
Why You Should Read This…
In a total departure from all of my other recommendations in this post, the Malleus Maleficarum is a Latin text published in 1486 by a Catholic inquisitor as a manual of sorts to hunt out and persecute witches. In 1484, a Papal Bull proclaimed witchcraft as heresy and pushed for witches to be tried in secular courts accordingly- it essentially created a need for the Malleus.
If you are going to hunt, torture, and try supsected witches, you need to know what to look for, the most effective ways to extract their confessions, and how to appropriately execute them if found guilty. And that is exactly what the Malleus offers. A bit hard to read when you realise that very real people (mostly women) were subjected to these methods, but interesting nevertheless. And I find influences how I read other witches in fiction!
The Mercies, Kiran Millwood Hargraves
Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Bergensdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden and reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Northern town of Vardø must fend for themselves.
Three years later, a sinister figure arrives. Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa, who is both heady with her husband’s authority and terrified by it. In Vardø, and in Maren, Ursa sees something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place untouched by God and flooded with a mighty evil.
As Maren and Ursa are pushed together and are drawn to one another in ways that surprise them both, the island begins to close in on them with Absalom’s iron rule threatening Vardø’s very existence.
Why You Should Read This…
I completely understand why people are so interested in (and some even obsessed) with the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century, but I find that it can get really specific and leaves out some incredible and scary moments in history. The Mercies is based on real-life events, and really shows that the witch hunting craze was not limited to the British Isles and America. I know relatively little about the Scandinavian countries during this period, and while this is a specific time and place, I found it fascinating. James VI’s witch hunting in Scotland also isn’t a widely discussed topic, and I’ve always wondered where Scotland stood with witches after his move to England and then death- continuing on with Scotland’s “witch history” was also very interesting. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did!
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it’s only natural to be sceptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day. But what if, for once, the predictions are right, and the apocalypse really is due to arrive next Saturday, just after tea?
You could spend the time left drowning your sorrows, giving away all your possessions in preparation for the rapture, or laughing it off as (hopefully) just another hoax. Or you could just try to do something about it.
It’s a predicament that Aziraphale, a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley, a fast-living demon now finds themselves in. They’ve been living amongst Earth’s mortals since The Beginning and, truth be told, have grown rather fond of the lifestyle and, in all honesty, are not actually looking forward to the coming Apocalypse.
And then there’s the small matter that someone appears to have misplaced the Antichrist…
Why You Should Read This…
Okay, the witch is very much in the background of Good Omens, but given that we have a witch, an angel, a demon, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and the Antichrist, it is pretty much the most perfect October/Halloween book you could find. Although you would think that this would be quite a dark and scary book, it actually hits heavy on the humour (as you would expect from Pratchett and Gaiman. Yes, there is an Amazon series based on this book, and yes, they are filming a second series right now. However, I would really recommend reading the book before watching the show!
A Discovery of Witches, Deborah Harkness (All Souls Trilogy)
Deep in the stacks of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.
Why You Should Read This…
I actually am a fan of the entire trilogy (and the fourth book that follows is actually my favourite), but I wanted to keep the list streamlined and just added the first. The All Souls Trilogy is kind of the grown-up version of Twilight and Harkenss knows her craft well. She is actually an academic historian (working in medical history in the late medieval and early modern period when she was still in the academy), and I think that it really shines through in her books. She interweaves a complicated history of witches, vampires, and demons with that of humans, and does it well. Again, there is a tv show made (with the third and final season airing in January 2022), but I would recommend reading the books before.
What are your favourite books about witches and magic?
Cheers,
The Historian
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