“You are not made out of needs, you are made out of your dreams and desires.”
Whether you’re craving cosy cottagecore magic, dark historical intrigue, or blood-curdling supernatural horror, there is no denying the eternal allure of a great witch story. Witches have long cast a spell over modern fiction, evolving from terrifying folklore villains into complex heroines, romantic leads, and symbols of feminine power. Yet with hundreds of spellbinding titles lining the shelves, finding the right book can feel overwhelming. To help you curate your ultimate TBR stack, we’ve put together the absolute best witch books to read right now. Featuring beloved modern classics, hidden indie gems, and the most anticipated new releases of the year, this multi-genre reading guide has a little magic in store for every type of reader.
No Friend To This House – Natalie Haynes
Kicking off our list of the best witch books is Natalie Haynes’ acclaimed reimagining of the myth of Medea, No Friend to This House. Jason and his Argonauts set sail to find the Golden Fleece. The journey is filled with danger for him and almost everyone he meets. But if he ever reaches the distant land he seeks, he faces almost certain death.
Medea – priestess, witch, and daughter of a brutal king – has the power to save the life of a stranger. Will she betray her family and her home, and what will she demand in return? Medea and Jason seize their one chance at a life together, as the gods intend. But their love is steeped in vengeance from the beginning, and no one – not even those closest to them – will be safe.
Cackle – Rachel Harrison
All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching position that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. She’s stunned by how perfect and picturesque the town is. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is dreamy too, minus the oddly persistent spider infestation.
Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend. More importantly, she wants Annie to stop apologising and start living herself. That’s how Sophie lives. Yet there are some things. Sophie’s appearance is uncanny and ageless, her mansion is in the middle of the woods, and she does seem to wield a certain power. But she couldn’t be, could she?
Slewfoot – Brom
A spirited young Englishwoman, Abitha, arrives at a Puritan colony betrothed to a stranger – only to become quickly widowed when her husband dies under mysterious circumstances. All alone in this pious and patriarchal society, Abitha fights for what little freedom she can grasp, while trying to stay true to herself and her past.
Enter Slewfoot, a powerful spirit of antiquity newly woken. Both Abitha and Slewfoot must swiftly choose who they are, and what they must do to survive in a world intent on hanging anyone who meddles in the dark arts.
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The Last Witch – C.J. Cooke
Helena Scheuberin should be doing what every other young wife is. But when her husband’s footman, Leopold, with whom she is having an affair, is found dead, Helena is accused of killing him. Worse, she is accused of being a witch. Imprisoned with six other women, Helena is plunged from her bejewelled life of comfort into a world of terror.
When a cursed witch totem is smuggled into the prison, the prisoners attempt to use it to conjure an escape. But the totem is the severed hand of a murdered woman, and Helena’s life is in danger both inside and out of the dungeon. Does Helena risk her life and the lives of others by standing up to a man determined to paint her as the most wicked of all?
The Mercies – Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Magnusdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden, reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Northern town of Vardo 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. 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 its very existence.
The Witch’s Heart – Genevieve Gornichec
Angrboda’s story begins where most witches’ tales end: with a burning. Leaving her injured and powerless, she flees into the furthest reaches of a remote forest. There she is found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into a deep and abiding love. Their union produces three unusual children, each with a secret destiny.
But as Angrboda slowly recovers her prophetic powers, she learns that her blissful life – and possibly all of creation – is in danger. With the help of the fierce huntress Skadi, with whom she shares a growing bond, Angrboda must choose whether she’ll accept her fate or rise to remake the future.
The Book Witch – Meg Shaffer
Rainy March is a proud, third-generation Book Witch, sworn to defend works of fiction from all foes real and imaginary. With her magical umbrella and feline familiar, she jumps in and out of novels to fix malicious alterations and rogue heroes. Rainy has been forbidden from seeing the Duke of Chicago, the dashing British detective from her favourite mystery series. If she’s ever caught with him again, she’ll be expelled from her book coven and forced to give up her powers.
But when her beloved grandfather disappears, and a priceless book is stolen, there’s only one person she trusts to help solve the case. She and the Duke embark on a quest that takes them through the worlds of Alice in Wonderland, King Arthur, and other classics that will reveal hidden enemies and long-buried family secrets.
Bloodline Of The Coven – Jessica Elisabeth
Harriet Montgomery’s life in London seems perfect from the outside, but beneath the surface, something is stirring. Haunted by vivid dreams and strange sensations, and reeling from her fiancé’s betrayal, Harriet walks away from everything she thought she wanted. Drawn to the sleepy village of Brindlewood, where hearth fires glow and old magic lingers in the air, Harriet uncovers a secret her family buried long ago.
She is the heir to a powerful witch lineage, her gifts bound by love and fear. Under the gentle guidance of her aunt and grandmother, she learns that magic is not darkness, but love and connection. Then there’s Sam Thorne, the brooding, kind-hearted butcher whose soul feels inexplicably tied to hers.
The Very Secret Society Of Irregular Witches – Sangu Mandanna
As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she needs to hide her magic. And, as an orphan, she’s used to being alone and following the rules. There’s just one exception: her online account where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. When an unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote Nowhere House, she is asked to train three young witches on how to control their magic.
As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere starts to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn’t the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to choose whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for.
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The Snow Witch – Kirsty Ferry
In the dead of winter, 1650, as the Newcastle Witch Trials spread fear across the north, suspicion takes hold in Newbrough, near Hadrian’s Wall. Meg Noble – healer, midwife, and the so-called ‘Snow Witch’ – finds solace at Conventina’s Well. But when tragedy strikes, whispers of witchcraft begin to swirl, and something ancient is stirred – bound to a sacred dagger and a forgotten goddess.
Historian Violet Marsh arrives at Hadrian’s Wall to research the legend of the Snow Witch, but what starts out as curiosity soon turns personal. As visions haunt her and the past bleeds into the present, Violet uncovers a story that was never laid to rest – and a presence that has been waiting centuries to reclaim what was taken.
The First Witch Of Boston – Andrea Catalano
Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1646. Thomas and Margaret Jones arrive from England to build a life in the New World. With a new child on the way, their new beginning promises only blessings. But in this austere Puritan community, comely faces hide malicious intent. Wrong moves or words are met with suspicion, and Margaret’s bold and unguarded nature draws scorn.
Soon, Margaret is mistrusted as more cunning a woman than caregiver. And when personal tragedies, religious hysteria and wariness of the unknown turn most against her, even the devotion Margaret and her husband share is at risk. Inspired by actual diary entries and court records, The First Witch of Boston is one of the best witch books set amid the political and social turmoil of Old and New England.
Royal Witch – Philippa Gregory
Eleanor Cobham arrived at court with nothing – her greatest hope was simply to marry well. But her ambition carried her further than any woman before her had ever dared. She wanted to rule her own destiny. To rule England itself. They say she summoned the devil himself to secure her fate. They say she plotted to murder a king. Now, it’s time to finally hear her story.
Crone – Keith Rosson
Eli Lamp is a broken man whose daughter, Hannah, disappeared a decade ago. He decimated his old life investigating her abduction and is now indebted to the Crooked Wheel, a local drug gang, as an enforcer. He lives in a rundown trailer at the edge of the woods, where he keeps Hannah’s room in pristine condition and tries to make it through one day at a time.
But when the son of the Crooked Wheel’s boss is found viciously murdered, Eli finds himself in the orbit of Avery Bryant, Hannah’s best friend and the last person to see her alive before she vanished. Soon, Eli and Avery are entwined in a hunt for answers that spans decades, stretches the realm of possibility, and the buried sorrows of Eli’s past. And though none of them dares say the word “witch,” something lurks in the woods.
Dreamweaving – O.O. Sangoyomi
Deja Freeman comes from a long line of witches, each one ushered into the magical Web by a woman before her. When Deja enrols at the prestigious Tanglewood Preparatory School, her mother’s alma mater, she finds herself walking the same perilous path that got her mother murdered. Straight-A student Tobi Ekundayo is Tanglewood’s most popular student; the only thing she has left to accomplish is winning class president. But her life keeps throwing curveballs, including strange, disturbing dreams.
Each dream is a piece of a complicated puzzle, but one thing lies at the centre: the mysterious disappearance of one of Tanglewood’s best students. Joined by a motley crew of friends, the girls must work together to untangle the school’s dark history before the administration, or something far more sinister, catches up with them.
The Devil Knows Her Name – C.N. Vair
In the isolated Appalachian town of Burrsville, Tess Wynne lives in precious quiet. Having been left for dead a century earlier, Tess made a deal with the devil to stay in the only home she’s known. Tending to her wildlife sanctuary, she keeps the land and its people safe. But every autumn, the devil returns, offering Tess more power in exchange for a foothold into the human world. And every autumn, Tess refuses.
As Tess prepares her wildlife sanctuary for the winter, an unexpected addition to Burrsville catches the locals’ attention. Freshly arrived Zeke Abdee, the town’s new pastor, begins to sinisterly mould the townspeople to his world. Cornered, a desperate Tess pushes her magic to the darkest edges. All the while, the devil bides his time, waiting for Tess to decide if she will be prey or predator.
Witch Daughter – Tanaz Bhathena
Rumours of witchcraft follow Princess Tahmineh like a storm cloud, making it impossible for her to secure herself a marriage or any kind of future. With her father, the king’s, health in question, it becomes shockingly clear how desperate her situation will soon become in his absence. If she doesn’t act now, she will quickly find herself destitute and desperate. Tahmineh seeks out a prophecy, from which she learns she will fall in love with a warrior of great renown named Rostam and bear him a son.
Tahmineh boldly orchestrates a meeting with Rostam, and the two develop a close friendship, and ultimately fall in love and marry. At the peak of her joy, Tahmineh gives birth to Sohrab, Rostam’s son. All too soon, Tahmineh learns the tragic second part of her prophecy. Father and son will meet as enemies in battle, and one will die at the hands of the other. What follows is one of the best witch books about a mother’s desperate attempt to undo the threats of fate.
The Farewitch Of Foxe Holler – Ellen Pauley Goff
Self-taught chef and baker Honey Frost is Foxe Holler’s resident Farewitch. Honey’s routine is disrupted when the reclusive Warlock living at the edge of the Holler appears for the first time in decades with a peculiar request: he needs a Farewitch. It seems the Warlock has been struck with a mysterious curse-born illness.
Initially hesitant about getting involved, Honey changes her mind when he offers her access to his infamous library of old texts and kitchen grimories. Now Honey is the newest resident of his moody farmhouse, Knight Manor. Which happens to have one gorgeous kitchen. And a lot of secrets. And a Warlock who maybe isn’t so frightful. Or bad-looking. But that’s not the only issue. The Widow Witch, century-long scourge of the region, is due to blow into Foxe Holler for her annual visit, and this time, she’s in business with the Warlock.
A Resistance Of Witches – Morgan Ryan
Stubborn, plainspoken and from an unimpressive family, Lydia Polk never expected to be accepted into the Royal Academy of Witches. Now, with Hitler’s army rampaging across Europe, the witches of Britain have joined the war effort, and Lydia is key to the cause. But following a tragic infiltration, the coven is left shaken, exposed, and divided. But with the discovery of the Grimorium Bellum, Lydia knows that her mission has never been more urgent.
Alone and woefully outnumbered, Lydia makes her way to the heart of occupied France, where she finds allies in Rebecca Gagne and Henry Boudreaux. Together, they traverse the country, stalked by natural and supernatural alike, in search of the grimoire. But, as Lydia soon discovers, finding the book is only half the battle. She must subdue it before the witches of the Third Reich can use it – but she’ll have to survive the book herself first.
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Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
