After our phenomenal event with Grady Hendrix during his UK tour of Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, Grady very generously sent us a list of his favourite witchy reading. This might not be the cosy romantic, list you’re expecting. As we learned from his ‘Hamilton meets witches’ talk (as described by a satisfied customer), cosy romantic witches were not a part of history. These witches are, and this is what Grady has to say about them!

Lolly Willowes (1926, Sylvia Townsend Warner)
A massive success when it came out (it was the first pick for the Book of the Month Club) it’s about a childless middle-aged woman who’s tired of being invisible, so she moves to a small rural village, meets Satan, and becomes a witch. As funny and well-observed as EF Benson’s Mapp & Lucia novels, only more concerned with the hearts of people who’ve been shoved to the sidelines, every modern book about kooky smalltown witches owes it a debt.

Conjure Wife (1943, Fritz Leiber)
A short, sharp shock to the system, this book about a humanities professor at a small town university who discovers that his wife is a witch couldn’t feel more timely. At first he tries to mansplain her beliefs away, then he learns (the hard way) that he owes all his success to her black magic, and then he realizes (the hard way) that he can’t survive without her magical protection. It’s been turned into a movie twice for a reason. (available to order from our American distributor)

The House With a Clock in Its Walls (1973, John Bellairs)
John Bellairs wrote this series of books for children set in a gloomy, American gothic version of Michigan but the first one is the best. Lewis Barnavelt gets sent to live with his uncle after his parents die and discovers that said uncle is a warlock and his next door neighbor is a witch. Florence Zimmerman is a salty, card playing old dame who loves purple and slings insults but when the crunch comes she’s got a spine of steel. If I ever need a rescue, I hope it’s Mrs. Zimmerman who shows up.

Elizabeth (1976, Ken Greenhall, as Jessica Hamilton)
Ken Greenhall’s books consistently failed while he was alive, getting kicked from one dodgy paperback publisher to another, but in his death he’s been rediscovered and given the respect he deserves. His chilly, precise prose is the heir to Shirley Jackson’s and this, his first book, is about a teenage witch who says things like, “When I was younger I saw James, my father’s brother, look from our dog to me without changing his expression. I soon taught him to look at me in a way he looked at nothing else.” If that doesn’t give you goosebumps then you need new skin.

Maynard’s House (1980, Herman Raucher)
Raucher wrote the blockbuster coming of age novel, Summer of ’42, and then he decided to try a horror novel. It’s a mixed bag that takes a detour into horrific psychedelia towards the end and it has some unfortunate sex scenes with someone who may (or may not) be a teenaged girl. But it is also one of the scariest books about witches I’ve ever read. Austin Fletcher comes back from Vietnam and moves into his buddy’s isolated Maine cabin to get his head together. The cabin was once the home of a slaughtered witch, and she’s determined to take his head apart. To me, the trip is worth the rough road, but your mileage may vary. (no longer in print)

Grady Hendrix absolutely delighted us at his one-of-a-kind, hilarious yet informative event on witchcraft. Thank you so much, Grady, for this wonderful list and for a wonderful event! You can shop the complete Grady Hendrix Book Collection here, where you might even find a bit of signed stock! Learn more about all the spooky, kooky things in Grady’s brain over at his website.