Top Five Tuesday – Witches

It’s Top Five Tuesday which is hosted by Meeghan Reads, every week we’re given a book related topic and we choose our top five! This month is spooky themed for Halloween, this week we’ve got to pick our favourite books with witches in them. I love witches, I want to be one, so this is the perfect category for me!

1. Circe by Madeline Miller

I love Circe, she has amazing powers with herbs and plants, her potions and spells turned nyphs into monsters and mortal men into pigs who threw themselves off cliffs into the sea. She is not to be messed with! But Circe is also loving and used a lot of her magical energy protecting her son from Athena who wanted to do him harm.

2. Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

This is the first Discworld story with our witches; Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick. It’s a spoof of Macbeth where our witches try to help the right person to the throne. It’s funny of course, I find Granny the funniest, she’s grumpy and set in her ways and just one glare can make most people tremble, but she cares really!

3. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

The witches in this series are mysterious and almost mythical beings. They live in clans and fight with other clans if necessary. They can fly easily, they live for hundreds of years but don’t appear to age much and can be miles away from their daemons, unlike the humans of their world who have to stay within a few feet of their daemons. Serafina Pekkala is the main witch that we know, she sees something special in Lyra and promises to protect her, also she has a great name.

4. A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan

I haven’t read this yet but it’s patiently waiting on my shelf! It follows a family of witches across five generations as they try to hide their secret and keep each other safe. I am very excited about this book!

5. The Familiars by Stacey Hall

I read this book recently and loved it, it’s set in the north of England when the witch trials were at their peak. It’s terrifying how those women were treated, most of them were just healers and midwives and wouldn’t do anyone any harm, the delusions of the King killed hundreds.