The Witches by Roald Dahl

Hair-raising adventures await as a young boy and his grandmother battle child-hating witches in this dark fantasy tale.

Summary

The Witches, published in 1983, is a children's dark fantasy novel by Roald Dahl. Set in Norway and England, the story follows a young boy and his grandmother as they uncover a sinister plot by child-hating witches to turn all children into mice. Dahl's vivid imagination brings the terrifying world of witches to life, creating a thrilling adventure that has inspired numerous adaptations and continues to both frighten and delight young readers. In 2019, the BBC included The Witches on its list of the 100 most influential novels.

Plot

In The Witches, a young English boy loses his parents in a car accident and goes to live with his Norwegian grandmother. She warns him about witches, explaining how to identify these child-hating creatures who disguise themselves as ordinary women. When the pair returns to England, the grandmother cautions that English witches are especially vicious.

At a hotel, the boy accidentally stumbles upon a secret meeting of witches, led by the Grand High Witch. He overhears their diabolical plan to turn all of England's children into mice, using a magic potion disguised in candy. The witches discover the boy and force-feed him an enormous dose of the potion, instantly transforming him into a mouse.

Retaining his human mind and voice, the boy-turned-mouse reunites with his grandmother and devises a plan to turn the tables on the witches. They manage to obtain some of the magic potion and slip it into the witches' dinner soup. As a result, all the witches at the hotel are transformed into mice and subsequently killed by the panicked staff and guests.

With the English witches defeated, the boy and his grandmother hatch a plan to eradicate witches worldwide, using the Grand High Witch's resources. Though the boy will have a shortened lifespan as a mouse, he is content to spend his remaining years with his beloved grandmother as they embark on their witch-hunting mission.