A Sorceress Comes to Call

by T. Kingfisher

Fantasy

Dark Fantasy

Fairy Tale Retelling

321 Pages

"Kingfisher transforms a fairy tale into something darker and more powerful—A Sorceress Comes to Call is a haunting story about abuse, courage, and the women who fight back against monsters."

Synopsis

Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn't have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don't force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren't sorcerers. After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia's mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada's sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia's mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister. Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind. A dark, gripping fairy tale retelling that explores abuse, power, and the courage it takes to stand against evil.

Our Take

T. Kingfisher, whose previous works like Nettle & Bone and What Moves the Dead have established her as a master of dark, literary fantasy, delivers perhaps her most emotionally powerful novel yet. A Sorceress Comes to Call reimagines the Grimm tale "The Goose Girl" through the lens of domestic abuse, using magic as a metaphor for coercive control while never losing sight of the very real terror experienced by children trapped with abusive parents. What makes the book extraordinary is Kingfisher's refusal to soften the horror—Cordelia's mother is genuinely monstrous, using magic to literally control her daughter's body and mind—while still offering hope through Hester, the spinster sister who recognizes abuse when she sees it. Hester emerges as the novel's true hero: practical, observant, and willing to act despite her own fears and society's dismissal of unmarried women. Kingfisher writes with her characteristic blend of dark humor and genuine terror, creating moments that are both funny and deeply unsettling. The book works as both gripping fantasy and serious exploration of how abuse operates, how victims are silenced, and how intervention requires both courage and practical thinking. The prose is accessible and propulsive, making this feel less like literary fantasy and more like a thriller that happens to involve magic. Readers who loved Naomi Novik's Uprooted or Alix E. Harrow's darker fairy tales will be captivated. For anyone seeking fantasy that tackles difficult subjects with intelligence and heart while still delivering on story, A Sorceress Comes to Call is Kingfisher at her finest—proving once again that she's one of contemporary fantasy's most important voices.

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