Harvest Home (1973) – Thomas Tryon Harvest Home But it is quite a satisfying read, and is a decent enough book to make our witchy list.Ģ. The caveats involved are the gender stereotypes, and the fact that the narrative is in Norman’s point of view, who isn’t the most likeable character. Leiber has no doubt inspired quite a few horror authors with his style, and the story does have an interesting premise attached.

All this is also set against the backdrop of college politics (Norman is a college professor). Norman’s discovery that his wife is a conjure witch leads to the demand that she cease all magical activity at once, which proves to be detrimental for him as his comfortable life starts to unravel around him. Considering the witch trials that plagued Europe from the 15th to the 18th century, that targeted certain women because they were different or didn’t toe the line, history has shown us that men have always feared women they weren’t able to put in a box.

If we consider the time period in which Conjure Wife was written, and the fact that it is about a man named Norman who discovers that his wife is a conjure witch, there are dated views about women present in the novel. Conjure Wife: Terror, Evil, Witchcraft and Violence (1943) – Fritz Leiber Conjure Wife As I got older, my taste evolved as well, turning to other more compelling witchy stories and narratives to satiate my witchy appetite.ġ. I grew up obsessed with stories about witches and the supernatural, often devouring books like Charmed and The Secret Circle series by L.J Smith (who also wrote The Vampire Diaries). However, I have never found witches to be scary, often looking at them as the embodiment of a feminine tradition and legacy. It’s October, that time of the year where we celebrate all things scary.

Books like the witching hour