Dowsing for Divinity

There are many excellent and entertaining books with diverse LGBTQ+ and Black characters that you could be reading instead of that book, or that other book. Deciding whether to boycott the work of problematic authors is on a case-by-case basis, and depends on how awful they are, or were. In the case of living artists, is buying their work enabling them to continue to be awful? (Almost always yes.) Is their awfulness reflected in their work? But that’s the subject of another post. This is about reading authors who write more inclusive books.

There seems to be a flurry of witchy romance books at the moment, and magical stories in general are definitely having a moment.

Over the last year or two I’ve enjoyed a number of these stories and wanted to highlight them — both because I hugely enjoyed reading them, and as alternatives to the problematic ones. So here they are, in no particular order.

The Witches of Thistle Grove

This is a lovely series of books by Lana Harper. Three magical families moved to a small rural town in America with a magical lake a couple of centuries ago and created a witchy near-utopia. This is the setting for a series of romances with diverse characters. There’s a lesbian romance between an Avramov and a Harlow. There’s a heterosexual romance between a Black guy whose family are very into Nature magic, and an Avramov (the Avramov family are necromancers). And there’s a nonbinary romance too. The descriptions of the food, the drinks, the landscape, and the town in these books are delicious, but never get in the way of the plot. The descriptions of sex are also tasteful.

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven

This book by debut author Juno Dawson took a while to get going but once it did, I thought it was absolutely brilliant. I can’t tell you why it is inclusive and diverse because it would be a plot spoiler, but it definitely is. Also the author is trans, so yay!

The Fix-it Witches series

There is less diversity in the main characters of these books by Ann Aguirre, but they’re delightful and inclusive. In this series, witches are living in a town just like yours, but they have to hide because there are witch hunters. This complicates things in the romance department when one of the witches falls for a non-witch, as her grandmother has told her that she will lose her powers if she dates a non-witch.

The Only Purple House in Town

Also by Ann Aguirre and set in the same fictional universe as the Fix-it Witches series, this book is like a big hug. It has a nonbinary main(ish) character, and explores the theme of found family. It’s also very magical.

Discworld witches

Terry Pratchett was writing in the 1990s and he still managed to include gender diversity and Black characters (Yo-less in Johnny and the Dead). The Discworld series is funny and also has strong female characters, and a lot of accidental Pagan theology.

The Lychford Witches

A small group of witches (one of whom is the local vicar) has to prevent a major incursion of the Faerie realms into the human world. I think this is the only witchy series I have read where one of the main characters has dementia. Written by Paul Cornell (author of The Witches of WW2) who also writes for Doctor Who.

The Witch’s Heart

Based on the story of Angrboda and Loki, this is a truly sympathetic portrayal of Angrboda and a truly original take on Norse mythology. I absolutely loved it. Looking forward to other books by Geneviève Gornichec.

Morgan is my name

This is a much better book about Morgan Le Fay than that other one. It also includes a sympathetic portrayal of Gorlois, who usually gets portrayed unsympathetically. Morgan is a much more interesting and intelligent character in this book, which is truly feminist. Sophie Keetch has created an instant classic, and I look forward to the rest of the series.

Voices of the Dead series

I really enjoyed this series by Victoria Raschke, set in Ljubljana, Slovenia and dealing with a woman who can see and talk to the dead, and her encounters with witch-hunters, magical beings, demigods, and other witches. Keep an eye out for Victoria’s new series, Verona Green.

Practical Magic series

This classic by Alice Hoffman (which the film was based on) is beautiful and bittersweet. There’s also a prequel, which I thought was even better, and contains the story of the aunts in the 1960s. It explains where the chocolate cake and midnight margaritas came from.

The InCryptid series

Another fun magical world is that of the InCryptid series by Seanan McGuire, where the Price family protect magical creatures from the Order of St George, which is sworn to eradicate them.