Witches Abroad
by Terry Pratchett
★ Top 10 book of 1991 · #7 on Best Books of 1991
When a well-meaning but disorganised fairy godmother dies, three witches travel by broomstick to Genua to stop a servant girl from marrying a prince. They face assorted monsters en route, then must outsmart a rival godmother obsessed with a perfect ending.
Best for: Readers who enjoy comic fantasy that playfully twists classic fairy tales
Witches Abroad is #7 on BookWard's Best Books of 1991, out of 23 1991 books that cleared our data bar.
What Witches Abroad is about
When the witch Desiderata Hollow dies, her magic wand passes to Magrat Garlick, who also inherits a job as fairy godmother to a young woman named Emberella. Desiderata left no instructions, and almost everything Magrat points the wand at turns into a pumpkin. Magrat, Granny Weatherwax, and Nanny Ogg set off for the city of Genua to stop Emberella from marrying the Duc, who is secretly a frog changed by magic.
Standing in their way is Emberella's other fairy godmother, Lady Lilith de Tempscire, who wants a happy ending and uses the Discworld's story-driven nature to push events toward a Cinderella tale. The road brings a village troubled by a vampire, a charging-bulls festival, and a falling house, before the witches reach Genua and meet the voodoo witch Erzulie Gogol. The twelfth Discworld novel is a comic, witty send-up of fairy tales, with sharp things to say about who gets to decide how a story ends.
Witches Abroad on the Best Books of 1991
Witches Abroad came out in 1991. Of the 23 books first published in 1991 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #7 on our Best Books of 1991 list.
Why it made the list: 206 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.1 out of 5 (54 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 1991 list
- The Firm John Grisham, #5
- Reaper Man Terry Pratchett, #6
- Chrysanthemum Kevin Henkes, #8
- Xenocide Orson Scott Card, #9
See all Best Books of 1991 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 1990 Best Books of 1992.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 104 want to read it, 3 are reading it now and 99 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.1 out of 5 from 54 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 52 | 55% |
| Reader love | 78 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 22 | 20% |
Questions about Witches Abroad
When was Witches Abroad published?
Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett was first published in 1991.
Was Witches Abroad one of the best books of 1991?
Witches Abroad is #7 on BookWard's Best Books of 1991, out of 23 1991 books that cleared our data bar. 206 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.1 out of 5 (54 ratings).
Why is Witches Abroad on the Best Books of 1991 list?
206 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.1 out of 5 (54 ratings).
More of the best books of 1991
- Outlander Diana Gabaldon, #1
- Needful Things Stephen King, #2
- American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis, #3
- Shiloh Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, #4
- The Firm John Grisham, #5
- Reaper Man Terry Pratchett, #6
See the full Best Books of 1991, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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