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A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

Fantasy

A Sorceress Comes to Call

by T. Kingfisher

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Quick take

Casting a bewitching spell, this Brother’s Grimm retelling follows a secretive sorceress and her daughter on the run.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Multiple_Viewpoints

    Multiple viewpoints

  • Illustrated icon, Based_on_a_Classic

    Based on a classic

  • Illustrated icon, Mama_Drama

    Mama drama

  • Illustrated icon, Witchy

    Witchy

Synopsis

Cordelia knows her mother is...unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms—there are no secrets in this house—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 evil sorcerers.

When her mother unexpectedly moves them into the manor home of a wealthy older Squire and his kind but keen-eyed sister, Hester, Cordelia knows this welcoming pair are to be her mother’s next victims. But Cordelia feels at home for the very first time among these people, and as her mother’s plans darken, she must decide how to face the woman who raised her to save the people who have become like family.

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Get an early look from the first pages of A Sorceress Comes to Call.

A Sorceress Comes to Call

CHAPTER 1

There was a fly walking on Cordelia’s hand and she was not allowed to flick it away.

She had grown used to the ache of sitting on a hard wooden pew and being unable to shift her weight. It still hurt, but eventually her legs went to sleep and the ache became a dull, all-over redness that was easier to ignore.

Though her senses were dulled in obedience, her sense of touch stayed the strongest. Even when she was so far under that the world had a gray film around the edges, she could still feel her clothing and the touch of her mother’s hand. And now the fly’s feet itched, which was bad, then tickled, which was worse.

At the front of the church, the preacher was droning on. Cordelia had long since lost the thread. Lust and tithing were his two favorite topics. Probably it was one of those. Her mother took her to church every Sunday and Cordelia was fairly certain that he had been preaching the same half-dozen sermons for the past year.

Her eyes were the only muscles that she could control, so she was not looking at him, but down as far as she could. At the very bottom of her vision, she could see her hands folded in her lap and the fly picking its way delicately across her knuckles.

Her mother glanced at her and must have noticed that she was looking down. Cordelia’s chin rose so that she could no longer see her hands. She was forced to study the back of the head of the man in front of her. His hair was thinning toward the back and was compressed down at the sides, as if he wore a hat most days. She did not recognize him, but that was no surprise. Since her days at school had ended, Cordelia only saw the other townsfolk when she went to church.

Cordelia lost the tickling sensation for a moment and dared to hope that the fly was gone, but then the delicate web between her thumb and forefinger began to itch.

Her eyes began to water at the sensation and she blinked them furiously. Crying was not acceptable. That had been one of the first lessons of being made obedient. It would definitely not be acceptable in church, where other people would notice. Cordelia was fourteen and too old to cry for seemingly no reason—because of course she could not tell anyone the reason.

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Why I love it

Reading A Sorceress Comes to Call, a retelling of Brother Grimm’s Goose Girl, is like stepping into a fairytale. It’s hard to decide what made me love this book so much. Is it the vividly written characters? The atmospheric worldbuilding? Or the darker fairytale themes that are woven into each page? It’s impossible to choose but it is safe to say that A Sorceress Comes to Call is T. Kingfisher at her finest.

Cordelia has spent her life trying to make sure she stays on her mother’s good side. If she doesn’t, she often faces severe consequences—like being forced to sit silently and motionless for days on end. The punishments are unique because her mother isn’t like other mothers. Her mother is a powerful sorceress. After a suspicious death occurs in their town, Cordelia and her mother leave the only home Cordelia has ever known. They end up in a small country manor where Cordelia’s mother hopes to trick the Squire into marrying her. Realizing how dangerous her mother is, Cordelia enlists the help of the Squire’s sister, Hester, to stop her mother once and for all.

If you have not had the pleasure of reading T. Kingfisher, then I would say A Sorceress Comes to Call is an excellent place to start. It is a deliciously dark retelling that will have you flipping pages late into the night.

Member ratings (2,640)

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View all
Heartless Hunter
Starling House
The Lost Story
Bloodguard
The Courting of Bristol Keats
A Fate Inked in Blood
Five Broken Blades
The Road of Bones
Ink Blood Sister Scribe
Where the Library Hides
The Kingdom of Sweets
Hera
A Sorceress Comes to Call
Hell Bent
Kaikeyi
Weyward
The Unmaking of June Farrow
The Fragile Threads of Power
Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance
The Book of Magic
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
A History of Wild Places
Gods of Jade and Shadow
The City We Became
A River Enchanted
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina
Piranesi
Thistlefoot
Half Sick of Shadows
Ariadne
Ninth House
The Invisible Hour
Clytemnestra
Sourdough
Siren Queen
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride
Fate of the Fallen
Immortal Longings
Practical Magic
The Teller of Small Fortunes