The Witches

This is not a fairy tale. This is about real witches. So begins one of Roald Dahls best books ever, and, ironically, it is such a great story because the premise is perfectly plausible from the outset. When the narrators parents die in a car crash on page two (contrast this terribly real demise with that of Jamess parents who are devoured by an escaped rhinoceros in J This is not a fairy tale. This is about real witches. So begins one of Roald Dahls best books ever, and, ironically, it is such a great story because the premise is perfectly plausible from the outset. When the narrators parents die in a car crash on page two (contrast this terribly real demise with that of Jamess parents who are devoured by an escaped rhinoceros in James and the Giant Peach), he is taken in by his cigar-smoking Norwegian grandmother, who has learned a storytellers respect for witches and is wise to their ways. The bond between the boy and his grandmother becomes the centrepiece of the tale--a partnership of love and understanding that survives even the boys unfortunate transformation into a mouse. And ...