Lessons in Magic and Disaster

From the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Lambda Literary, Crawford and Locus Award-winning author of All the Birds in the Sky comes a heartfelt, intimately-drawn portrait of a young witch who teaches her mother how to do magic and reclaim her passion for life. Perfect for fans of Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susannah Clarke.

Jamie’s mother has been hiding in an old one-room schoolhouse for several years, since her life fell apart. But Jamie has a secret: she’s a powerful witch, and now she’s decided to teach Serena to cast spells, so her mother can get her life back.

But Jamie doesn’t know the whole story of what happened to her mom years ago, and those buried secrets lead Serena to some destructive magic. Now it’s up to Jamie to understand the secrets of a three-hundred-year-old magical book before her mother ruins both of their lives.

About the Author

Charlie Jane Anders is the author of Lessons in Magic and Disaster (August 2025). Her other novels include All the Birds in the Sky, The City in the Middle of the Night and the young-adult Unstoppable trilogy. She's also the author of the short story collection Even Greater Mistakes, and Never Say You Can't Survive, a book about how to use creative writing to get through hard times.

She's won the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Lambda Literary, Crawford and Locus Awards. She co-created Escapade/Shela Sexton, a transgender superhero, for Marvel Comics and wrote her into the long-running New Mutants comic. And she's currently the science fiction and fantasy book reviewer for the Washington Post. With Annalee Newitz, she co-hosts the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct.