The Witch by Marie Ndiaye

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The Witch by Marie Ndiaye

SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE

In a small, sleepy town, a mediocre witch, in a mediocre marriage, tries to pass on her gifts to her twin daughters, who, it becomes immediately apparent, have skills far beyond her own.

"The Witch is classic NDiaye. Taut, spellbinding and strange, it unfolds with the disturbed logic of a fever dream." --The New York Times

"The Witch is Marie NDiaye at her most dazzling. In this simple, startlingly powerful novel, NDiaye lays out her central themes: familial secrets, power, shame, and liberation. NDiaye is one of the greats--her novels are mesmerizing, wholly singular, completely unforgettable." --Katie Kitamura, author of Audition


Lucie comes from a long line of witches, with powers passed down from mother to daughter. Many of them have hidden or repressed their gifts to appease disgusted or fearful men. But against the wishes of her controlling husband, Lucie initiates her twins into their family's peculiar womanhood when they reach the age of twelve. In a few short months, Maud and Lise are crying rich crimson tears, their powers quickly becoming more potent than their mother's, opening them to liberation and euphoria beyond what Lucie and her foremothers ever considered.

Equal parts dreamlike and disquieting, The Witch tells a tale as old as time, with a dark twist: Without looking back, children fly the nest, laying bare the tenuous threads of family that have long threatened to snap. With simmering tension and increasing panic, NDiaye's latest novel in English captures the terror and precarity of motherhood and marriage, and the uncertainty of slowly realizing that your progeny are more dangerous--to the world and to your heart--and freer than you ever could have dreamed.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9798217006809
Title The Witch
Author Marie Ndiaye
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Random House USA Inc
Year published 2026-04-07
Number of pages 144
Prizes Short-listed for Booker Prize 2026
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.