4.2 (97 ratings)

Lessons in Magic and Disaster

Name: Lessons in Magic and Disaster
Rating: 4.2 (97 reviews)
Author: Charlie Jane Anders
ISBN: B0F9H4G9ZS

by Charlie Jane Anders

witches

About this book

"Listeners will be captivated as each narrator provides glimpses of Jamie's present and Serena's past, interspersed with snippets from the book of magic that Jamie is studying." — AudioFile

In the vein of Alice Hoffman and Charlie Jane Anders's own All the Birds in the Sky comes a multicast audiobook full of love, disaster, and magic.

A young witch teaches her mother how to do magic--with very unexpected results--in this relatable, resonant novel about family, identity, and the power of love.

Jamie is basically your average New England academic in-training--she has a strong queer relationship, an esoteric dissertation proposal, and inherited generational trauma. But she has one extraordinary secret: she's also a powerful witch.

Serena, Jamie's mother, has been hiding from the world in an old one-room schoolhouse for several years, grieving the death of her wife and the simultaneous explosion in her professional life. All she has left are memories.

Jamie’s busy digging into a three-hundred-year-old magical book, but she still finds time to teach Serena to cast spells and help her come out of her shell. But Jamie doesn't know the whole story of what happened to her mom years ago, and those secrets are leading Serena down a destructive path.

Now it's up to this grad student and literature nerd to understand the secrets behind this mysterious novel from 1749, unearth a long-buried scandal hinted therein, and learn the true nature of magic, before her mother ruins both of their lives.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

Publication Date: May 25, 2026
ASIN: B0F9H4G9ZS

Reader Reviews

a gentle exploration of mother shaped wounds and love after loss

August 20, 2025

I was lucky enough to be part of the ARC chain and was delighted to be able to read this absolute masterpiece early. Thanks, Charlie Jane! Lessons in Magic and Disaster is a stunning meditation on grief, boundaries, forgiveness, and love. There were so many layers to this story that I'm looking forward to rereading it again now that I have a hard copy and the ebook. In the present day narrative, Jamie, a PhD student in English, navigates transphobia in academia and relationship challenges with...

Lessons in Magic and Disaster

October 6, 2025

I was so intrigued by Jamie's dissertation research which was based almost entirely on real 18th century authors and works of literature, aside from one fictional novel and imaginary correspondence (as detailed in the Historical Note). I loved the magical realism and the queer interpretation of these people and stories; it really felt like something that could be true. The magic is unpredictable and questionable in effect; Jamie is often uncertain whether events are a result of her spells or a...

Wonderfully told

December 25, 2025

This is about magic. Magic practiced, magic learned, magic and love. About being queer, about self awareness and acceptance. About learning in so many ways. PLUS it’s a marvelously told story :) A truly beautiful experience. )

a very good book about very cool things

November 4, 2025

This was in most ways, excellent and tailor made for me. I really love the intense queerness and the way magic is handled. The liminal spaces as a site of magic were spectacular! I loved the writing about that. And the 18th century stuff about lady writers about town was so fascinating. Not at all an area of knowledge for me. The one thing that really threw me off with this book was that Jamie doesn't ask Ro for what she needs pretty much ever? Like, I realise their relationship has issues, but...

Lessons learned--

February 6, 2026

Three lessons I took from Lessons in Magic and Disaster: People are *complicated*; knowing what you really want is its own kind of magic; loving someone else means trying to figure them out, too. (And also that what *really* scares me is social media gone bad.) This is a book for people who love subtle magic and stories that reflect our deeply untidy reality. )