The Witches

Fantasy · Dark comedy

Print length: 206 pagesPuffin Books, 1998

Description

A young English orphan lives with his Norwegian grandmother, whose stories teach him a terrifying fact: witches are real, they disguise themselves as ordinary women, and they devote themselves to destroying children. After the pair return to England, the boy tests her lessons against an unsettling encounter and then, at a Bournemouth hotel, accidentally hides inside the annual gathering of the country’s witches. There he overhears the Grand High Witch’s plan to transform every English child into a mouse through enchanted sweets. Discovery leaves him subjected to the same transformation, but it also gives him knowledge of the conspiracy. Roald Dahl combines grotesque comedy, menace, and a child’s-eye sense of injustice in a dark fantasy about recognizing evil and fighting it from an unexpectedly small position.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Descriptive · Direct · Witty

Pace

Brisk

Tone

Dark · Frightening · Humorous · Unsettling

Structure

Linear

Focus

Atmosphere · Character · Plot

Emotional intensity

4 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 2 / 5
Ideas: 2 / 5
Structure: 2 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

Themes

FamilyOppressionPowerSurvivalTransformation

About Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl was a British writer whose work ranged from children’s fantasy to short stories and screenplays. His adult stories are noted for abrupt, unexpected endings, while his children’s books use direct, witty narration, grotesque exaggeration, and swiftly escalating plots. Cruel or complacent adults often confront children whose intelligence and resourcefulness give them room to act. In Matilda, domestic belittlement and schoolroom tyranny become the basis for pranks, secret training, and a campaign to help Miss Honey. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory turns a factory tour into a sequence of comic trials, setting Charlie’s poverty and restraint against fantastic abundance and the other children’s excesses. The BFG similarly pairs a vulnerable child with an unlikely ally, moving through dialogue, concealment, dream-making, and an audacious appeal to the Queen. Dahl repeatedly builds his stories from stark imbalances of power, then lets ingenuity, cooperation, and precisely aimed mischief alter them. Menace remains concrete in punishments, transformations, hunger, and pursuit, but kindness is equally practical, expressed through protection, shared food, and escape plans.