New Book Spotlight

Lessons in Magic and Disaster

A mini-interview with Charlie Jane Anders

Tell us about your new book?

Lessons in Magic and Disaster is about a PhD student named Jamie who’s also a witch. Jamie’s mother Serena has been hiding from the world in an old one-room schoolhouse for several years, ever since her life fell apart. Jamie decides the best way to bring Serena back to the world is by teaching her to do magic. The magic in this book is very much about going into abandoned places and focusing on what you want, and Jamie thinks Serena needs to let herself want things again. But Serena takes magic in a very different direction and things start to go off the rails. Desperate to fix the mess she’s helped create, Jamie starts finding answers in the book she’s studying for her dissertation: a mysterious novel from 1749.

What aspect of the book was the most fun to write?

I really enjoyed figuring out the magic and writing some emotional mother-daughter scenes for sure. But the most fun part was learning a lot about 18th century England. I found out so much about the iconic female novelists, poets and memoirists of the era and how women were imagining feminist utopias during a time when society was becoming more conservative after the Restoration partying ended. Plus all the surprisingly queer outcasts and rogues of the era, who challenged gender norms and social expectations while living colorful unapologetic lives. I have become obsessed.

If there is one emotion or theme that you would hope that the reader connects with, what would that be?

I feel like the heart of this book is unconditional love and forgiveness. That’s the thing you encounter pretty much on the first page and it’s woven throughout the entire book.