On the HahaFiction shelf

Cackle

A breakup sends Annie from Manhattan to a teaching job in an upstate village. She finds a new friend in Sophie, whose confidence is everything Annie lacks. The rest of the town's unease around Sophie makes that friendship harder to explain.

Horror Dark comedy

From the publisher’s blurb

“a witch who may be too good to be true”

Read the full description at Berkley publisher description

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What makes it funny?

Annie's fantasies of giving up become extravagantly impractical. In one passage, she imagines neglecting her hair until it could hold her snacks and credit cards, then concedes that she'll get up and groom herself as usual.

The comedy at work

Her sarcastic self-criticism turns private misery into a running commentary. The joke can be painfully recognizable: even imagining complete withdrawal, she keeps accounting for what other people will see.

Try this if…

Friendship after a breakup is the central attraction here, with witchcraft complicating the question of who gets to shape Annie's new life. Readers drawn to dark humor about neediness and self-doubt have plenty to work with.

Good to know

The picturesque village comes with spiders, heavy drinking and a potentially controlling friendship. Magic can become violent; Annie's emotional pain remains part of the humor.