1.
Title: [Witches Abroad]
Author: Terry Pratchett
Genre: Satiric Fantasy
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Purchased
Date Completed: January 2, 2017
Rating: ****

Witches may know when they're going to die, but this doesn't always mean they leave behind clear instructions.  Knowing the moment of her own death, Ramtop witch Desiderata has a neighbor dig a grave, buys her coffin, and asks a neighbor to deliver a package once he finishes filling in her grave (by pre-arrangement). When Death arrives they stroll out together, and she ends her life tidily tucked into her pine box.

The story she leaves to continue in her absence isn't quite so neat.  For one, Desiderata was a fairy godmother whose charge is still in need of some help. The package she has delivered is her wand, Emberella does not marry the prince.

A new-to-me witch story, Witches Abroad takes the small Ramtops coven of Granny, Nanny, and Magrat away from their homes and on a journey to "foreign parts," to save a young girl from a story she never actually wished for.  The novel's take on stories, and the pervasive nature of urban myths and folklore, makes a strong vehicle for a fun romp, where everything is just familiar enough to be endearing, and just uncanny enough to be interesting.