Books Like The Once and Future Witches
Introduction: What Readers Mean by “Books Like The Once and Future Witches”
When readers ask for books like The Once and Future Witches, they are rarely asking for just any fantasy novel. They are asking for something more specific: sisters or women at the center, magic reclaimed from a history that suppressed it, and a historical setting with the wonder woven in. The Once and Future Witches (2020) has all three: Juniper, Agnes and Beatrice, three estranged sisters in 1893 New Salem; the witchcraft their family lost and they must reclaim; and the suffragist movement they join, in which the magic and the history are the same fight. The books that come closest are the ones that find their own way to the same combination.
This guide gathers the strongest readalikes, old and new, with honest content notes and a clear sense of what each book shares with Harrow’s novel and where it departs from it.
The Harrow Novels
The books that come closest to The Once and Future Witches are the author’s own explorations of the same world.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow (2019) is the essential companion: January Scaller, a girl in the early twentieth century raised in the house of a wealthy collector, in the novel of the book that tells her mother’s story and the doors to other worlds. It shares The Once and Future Witches’ author, its voice and its wonder, with the sisters replaced by the doors. Content note: a young adult fantasy novel; for readers from around age fourteen upward.
A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow (2021) is the essential companion in novella form: Zinnia, a young woman dying of a rare disease, who falls through the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty and finds the other versions of the story. It shares The Once and Future Witches’ author and its women, with the frame turned to the fairy tale. Content note: a fantasy novella; for readers from around age fifteen upward.
The Women and the Magic
A second branch of the family is the novel about the women and the magic - the power reclaimed from the suppression.
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (2017) is the essential companion: Vasya, a girl in medieval Russia who can see the household spirits her family has forgotten, in the novel of the old faith and the new. It shares The Once and Future Witches’ heroine reclaiming the old ways, with the suffragists replaced by the faith. Content note: a fantasy novel with some violence; for readers from around age fifteen upward.
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (2019) is the essential companion about the women and the power: a queen, a dragon rider and a mage in a world where the east and the west have different truths about the dragons. It shares The Once and Future Witches’ women at the center and its epic stakes, with the scale widened. Content note: an adult fantasy dealing with violence; for readers from around age seventeen upward.
The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang (2018) is the essential companion in darker register: Rin, a war orphan who wins a place at an elite military academy, in the novel of the power that changes her and the world. It shares The Once and Future Witches’ woman claiming a dangerous power, with the register hardened. Content note: an adult fantasy dealing with war and its horrors; for mature readers.
The Sisters and the History
A third branch is the novel about the sisters and the history - the bond and the era.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868) is the essential classic companion: Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, four sisters in Civil War-era Massachusetts, in the novel of the family and the coming of age. It shares The Once and Future Witches’ sisters and its conviction that the bond is the engine, with the magic removed. Content note: a classic novel; for readers from around age twelve upward.
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (2015) is the essential companion about the sisters and the war: Vianne and Isabelle, two sisters in occupied France - one who endures, one who fights. It shares The Once and Future Witches’ sisters and their fight, with the magic replaced by the resistance. Content note: an adult novel that includes wartime violence, including sexual violence; for mature readers.
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (2013) is the essential companion about the beings and the era: Chava, a golem made in Prague, and Ahmad, a jinni freed from a flask, in the novel of the two beings finding their place in 1899 New York. It shares The Once and Future Witches’ historical setting and its beings, with the sisters replaced by the pair. Content note: a fantasy novel; for readers from around age fifteen upward.
Themes and Values That Hold the Readalikes Together
Once you have read a few of these books side by side, the shared themes become clear, and they are worth naming because they are what make the category cohere.
The sisters as the engine runs through every one of them. The Once and Future Witches’ central claim - that the bond between the sisters is what makes the magic possible - is the load-bearing structure of the whole family. The books are united by the conviction that the women together are the power, and that the bond is the engine.
The reclaimed magic as the inheritance is the second shared shape. The family is united by the power lost and reclaimed - the witchcraft, the old faith, the gift - and by the conviction that the reclaiming is the story. The books agree that the magic is the inheritance, and that the inheritance must be claimed.
The history as the stakes is the third shared theme. The family is united by the historical setting - the suffragists, the war, the era - and by the conviction that the history is not the backdrop but the stakes. The books agree that the fight is real, and that the wonder is part of it.
What to Read Next Depends on Why You Loved It
If you loved the author, read The Ten Thousand Doors of January and A Spindle Splintered.
If you loved the reclaimed magic, read The Bear and the Nightingale.
If you loved the women and the power, read The Priory of the Orange Tree and The Poppy War.
If you loved the sisters, read Little Women and The Nightingale.
If you loved the historical setting, read The Golem and the Jinni.
Content Notes: What These Books Contain
The Once and Future Witches is a fantasy novel dealing with suffrage, abuse and history, usually recommended for readers from around age sixteen upward. The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a young adult fantasy. A Spindle Splintered is a fantasy novella. The Bear and the Nightingale has some violence. The Priory of the Orange Tree deals with violence. The Poppy War deals with war and its horrors. Little Women is a classic novel. The Nightingale includes wartime violence, including sexual violence. The Golem and the Jinni is a fantasy novel. None contain gratuitous content; the weight is emotional and historical. Our family-friendly historical accuracy and our meaningful scholars and scientists for adults offer related reading paths for the history and the minds behind these books.
Why These Books Work as a Set
Read together, these readalikes form a coherent shelf rather than a random pile, and the coherence is worth naming for anyone building a reading list. They are bound by the conviction that the women together are the power, that the reclaimed magic is the inheritance, and that the history is the stakes. They are also bound by voice: nearly every title here centers its women with a conviction that the fight and the wonder are the same thing. That shared DNA means the shelf rewards reading in almost any order - the books talk to each other. The Ten Thousand Doors deepens The Once and Future Witches; The Bear and the Nightingale echoes the reclaiming across the winter; The Priory of the Orange Tree widens the women’s fight to the epic. For a reader working through the family, the pairings are as instructive as the individual titles, which is why the reading plan below suggests specific combinations rather than a single sequence.
A Reading Plan for Book Clubs
The Once and Future Witches generates conversation on every level: the sisters, the magic, the question of what the reclaiming actually costs. Some of the best discussion questions come from pairing it with a book that shares or challenges it: read it with The Ten Thousand Doors, and compare the two reclaimings and the two wonderings; read it with The Nightingale, and ask how the sisters differ across the genres; read it with Little Women, and discuss the two sisterhoods and the two eras.
Conclusion: The Witches That Keep Giving
The Once and Future Witches endures because it is about something permanent: the conviction that the women together are the power, that the reclaimed magic is the inheritance, and that the history is the stakes. Every book on this list takes one piece of that - the sisters, the magic, the fight - and builds its own account around it. The joy of reading them is the joy of watching the same reclaiming practiced in different centuries, different worlds, different registers. Start with whichever part of Juniper, Agnes and Beatrice’s story you loved most, and let the comparison teach you what the magic is really made of. For the full collection of reading paths, start at the Worlds section of our site.
