Text "V. E. SCHWAB" in light gray font on a white background.

THE NEAR WITCH


NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’S BEST YA OF THE DECADE


Cover of "The Near Witch" by V.E. Schwab featuring intertwined tree branches and a perched bird.

Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab's debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won't soon forget.

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.

There are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger, a boy who seems to fade like smoke, appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi's need to know about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.


PRAISE AND REVIEWS

  • “If you missed Schwab's debut novel when it first appeared, now's your chance to get on board.”

    Kirkus Reviews, starred review

  • “The most gorgeous kind of fairytale, yet it feels like the kind of thing that’s just odd enough to be real, and I mean it when I tell you that this was easily one of the best books I’ve read all year, and will undoubtedly go down as one of my favorite books.”

    Howling Libraries

  • “An entirely unique and original story with an exquisitely painted world and for a debut novel, it’s so well written and well done”

    Travel the Shelves