A Sorceress Comes to Call: Characters, review, triggers & FAQs
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher synopsis/summary:
A dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm's Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic.
Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.
After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.
Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.
A Sorceress Comes to Call characters:
T. Kingfisher’s A Sorceress Comes to Call is told in third-person narrative, in two alternating perspectives of 14-year-old protagonist Cordelia and 51-year-old protagonist, Hester. Here is the full list of A Sorceress Comes to Call characters.
Cordelia
Evangeline
Falada (horse)
Minnow (horse)
Penny (horse)
Hester
Squire Samuel Chatham
Lady Penelope Green
Lady Imogene Strauss
Lord Strauss
Master Strauss
Tom Willard
Ellen Parker
Mr. Edward Parker
Alice
Lord Richard Evermore
Bernard
Ruth Svensdottir
Mildred
Danielle
Mary
Geese
Get A Sorceress Comes to Come here.
A Sorceress Comes to Call book review.
My rating: ★★★★☆
4 stars.
The Brothers Grimm’s original tales are already pretty gnarly, so I’m always sceptical when publishers hype their retellings as “dark.” Cinderella’s stepsisters have their eyes pecked out by birds, Snow White’s evil stepmother is sentenced to dance in red-hot iron shoes and then she drops dead. Let’s also not forget the charming lesser-known Juniper Tree, featuring infanticide, gaslighting someone into thinking they committed said infant-killing, followed by a hearty meal of the child’s bones. Not exactly Disney material.
So naturally, I wondered if this “dark retelling” of The Goose Girl could out-dark the original tale, which already features horse decapitation and macabre justice. Turns out, yes. Not scary dark, but more creepy dark, punctuated with macabre, murdery and straight-out unhinged moments. Plus extreme trigger and content warnings for coercive control and abusive family dynamics, violence, death, and a good sprinkle of subtle, dry, Regency-era black humour and satire. So yeah, that type of dark.
In hindsight, it's quite a lax retelling, with a lot of new characters. However, Kingfisher retains the symbolism of the original with the roles of the princess, the maid, and the goose tender, with a twist. Plus, there is still a horse, named Falada. There are plenty of fancy geese, and they’re pretty nifty. And you can bet that T. Kingfisher has taken some of the original grim elements and cranked it up to a “What on earth did I just read?” level. You’ll have to read it to find out what I mean, and it’s completely cooked, but in a good way.
Moreover, we're aware of the villain right from the start, an interesting artistic choice. She's pretty atrocious and a little extra backstory for our evil sorceress might have nudged this review into 5-star territory. To be fair, we do get some glimpses into her motivations, but with a wicked witch this formidable, a few more layers would have made her feel more nuanced.
Minor quibble aside, amidst a sea of tired fairytale retellings, this one stands out as pretty unconventional and inventive. With refreshingly real characters—like Hester, a no-nonsense 51-year-old reluctant heroine with a bad knee—it masterfully balances eerie and unsettling elements with satire and comic relief, hallmarks of T. Kingfisher’s distinctive style. If you're open to experimenting with something a bit unusual, give this book a try. I thoroughly enjoyed it and now need to read more T. Kingfisher, stat. Highly recommended!
My heartfelt thanks to NetGalley & Titan Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
View my A Sorceress Comes to Call book review on GoodReads here.
FAQs.
🚨 Please be mindful that continuing reading may mildly spoil some of A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher book for yourself. Continue at your own risk! 🚨
What are the trigger warnings for A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher?
Coercive control
Emotional abuse
Gaslighting
Violence
Death
Blood
Injury and injury details
Bullying
Grief and bereavement
Classism
Animal death
Is T. Kingfisher a pen name?
Yes, T. Kingfisher is the vaguely absurd pen name of Ursula Vernon, an author and illustrator from North Carolina who also writes children’s books.
Where can I read more of The Goose Girl retellings?
You can peruse more retellings of The Goose Girl here.
Where can I read the original Goose Girl by The Brothers Grimm?
You can read one of the original versions of The Goose Girl here.
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