Lessons in Magic and Disaster is a novel about a trans witch who teaches her mother magic, only to find that magic might not always be the answer. Jamie is a trans woman, graduate student, and a witch, and she wants to do something to get her mother, Serena, back out into the world, as Serena’s been hiding away since the death of her wife. Jamie teaches her mother the magic she’s been using for years, all about exchanging something for what you most want, but Serena finds this magic a powerful force, and suddenly all elements of Jamie’s life are affected: her relationship with her mother, her marriage to Ro, her reputation at the college she works at.
I was drawn to this novel as I wanted to read a book by Charlie Jane Anders, and even though I’m not a huge fantasy person unless the fantasy is combined with more literary or general fiction, the selling point of the book being about a trans woman witch was enough for me to give it a go. Conveniently for me, Lessons in Magic and Disaster is not just a story about magic, and it is the kind of fantasy that is set in the real world except a few people can do magic, which is what I was hoping for.
The book is told both in the present day from Jamie’s perspective, and also in the past telling the story of her mothers, Serena and Mae. The present day narrative explores the magic side, and also Jamie’s research into a (fictional) eighteenth century novel and what it says about the real life historical women involved in it, whilst the story of Jamie’s mothers is more around queer community, sacrifice, and what makes a relationship. Sometimes this structure, particularly the chunks from the fictional eighteenth century novel and a fairytale story within its narrative, makes the book feel a bit slow-going, as it takes a while to get to the next bit of a plotline. However, the layered approach allows there to be a lot of things in conversation with each other.
The characters are flawed and messy, though I think some of the moral dilemmas and questions could’ve been more deeply explored as there’s some interesting stuff around trust and sacrifice and coping with things that gets reduced to characters taking in a “therapy-speak” style. There’s an online abuse/cancel culture plotline that again doesn’t quite get enough space to have nuance, and Jamie’s academic work (both research and her teaching/position at the college) always felt a bit pushed to the side even though there were so many chunks of the fake novel. I did like a lot of the character relationships, including Jamie and Ro’s marriage that hits tension when Ro finds out about the magic, and what we see of Jamie’s relationship with her dead mother, Mae.
Overall, I like how ambitious this novel is in combining the magic side with a tale of eighteenth century writer women and a look at queer community, whilst at its heart, having a story about a trans women and her relationships with other people in her life. At times I found it a bit slow and frustrating, but I found the ending powerful in terms of the character relationships and I think this book will be great for fans of queer fantasy with a literary edge.
Fiendfully Reading 
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