The Witches by Roald Dahl was published in 1983. It is a funny but frightening story about real witches — who look just like ordinary women — and a young boy’s extraordinary battle against them.
A young English boy is orphaned and goes to live with his Norwegian grandmother, who tells him about real witches. Real witches, she explains, look exactly like ordinary women but hate children with a purple-eyed fury. They wear gloves to hide their clawed hands, wigs to cover their bald heads, and use nose-holes (not noses) to sniff out children.
On a holiday to a seaside hotel in England, the boy accidentally witnesses a secret meeting of all the witches in England, presided over by the Grand High Witch herself. She unveils her plan: to turn every child in England into a mouse by putting Formula 86 — Delayed Action Mouse-Maker — into sweet shops.
The Grand High Witch demonstrates the formula on a boy called Bruno Jenkins, who is turned into a mouse. The boy is discovered hiding behind a screen and turned into a mouse too. As a mouse, he manages to steal a bottle of Formula 86 and pour it into the witches’ soup at dinner, turning all the witches into mice — who are then killed by the hotel staff.
The boy remains a mouse, cared for by his grandmother. A good witch (a former assistant of the Grand High Witch who escaped) transforms him back into a human boy. The boy and his grandmother plan to travel the world fighting the remaining witches country by country.