One of the main themes of Pratchett’s Discworld books, especially the
earlier books, is the power of stories. On the Disc, the power of the
Law of Narrative Causality is nearly absolute. One noted victim was the
evil witch Black Aliss, who took to turning princes into gingerbread and
building houses out of frogs. She met her demise at the hands of a pair
of young children she was planning to have for supper. It’s dangerous to
get too cozy with stories.

In the present book, which follows directly after
Wyrd Sisters, Magrat Garlick inherits the fairy godmothership
for a young girl named Ella, who lives in the far off exotic city of
Genua. So happens Ella has two fairy godmothers, and the other one is
determined that Ella, though oppressed by two evil step-sisters, will
nevertheless wed the handsome prince and live happily ever after–no
matter how many lives she has to torque out of shape in the process.

With the godmother’s wand, Magrat inherits the injunction not to allow
Ella to marry the prince, and in no case to let Granny Weatherwax or
Nanny Ogg to help her with the situation. Naturally the older witches
join in (which was rather the idea of the prohibition), and the three
witches are off to “Foreign Parts”. What follows is a hugely
entertaining tale in which Pratchett rings the changes on just about every
fairy tale you can imagine. It also explains New Orleans cookery.