What book did I pick up and begin to peruse...

Cafe Society
1

…about four years ago? It was in the paperback books section of a local supermarket chain. I believe that the cover advertised the author as Neil Gaiman, or Terry Pratchett, or perhaps even both of them (or one of them writing with another author).

It began with an older woman pondering, with some distaste, IIRC, the prospect of recruiting a young woman from a different universe to take her destined place in the cosmos as a witch. And it jumped to a scene where the young girl was receiving recruiting-type messages from an unknown psychic source. I have the sense that the girl was resistant to the messages. This was before I read my first Discworld books, but later on, it seemed to me that the older woman was reminiscent of Granny Weatherwax.

Any ideas?

2

All I can tell you is that it does not sound like Good Omens, which is, to my knowledge, the only book written by Gaiman and Pratchett together. It’s also the only book I’ve read by either of them.

3

Sounds a little bit like Diane Wynne Jones’ “Deep Secret” (or one of the related books) Deep Secret - Wikipedia - and Pratchett/Gaiman probably blurbed Jones’ books…

4

I haven’t read ‘Deep Secret’ yet, but I own a copy of DWJ’s “A charmed Life” with a Neil Gaiman foreword, and gathered from it that he was a big fan of her writing, so he probably foreworded others too.

5

I was thinking Wee Free Men, Pterry’s first Tiffany Aching book.

6

That’s what I thought, too, though I was waiting for someone else to provide the title so I didn’t have to look it up.

7

Crivens! Of course it’s Terry Pratchett’s ‘The Wee Free Men’, an’ ye’d better get yer hands onna copy right noo! -
ETA - I’m sorry, some small blue man was just jumping all over the keyboard of my computer. He’s off trying to head-butt the dog now.