The Discworld is very much like our own - if our own were to consist of a flat planet balanced on the back of four elephants which stand on the back of a giant turtle, that is… Fairy godmothers develop a very deep understanding about human nature, which makes the good ones kind and the bad ones powerful. Inheriting a fairy godmother role seemed an easy job…. After all, how difficult could it be to make sure that a servant girl doesn't marry a prince? Quite hard, actually, even for the witches Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick. That's the problem with real life - it tends to get in the way of a good story, and a good story is hard to resist. Servant girls have to marry the prince, whether they want to or not. You can't fight a Happy Ending, especially when it comes with glass slippers and a rival Fairy Godmother who has made Destiny an offer it can't refuse. The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Witches Abroad is the third book in the Witches series.