Equal Rites

A triple pun: 'equal rights' (gender equality), 'equal rites' (equal ritual/magical standing for women and men), and 'rites' in the formal sense of magical tradition. Published in January 1987.

Technically yes — it introduces Granny Weatherwax. But the Witches books as most readers know them (Granny, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat as a trio) begin with Wyrd Sisters (1988). Equal Rites stands somewhat apart.

Eskarina makes a brief cameo in I Shall Wear Midnight (2010) after an absence of over 20 novels — a moment that delighted long-term readers.

On the Discworld, magical power is passed from the eighth son of an eighth son — a numerologically significant birthright. The crisis of this novel is that the child born at this auspicious moment is a girl, something the magical rules never anticipated.

First published on 15 January 1987 by Victor Gollancz. It is the third Discworld novel.