This paper compares the notion of magic and magical thinking in Carina Rydberg’s novel Djävulsformeln [The Devil’s formula] (2000) and Selma Lagerlöf’s trilogy Löwensköldscykeln[The Löwensköld cycle] (1925-28). This comparison has historical and theoretical implications. In Lagerlöf’s trilogy the magic is attached to the main initiator of events, Thea Sundler, whose magical thinking is represented through a typical Boothian mode of showing. In Rydberg’s work the protagonist is telling the readers about her magical powers. Both writers relate magical powers to the motif of homelessness, which links it to the concept of das Unheimliche and Freudian ‘un-homely-ness’ is indeed foregrounded in these novels. Despite the difference in the representational modes of showing and telling, it is, as I will show, high time to extend Rydberg’s authorship beyond its present position in the tradition of Strindberg’s apologetic works to the Selma Lagerlöf tradition of great, and often, gothic narratives.