Witchcraft for Wayward Girls - Grady Hendrix - ★★★★

AUTHOR: Grady Hendrix

GENRE: Horror-Fantasy (Historical)

PUBLICATION DATE: January 14, 2025

RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: A historical horror fantasy – mostly historical, occasionally (body) horror, slightly fantasy. Interesting character development, great themes, plenty of chills and thrills and triggers. Slowburn most of the way. Not sure if this will satisfy hardcore horror fans, but it worked quite well for this historical-fiction-loving scaredy-cat.

Plot Preview:

1970. Florida. When the parents of fifteen-year-old Fern discover her pregnancy, they drop her off against her will to Wellwood House, a place for unwed girls to be hidden away from their families, have their babies in secrets, give them up for adoption, and then return to the world as if nothing has changed. Fern is petrified of being alone and pregnant, but she soon discovers that she isn’t the only one in this predicament. She soon becomes close to some of the other girls, even though each of them are different from each other in background and ideals. Their daily routine is strictly monitored by the staff of Wellwood, but when Fern gets an unsanctioned book from the visiting mobile librarian, she discovers a hidden power she didn’t guess possible. But is it really that easy to play with dark magic? Does this kind of power come with a penalty?

The story comes to us in Fern’s third-person perspective.

I have never read Grady Hendrix before. And to be perfectly honest, I never thought I would! Nothing against him, but he specialises in horror, and I have a very low threshold for contemporary horror, which is often dominated by gore. However, when my dear Goodreads friend Esta showered her praises on this book, I took a closer look at the blurb and discovered its central theme of unwed pregnant girls getting back at the world, which appealed to the historical fiction fan in me. Thus I took a tentative step towards this author’s work, and the result has been mostly satisfying.

Bookish Yays:

💐 The quotes at the start of the book, taken from actual magazines - wow! Unbelievable that such ignorance lasted even till 2005! (And probably continues even today in many places.)

💐 The first-person prologue by a then-unknown narrator makes for a strong start. (PSA: Read it once again after you complete the book. You’ll appreciate it even more.)

💐 An intriguing cast of pregnant youngsters, all of whom are youngsters forced into adult situations and making the best that they can. It was interesting to see how each of them coped with their traumatic situation differently: some withering inwards and some exploding with feminine rage. My heart broke several times, especially for Holly, but unlike in historical fiction where my feelings often veer more towards the emotional, this time I actually felt the rage of these girls.

💐 Some well-crafted older characters as well. Though not all of them are explored in detail and most are definitely not likeable, their presence and actions lend the required darkness to the plot.

💐 The details about Wellwood house and how it was run – quite realistic. I liked the idea of using floral monikers for each of the young inmates.

💐 The focus on social attitudes towards unwed pregnancies and how “it’s always the girl’s fault“. I don’t need to reveal any historical facts about the heinous laws that deny women control over their own bodies. The book is set before Roe vs. Wade, but so many of the situations and reactions faced by the girls in this story are still present today. (And considering who has been elected to the top post in the USA, this might soon become reality again.)

💐 While there are several books with witchy elements, this was among the few that actually makes good use of those elements. The witchy stuff was actually witchy! (Reminder: I haven’t read much horror and am writing this point from a historical fiction reader’s perspective.)

💐 The core “horror” in this book to me was not the witchy content but the scenes with labour and child delivery – yikes! They were so brutally realistic to read that I felt like I myself was going through labour yet again. Fair warning: those scenes might scare you off (natural) childbirth for life! I’m so glad I was done with all that before reading this book! 😆 The only reason I am writing this under Yays is that I am stunned at the level of accuracy in the detailing of labour and delivery. That is to say, I can’t believe the author is a man! 🤭

Bookish Mixed Bags:

🌹 The book is much of a slowburn. In fact, the first 30-35% is just regular historical fiction (which was fine for me but will bug horror fans.) Just as I began wondering if I had got the genre wrong, the creepy stuff started making an appearance, but this was more continual than continuous. Basically, when things get creepy, they get reaaallllllyyyyy creeeeepppyyyyyy; you just need to have a good amount of patience during the rest of the story. Most of the horror is body horror, with minor elements of the supernatural.

🌹 The epilogue left me with mixed feelings. It's a good ending in the sense that it offers a much-deserved closure to the arcs. However, it just doesn’t read like a horror novel’s culmination, giving more women's fiction vibes.

Bookish Nays:

🌵 Fern’s character development is a bit ad hoc. I couldn’t get a handle on her personality because her decisions seemed to swing randomly.

🌵 The generalisations. Everyone who is connected to religion is vehemently evil. (A quick and gentle reminder that many of us Christians are more like Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde in our beliefs. Don’t believe the MAGA version of Christianity as being representative of us all.) Every parent is a stonehearted jerk who feels no pain dumping their pregnant daughters in a home. Every white adult is self-centred and every Black adult is knowledgeable and helpful. Plus, the Black characters use some kind of voodoo-style beliefs. I am not fond of such cliched one-note portrayals.

All in all, despite my issues with a part of the content and characterisations, I am mostly satisfied with my first Grady Hendrix work. I obviously have nothing to compare it with as I have no idea about his general plots or writing style. But I strongly feel that this book will be better suited for historical fiction fans with a penchant for horror than for horror fiction lovers with a liking for historical fiction.

Recommended to those who can handle it, AND have a fondness for feminist themes, AND don’t mind slowburn stories, AND preferably already have kids or don’t ever want to have kids! There are plenty of triggers, but mainly beware if you are wary of gore or child abuse content.

My thanks to Pan Macmillan and Tor Nightfire for providing the DRC of “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.