Exploring Feminism and Witchcraft in Grady Hendrix’s New Novel

Hello, fellow bookworms! Welcome, or Welcome back! My name is Amanda, and this is where I share spoiler-free book reviews and other bookish things. Thanks for visiting. Let’s get Smitten for Fiction. This is a review of Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix. I read a NetGalley digital advance copy. I apologize my review is coming out after the publication date. Join the conversation and share your thoughts!

“Will delight fans new and old with his convincing rendering of characters juggling pregnancy and magic, childhood and adulthood, helplessness and power – and of course good and evil. Another nail-biter not to be missed!” – Tananarive Due, author of The Reformatory

About The Book 📚

Title: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

Author: Grady Hendrix

Publication Date: Jan 14, 2025

Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group

Genre: Literary Horror

Pages: 496

Setting: Florida, 1970

Content Warnings: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/fab22611-e9b8-4398-9c89-713c3f843e60/content_warnings

Three Words That Describe This Book: Dark, Powerful, Motherhood

About The Author

Born in Charleston, SC, Grady Hendrix used to be a journalist and is the author of:
Horrorstör
My Best Friend’s Exorcism
We Sold Our Souls
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires
Final Girl Support Group
Paperbacks From Hell
How to Sell a Haunted House
These Fists Break Bricks
Occupy Space
Satan Loves You
co-author of The Magnolia League

My Review

› I’ve never read anything by Grady Hendrix before, but I’ve heard his name around the book community a lot, so I jumped at the chance to request a digital advance copy on NetGalley. I didn’t know what to expect. I liked the 70s vibe of the cover and I’m interested in witchcraft so I knew that would be up my alley, however, these “wayward girls” turned out to be incredible characters who will steal your heart.

It’s hard to put Witchcraft for Warward Girls into a specific genre. Netgalley has it listed as a Horror and Mystery & Thriller. Mysteries are a puzzle about a crime (murder or disappearance) with a big reveal at the end. Thrillers pull you in from the beginning, build suspense, and tension and are usually plot-driven. Horror novels are meant to shock, startle, or repulse and have a sense of dread. If I had to choose, I think Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is a literary horror novel.

I agree with Grady Hendrix that “horror is the genre that reflects the world around us.” Horror stories are often set in our world, with people who remind us of those we know. They reflect our fears, guilt, and skeletons in the closet. They reflect the real-life horrors that too many people experience in our world. And it’s asking – are we going to do something about it?

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls takes place in 1970 and is about a house for pregnant teen girls where their babies are put up for adoption and the girls can return to their life “as if nothing has happened”. The girls go by new names to keep their anonymity and don’t talk about their real lives.

› First Line: “She didn’t think things could get any worse, then she saw the sign. Welcome to Florida, it read. The Sunshine State.

› Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at Wellwood Home in St. Augustine Florida. She’s 26 weeks pregnant. The Wellwood Home is where “unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened”. Miss Wellwood is very strict and the doctor that helps care for the girls is judgemental and gaslight them when they don’t feel well. Fern meets many other girls here and forms friendships with Rose, Zinnie and Holly.

On a hot summer day, the bookmobile arrives and a librarian helps them choose a few books each, giving a spellbook to Fern. Could these spells be real? Who wrote the book? Will they be able to learn magic?

› I do want to warn you, that there is a lot of talk about pregnancy and graphic childbirth scenes. Told from Fern’s perspective, this is a relevant story considering the current climate in the United States and the conversation around women’s rights. A lot of the horror in this book comes from how women were treated in the 1970s (and honestly it looks like we’re going back to that time sadly).

Quotes That Stuck With Me
* quotes taken from digital advance copy and may not appear in final copy or may have been altered

“Their bodies reshaped themselves with each passing minute, their bellies becoming bloody cauldrons brewing babies – dendrites blossoming like slow-motion fireworks, cells filling with triacylglycerols, placentas filtering oxygen from red blood cells. All of it happening in the dark, hidden away inside them.”

“Knowledge is a kind of power, and the knowledge you find in this book will help you find power inside yourself. Power is not a material possession that can be given.”

“You should remain skyclad. That’s what it means, you know. Exposing your body to the light of the moon.” “You’re a witch,” Fern said. “No, dear,” Miss Parcae said, “I’m a librarian.”

“They hate us enough. Don’t let them make you hate yourselves, too.”

“Because we’re women,” Periwinkle said. “Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jew, the one thing they all have in common is that they hate us. For hundreds and thousands of years, they’ve hated us.”

I enjoyed the strong character development, unlikeable characters and diverse cast. I wanted more world-building. I wanted to know more about the town around them and the backstory of the people who worked at the home. This is high-quality writing and I like Hendrix’s writing style. There’s not a lot of plot, this is a character-driven story with a big message. I didn’t want to put it down (except for the childbirth parts as they were triggering for me).

APPEAL FACTORS
Storyline: character-driven, issue-oriented, tragic
Pace: medium
Tone: emotional, heartwrenching, high-drama, nostalgic, suspenseful, thought-provoking, magical, challenging, dark, bleak, haunting
Humour: dark humour
Writing Style: well-crafted dialogue
Character: authentic, awkward, brooding, complex, flawed, likeable, mischievous, quirky, relatable, sarcastic, strong female, unlikeable, well-developed, diverse
Racial Representation: Multiracial

Read Alikes:
The Girls We Sent Away by Meagan Church
Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
Foxfire

› In the past I have given a rating out of ten and converted that to a star rating, but I’m no longer giving a star rating here on my blog. I will continue to do that on Goodreads and The Story Graph.

› Final Thoughts
• Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is a dark, emotional, and powerful book about motherhood, feminism, witchcraft and abuse of power. These “wayward girls” are really children and this experience destroys their childhood. With strong female characters who build unlikely friendships, this thought-provoking book teaches us that using magic comes with a cost.