The Bewitching: A Multigenerational Horror Review

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About The Book 📚

Title: The Bewitching

Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Publication Date: July 15, 2025

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group: Del Rey

Genre: Adult, Horror, Fantasy, Gothic, Historical Fiction

Pages: 368

Setting: Massachusetts, New England, United States

Click Here for Content Warnings (may contain spoilers)

Three Words That Describe This Book: dark, witchcraft, mysterious

About The Author

“Mexican by birth, Canadian by inclination. Cachanilla and Canuck, originally from Baja California, she now resides in Vancouver. She has an MA in Science and Technology Studies from the University of British Columbia.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of a number of critically acclaimed novels, including Gods of Jade and Shadow (Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, Ignyte Award), Mexican Gothic (Locus Award, British Fantasy Award, Pacific Northwest Book Award, Aurora Award, Goodreads Award), and Velvet Was the Night (finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Macavity Award). She writes in a variety of genres including fantasy, horror, noir and historical.

She has edited several anthologies, including She Walks in Shadows (World Fantasy Award winner, published in the USA as Cthulhu’s Daughters). Her fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Best American Mystery and Suspense.” https://silviamoreno-garcia.com/about-2020/

My Review

“Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror saga from the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic.”

› I’ve never read anything by Silvia Moreno-Garcia before, although I do have a few of her books on my TBR. Moreno-Garcia said she was inspired by her great-grandmother’s stories about witchcraft mixed with her experience living in New England and its witchcraft folklore. She also talked about how her writing is inspired by Shirley Jackson, whom I really need to read more from. Moreno-Garcia chose 1998 because she was living in New England during that time and could share her background working on campus as an RA.

Here is a link to the Book Kit & Extras for The Bewitched, including a playlist (which is an awesome playlist BTW): https://silviamoreno-garcia.com/writing/the-bewitching/book-kit-and-extras-the-bewitching/

› The Bewitched is told in three timelines from three points of view. Alba, Ginny, and Minerva reveal their stories set in 1908, 1934, and 1998. Alba is living in Mexico with her family. She believes in witchcraft and says she has portents (premonitions). Her father said he used to have portents too. Alba’s uncle Arturo has come to “help” the family after her father’s death. He mocks Alba’s beliefs and is trying to convince Alba’s mother to sell the family estate. We see her struggle with opposing feelings towards Arturo as she uncovers family history.

› Alba used to teach her granddaughter, Minerva, about witchcraft and how to protect yourself from a witch. Minerva lives and works on campus in 1998, writing her thesis. She likes to keep to herself, but does have a good friend named Hideo, and feeds a stray cat named Karnstein. Her thesis focuses on Beatrice Tremblay’s novel The Vanishing and its connection to witchcraft. The book is set in the 17th century and is about a group of women who think one of them is a witch. Then one of the women goes missing. Minerva thinks the book is really about Beatrice and her friends, including Virginia, who went missing in 1934.

“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches. That was what Nana Alba used to say when she told Minerva bedtime stories; it was the preamble that led into a realm of shadows and mysteries.”

› One night at a party, Minerva meets Noah, whose grandmother, Carolyn, used to know Beatrice Tremblay. Noah invites Minerva to their house. Carolyn offers Minerva a chance to read all of the papers she has about Virginia, including Beatrice’s journals. Carolyn believes Virginia ran away with a Portuguese boy named Santiago. But Carolyn’s husband, who also knew Virginia, always believed she was murdered. Sidenote: I hated Carolyn the entire time, and you will too.

› There is also a 1934 timeline where we get to hear Beatrice’s perspective:

“Some moments return to us, intact and incandescent, undimmed by the passage of time. It is like that when I remember that December of 1934 and the night that Virginia Somerset went missing.”

› Beatrice was in love with “Ginny,” aka Virginia. What better person to tell us more about what happened to Ginny?

› The characters were interesting; however, they felt flat to me, and I had a hard time feeling anything for them. I would have liked more description of the setting and world-building. I liked the overall Gothic mood and the writing style. There is great dialogue and effective use of perspective and multiple timelines. The plot had a great start, felt muddy in the middle, and had an okay ending. That being said, I was intrigued and wanted to know what happened to Virginia and learn more about Minerva’s Nana Alba. I loved all the witchcraft and folklore, but found there were some aspects of the plot that didn’t make sense. There were too many nicknames and repetition; however, I read an ARC, so this may have been changed in the final copy. Overall, it was a good read.

APPEAL FACTORS
Storyline: sweeping, unconventional, tragic
Pace: medium
Tone: emotional, high-drama, mystical, thought-provoking, magical, dark, mysterious, haunting, violent
Heat index: chaste (G), mildly sensuous (PG), steamy (PG 13), explicit (18+)
Writing Style: compelling, descriptive
Character: brooding, complex, flawed, likeable, diverse
Racial Representation: Mexican

Read Alikes:
Island Witch by Amanda Jayatissa
Ghost Story by Peter Straub

› 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
• The Bewitched shows there are many kinds of witches, and historically, Mexican witches are not superheroes, and they don’t go to witch school. They are real, and they are dangerous. New England witchcraft is similar to Mexican folklore in many ways. The Bewitched provides an authentic feeling of what it’s like to work on campus and be stressed trying to write a thesis. This was a good book, and I recommend it to fans of horror and magic. I’m looking forward to reading more from Silvia Moreno-Garcia.