First of all, thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for getting me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was my first Grady Hendrix novel, and it just blew me away! The story is about 15-year-old Fern, who is sent to live at a Home in Florida where pregnant and unwed girls are sent to have their babies in secret and give the babies up for adoption. During her time here, Fern develops a friendship with some of the other girls of the Home. After Fern gets a book on witchcraft from the traveling librarian, they successfully perform a spell. The girls feel invincible and try more and more complex spells. However, the power comes with a prize and Fern starts to understand how high this prize is.

It was hard to put this book down from the beginning. The writing draws you in and is very atmospherical. It makes you feel like you’re following a movie. This story also brings some light to awful situations that were real during 60s and 70s. The supernatural aspect made the story even creepier.

The characters were very well written, and I really liked the four main girls. The things that the girls in this book experienced were extremely well described by Hendrix. I love that every single time they were let down by the system, they started working together and become a team.

I would genuinely recommend this to anyone who likes Grady Hendrix’ other work or anyone who enjoys historical fiction with a bit of supernatural in the mix. I personally will try some of Hendrix’ other work in the future.

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls - Grady Hendrix

A super atmospheric read, with some really interesting characters. The staff were particularly awful and as always with a Grady Hendrix book there is always something unexpected from the characters, I found the librarian was an exceptionally complex character and added so much to the story. I found certain descriptions in the story very graphic - but again this is to be expected with a Grady Hendrix book. I always look forward to seeing what this author is going to do next and this really did not disappoint.
Many thanks to the publishers and author for the e-book in return for ,y honest thought and opinions.

Title - Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
Author - Grady Hendrix
Release Date - Jan 16th 2025
Page Count - 496
Read/Listen Time - 14hrs
Rating - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ /5 stars

Fans of Grady Hendrix will not be disappointed with his new offering, this is an amazing read. Another nostalgia driven story set in the 70s; funny, tragic, gory and action packed.

We follow Fern, the main protagonist, as a 15 year old pregnant girl sent to a home for underage, unwed pregnant girls in the middle of nowhere. When Fern and her friends find a book for witchcraft they think they're having a bit of fun at first but then things start happening to the targets of their spells. The girls feel powerful and invincible but of course power comes with a cost.

Full of great fleshed out characters that you will love, hate, and pity and a spellbinding storyline this needs to be the first thing on your 2025 reading list.

You can of course pre-order now from all the usual places and there are even signed editions from Waterstones and Forbidden Planet.

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is a touching and haunting book by the horror writer Grady Hendrix. In this book, we follow Fern and a number of other vulnerable girls as they discover the occult. Witchcraft may be dark and require sacrifice, but it gives them power for the first time in their lives.

Despite how scary the idea of dark witchcraft may be, I think that anyone who reads this book will agree that the true horror is what the families of each of our main characters does to these girls. After getting pregnant, each is sent to the Wellwood Home to have their lives controlled until they can give birth and have their child ripped from their arms. This book may be set in the 1970’s, but in some parts of the world this is an ongoing practice. Without bodily autonomy, the girls are forced to turn to the occult to fight for their freedom.

The real strength of this story seems to come from the characters and their relationships. Hendrix really makes you care about these people and the plights they are facing. All of the injustices make you rage and when they get a bit of power you rejoice. I think that all horror and thriller books need to be grounded in characters like this. No matter how well the suspense is written, if you don’t care about the characters the horror elements won’t hit the way they need to.

It is a very relevant book given some of the things happening in the world right now, but I also understand that it could be very triggering for some people. This is the second pregnancy-based horror book I’ve read and although the style of body horror is fascinating, I don’t think I could read much more. I do appreciate the attention it draws to the dangers and trauma of pregnancy though. We tend to think of it as magical and wonderful, but it is still a terribly painful and transformative experience (with severe psychological impacts for some).

I would recommend this book to fans of body horror and feminist horror. And if you really liked this book and want to read more like it, I would recommend My Throat an Open Grave by Tori Bovalino.

Grady Hendrix delivers a compelling drama about a group of girls in the 1960s who are sent to a home for unwed pregnant teenagers and turn to witchcraft to help them deal with their impending situations.
The story sees these girls - who are as young as 14 - shipped off and forced to live in an isolated boarding house until they deliver and surrender their babies, a decision made by their parents to stop them being shunned in greater society.
Looking for an escape, the group are enticed by a group of neighbouring witches who may or may not have the girls' best interests at heart.
While the witchcraft elements are present, they are really just a backdrop for a story about a group of girls dealing with a lack of choice and control over their own teen pregnancies.
As such, the witchcraft element feels somewhat pigeonholed into an otherwise powerful coming of age story. It almost feels like Grady wanted to step outside of horror completely for this one but didn't want to stray too far from his established brand so used witchcraft to keep the genre elements.

We were girls: girls in trouble; unsocialized girls, fast girls, loose girls, emotionally immature girls, wayward girls. Whatever you wanted to call us, we were children. And we had to make terrible choices.

This was my first Grady Hendrix novel and I was completely blown away. First let me begin by saying this book is much more than your typical witchy read. The story has depth and took me on a roller coaster of different emotions.

The story is slower paced. However, what it lacks in action, it makes up for in well written and diverse characters with interesting back stories. These girls had me chuckling with the their differing and unique personalities throughout this book.

I like how Hendrix tactfully handles the subject of teenage and illegitimate pregnancy in the 70s. The abuse and shame these young girls faced for simply having a moment of weakness, is something he did not fail to capture in the story. At times, I found I hard to read but the book is so immersive, I couldn't put it down.

The witchy aspect of the book was well done and though it takes a while to get there. I think the build up worked. Why? Because it shows what leads these girls to make a deal with evil and sell their souls.

I wouldn't necessarily class this in the horror category, however it does has horrific elements to it. It's a gripping and enthralling tale of young girls forced to make very adult decisions.
Skilfully and masterfully written. I highly recommend this one.

Thank you to Netgalley, Pan Macmillan and Grady Hendrix. For my eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book was fascinating. An insight into the fate of un-wed 'loose' girls who find themselves in a helpless situation with choices taken from the.
You get Grady's supernatural, horror take on the situation but this felt somewhat more character driven with the horror providing a perfect backdrop to underpin the tale.
Loved it.

The plot of this story is certainly an intriguing one - underage, unmarried girls who have fallen pregnant in some way have been shipped off to Wellwood House to have their babies in secret and give them away for adoption. Each character's backstory is really interesting, a couple that pull some heart strings, but as an overall plot, it seemed a bit drawn out. The conflict that Neva/Fern goes through feels a bit of a drag, with it all coming to a conclusion that they had thought of about 8 chapters ago. Grady Hendrix often chooses a format or era for his books that makes them more interesting to read - the 80s horror of My Best Friend's Exorcism, the catalogue style of Horrorstör. This one didn't dive into that so much. An okay read but not as consumable as some of his others.

This unfortunately wasn’t for me at all. I like the premise and I think Grady Hendrix has an important message here, but I didn’t like the execution at all. Fern, the main character, is one-dimensional for most of the novel and I didn’t care about her at all. At the beginning so many characters are introduced that it’s impossible to keep track and it took quite a while to figure out which characters were important. The plot felt underdeveloped. The novel can’t decide if it wants to describe pregnancy in all its horror or be a book about witches; in theory, it could be both but in the end it doesn’t do justice to either.

I want to give a big shout out to Pan Macmillan | Tor Nightfire for granting me access to this ARC. I chose to apply for it because I really admire the author's work, and I can confidently say that it did not disappoint. I enjoyed it so much—more than I can express. The book was not only realistic but also featured a nice blend of horror and some truly horrific elements, which is exactly what I look for and enjoy in a story. I loved the narrative, the ambiance, and, of course, the characters, who were all brilliantly crafted. It make me feel so much female rage because of the times and the “obligations” of females but I truly enjoy it.

Another Grady Hendrix book that did not disappoint!

I'm SUCH a big fan of Grady's, so I couldn't wait to devour Witchcraft for Wayward Girls—and I love the title. I was actually really impressed with just how eerie it was, without being too overtly 'this is a horror book', and I thought the girl's lives and what they experienced (which was incredibly harrowing and difficult to explore without coming across as superficial) was done very well. The writing is exactly what I've come to expect, and love, in Grady's writing. The historical context was quite interesting, although I would have loved to have read even more about it. There's a real darkness throughout that really grips you, and I managed to finish this over the weekend—I didn't want to pull myself aware from these girls!

Highly recommend and if you're a fan of Grady already, definitely add this to your TBR!

Thanks as always to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this ahead of many other eager fans.

This book was gripping, horrifying and deeply realistic. When I say horrifying it’s not a horror that’s tense and on the edge of your seat it’s the disturbing nature of what’s happening to these young girls and the effects this has. I know this is written by a man but I do feel that he explored women’s stories and rights well. There are some gory scenes and the child birthing is beyond brutal. The witchcraft element is creepy and dark. I also loved the characters, they felt like believable young women. Overall a great exploration of historical events with an added magical element that makes you feel and draws you in.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

Many thanks NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest feedback.

“You see, we’d been taught that the devil was the worst thing in the world, but we were too young to understand that there were worse things than the devil. We were too young to understand that their job was to convince us that the most natural thing in the world was evil, and the most evil thing in the world was natural.
For girls like us, down there at the home, the devil turned out to be our only friend.”

I love Grady Hendrix. I won’t say that his books are horror in the “real” way, because the only scary things in his books are the people. This is my fourth book by him and it was such a good one. To make you read it, I just want to post all the quotes from it.
The feeling I had while reading “Witchcraft for wayward girls” was rage. Rage for these girls that went through so many things because of the men and the adults around them.

“They were told over and over that all they could do was ruin their babies’s lives.”

“Witchcraft for wayward girls” is set in 1970, when women were seen only as tools for having children. It’s about religion towards women and so much sexism, it’s about feminism and it’s heartbreaking and powerful.
It’s about Wellwood house, a house where underage girls are sent by their families to birth their babies and then give them to strangers. After that, they are sent home and has to act as if nothing happened and just go on with their life. Because it’s so easy.
Life’s not easy in the house, as you can imagine.

“No one cares what you wish, my dear. Isn’t that your problem? No one cares what any of you wish, or hope, or pray. You speak, you cry, you scream, you beg, and what good has it done you?”

Neva is fifteen and she’s dropped off at this house by her father. There, she meets the other girls, and the adults that control the house. She has to change her name to Fern and follow the rules for her own good and the baby’s. Besides Fern, we have Rose, pregnant at not even eighteen, Zinnia, fifteen and Holly, who was raped at eight years old and no one believes her. And she doesn’t talk.

“Maybe doing witchcraft means you go to hell, but I don’t mind if it means I don’t have to go home.”

They follow every rule and try to make their life easier, until a librarian and her shop comes to them. She teaches them witchcraft and from them, their lives change again.

I loved everything about this book. The births are so realistic, they almost made me change my mind about having a baby. It really makes you think about how many things we endure as women and as mothers and I was raging about how the doctors acted towards these young girls.
“You’ll look like this one day. They hate us enough. Don’t let them make you hate yourselves too.”

While I wanted more horror and witchcraft, it wasn’t necessarily a problem not having a lot of it. The book is horror on its own. You can feel how powerless these girls were and how much they needed to take control over their lives.

“Daughter, student, whore. They change you in whatever they need you to be. Choose for yourself. For once in your life.”

I loved the writing, the characters, the story, the horror parts and how the story ended. I always cry at the end of his books, he just knows how to write a sad and beautiful story. I can’t say negative things about it because of these girls. I know it’s just a story, but it’s inspired from real stories. Women were not loved, we still aren’t loved by everyone. We are still seen as tools for having children and people still think that our “place” is in the kitchen. There is still sexism and hate and shaming and pure hate towards us.
This is what story is about. Women and their choices.

“They say she was wayward. They said it was all her fault. They said she had done something wrong. They lied. So why did none of them ever pay it? Why did someone else always pay? Someone like Holly. Like Fern. Like Zinnia. Like Rose.”

“We were girls: girls in trouble; unsocialized girls, fast girls, loose girls, emotionally immature girls, wayward girls. Whatever you wanted to call us, we were children.”

⭐⭐⭐⭐✨
CW: Traumatic Birth, Sexual Abuse, Child Abuse, Racist Language

What I Liked
1) There were small moments of humour in such a dark book (as per usual with Grady Hendrix).

2) I definitely wasn't expecting what this book was but I was happily surprised by how well teen pregnancy in the 70s was explored and all the social stigma that came with it. This book was definitely more literary than his other work's and I'd say pick this up if you want a coming of age story with a sprinkle of horror towards the end.

3) I loved how much Fern's frustration with how society treats her for being a teen mum comes across and I truly felt for her. For instance, when the family finds out she's pregnant and has a meeting without her about it.

4) I loved how Rose was constantly being criticised for being such a performative activist because it was so obvious she was a rich girl trying to go against the establishment to seem edgy, rather than because she truly cared.

5) I loved the discussions of how the girls weren't educated on protection or how being pregnant and giving birth actually is. This is still a major problem in the US today and I think it's really important to talk about.

6) I loved how much of a focus female friendship was.

7) The horror towards the end was truly disturbing and made me so uncomfortable (birth is described in a very gory way so avoid this book if you can't handle that).

8) The end truly broke me. I got so emotional and actually cried this book was so moving. I loved how it talked about the nuance of saying a teen mum is better off giving up the baby and how that's not always true.

What I Disliked
1) I just want to highlight that racist language is used by a white author and I've seen some reviews say they feel he is tokenising black people. When this book gets released, I will definitely be seeking more opinions on this from black reviewers as this is the reason I can't give this book 5 stars because I also picked up on it throughout the book.

2) Some of the spells they would perform would become really longwinded and unnecessary.

Overall, I would suggest you read this if you like emotional, coming-of-age stories with a focus on friendship with a bit of horror and magic (I don't think the witchcraft is as big of a part of this book than I thought going in).

Thank you to Netgalley, Pan Macmillian and Grady Hendrix for this eARC in exchange for an honest review

I am always down for a book where people fight the patriarchy, and I'm also always down for a book where shit gets weird because people get mixed up in powers beyond their comprehension. Grady Hendrix took these two things and mashed them together in a successful and complicated way in this book.

I immediately found it hard to put this book down. There's a lot of characters to get to grips with straight away but it's interesting enough right off the bat that you want to get to know them. And they turn out to be fascinatingly complex individuals - fully fleshed out in their own right despite their introductions as "just another unwed teenage girl". I cannot fault the characterisation in this book at all, because even when characters were acting in awful ways I still felt pity for them, and for their lack of power over the situation they were in.

The pacing was a little off in the middle, with long periods of not much happening where the girls were mostly going back and forth on whether or not they wanted to do witchcraft. The tense parts where witchcraft was happening, however, were so so well done. Those pages really flew by.

The long page count, however, means that my frustration over how the girls were treated waned a little out of sheer boredom. When I think about it in hindsight, the way that the girls were told nothing about giving birth, the way that keeping their babies was never a real option, the invasive medical examinations they had to endure - these things really piss me off, but the book wasn't punchy enough to maintain this, so it just became a passing fury that only came up every 50 pages or so.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot but it didn't seem to be fully sure of what it wanted to achieve in the end - were witches a supernatural horror or were they the necessary evil needed to fight injustice? Was the true horror of the story the part at the end or was it the way that adults treat teenage girls? I think I'll be thinking about this book for a while.

So, that was my first book by the author, and I thout it was ok. It wasn't exactly to he kind of horror I like and I thought it was a little childish. I didn't hate it anyway and I love the characters and their love for each other, and I plan to try and read other books by him.

3 stars.
Fern gets sent to a home for wayward girls, young unwed pregnant girls, over the summer to have her baby and return home free from “sin”. The horror of this was unusual; it was more subtle in that we are looking at body horror, the horror of childbirth, the aftermath of that and the realities of sexual abuse.
The pacing of this was simultaneously slow and perfect, unusually for a Grady Hendrix it took halfway for the “true horror” to start but it felt like an easy read.
The characterisation is fantastic, you can truly feel the desperation of these young women in making the right choice for them and their babies. The relationships are complex, like how real life is, it throws characters together that have but one thing in common.
Despite its easy readability and the horror of the book based in the complexities of real life, I felt that for a Grady Hendrix it was very mid. Grady Hendrix to me, is always just pushing the boundaries of what you can handle with graphic imagery. I feel like the ending just fell short of the mark, satisfying in the way it wrapped up the story but not enough to be “horror”. That being said, I’d pick up another Grady Hendrix in a heartbeat!
Thank you to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan for the opportunity to read this early.

This books has it all; horror, suspense and drama! It left me truly speechless so many times 😶 The Mother and baby homes in Ireland are no longer hidden history but I just never thought about how homes for pregnant girls would have also been a thing in other countries. It makes sense that before Roe v. Wade Americans would have forced unwed pregnant girls to hide away in these secretive homes.

The story is slow to start with our MC Neva renamed Fern arriving to Wellwood House. We learn about the mundane daily routine of the girls lives and how some of them ended up in the home. The story mainly focuses on just four girls Fern, Rose, Holly and Zinnia. Holly’s story was the most heartbreaking 💔

The plot really begins with the arrival of the bookmobile library and the librarian Miss Parcae who gives the four girls a book of spells. The spell book gives them hope and a taste for power but not all magic is good 🫣

The paranormal aspects were great but the truly horrific moments were the birthing scenes 😬 Grady Hendrix also went deep in to real life horror that girls were forced to face including abuse, forced adoption and shame of being unwed pregnant mothers. I was not expecting such a heartbreaking story but I did love it overall especially the ending ❤️

If you are looking for a horror witchcraft story with a mix of real life issues that sadly is still present in today’s world you need to read this book!

Oh, Grady Hendrix, you’ve done it again.

I’m usually a little wary of going into horror media that I’m aware ahead of time is going to deal with themes of pregnancy/body autonomy. It’s a very heavy topic in general, and lately, but also so much so to me specifically that I woke up with the worst cold I’ve ever had the morning after I started reading this book. And yeah, maybe this isn’t the best way to convince other people to read it but I mean this in the best way possible: this book actively assisted in fucking up my immune system enough that my nose is still running a little, a week (and tons of medicine) later.

In any case, the helplessness I felt from how weak I was contributed significantly to my immersion in this story, and even through the worst of my pain and lethargy I still had to force myself to stop reading this book and sleep. These girls haunted my dreams and nightmares and two therapy sessions so far.

There’s so much I want to say about it, and I have so many thoughts on the dehumanisation of little girls, and abortion should be a universal constitutional right! and god, witches are so fucking cool, but I can’t without spoiling it all. I'm a firm believer that this is a story that needs to be experienced first-hand. So, tl;dr: this book literally made me feel sick, and it’s one of the best things that I've ever read. I cannot recommend it enough.

How have I never read anything by this author before ? This book was just great, I have been missing out ! Will be seeking out more books by this talented author.