This is my first Grady Hendrix book and I must say I really enjoyed it. This book was one that I couldn’t put down. I was just entranced in the story and I had such a good time with it.
However, the only reason why I wouldn’t rate it a 5 star is I felt it was too long and a bit messy in places. But aside from that, I really enjoyed this. I loved the story, I’ve not read one like this before and I would definitely read from this author again.

5.0

Setting: Florida
Rep: Black side character(s)

Whew boy, this was NOT what I was expecting it to be! This is a long and heavy book filled with rightful female rage and inequality and abuse and sexism and it is painful to read about what these poor girls go through, but it is also so empowering to see them coming together and realising the system is against them. Excellent characterisation and charcter growth. I can't believe a man wrote this book, all about pregnant teenage girls in a home for unwed mothers and filled with feminism and female rage against the patriarchy and society. It was so freaking good.

I was very excited to receive an ARC copy of Grady Hendrix’s new book. I have read everything he has written so far and loved it and therefore my expectations were high.

Witchcraft for Wayward girls centres around a group of teenage mothers who have been secreted away in an isolated setting in Florida to be able to have their babies in secret, give them away and then return to their normal lives as if nothing has happened. Everything starts going haywire when the librarian gives Fern a book on witchcraft and gets four of the girls to agree to join her coven.

As I have loved all of Grady’s previous books I maybe went in expecting a bit too much. Although I did find this book enjoyable, it probably is one of my least favourites of his.
I found that it did start quite slowly, so if you like a slow burn story this one may be for you. There was a lot of scene setting which possibly went on for a little too long as there was nothing much witch related until around 50% of the way through. I have to admit once I got to the 75% mark I found the last quarter to be much more fast paced and exciting. It took me nearly a week to read this book but I read the last 30% in a day. The end definitely brought my rating up and was what I was expecting from the rest of the book. I just wish there either was a bit more going on in the first half or that the book wasn’t quite as long as it was.

I also found that there was a lack of character definition. Other than Fern’s close friends, all of the other girls were very similar and difficult to distinguish. Fern herself was also quite a basic character and could have been more flushed out to make the reader relate or empathise towards her, whereas I felt little emotional to Fern. I think some of the minor characters could have been removed and the book shortened without any detriment to the story.

Grady did write some fantastic horror scenes that really make you very uncomfortable and can definitely be classed as gruesome, which I personally loved.

I really wish I loved this book as much as all of his others, and although I found it slow I never wanted to not finish it. I do feel I expected more horror and at times this did feel like a historical coming of age novel.

I would say the prologue was very emotional and definitely aided in upping my rating of this book. I feel that a lot of people will really enjoy this book, I think I just screwed myself over by going in with such high expectations for a new horror from Grady Hendrix.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book.

My first time reading this author, although I’ve heard lots and lots of good things, and I can honestly say I just had the best time! This had me engrossed within the first chapter! I certainly will be buying more from this author! Just brilliant!

Shipped off to a home for unwed mothers against her will, Neva “Fern” is left to wait out her pregnancy, hidden away from ‘polite society’ until she can go home and act like she just went to Drama camp that summer.

*Teenage pregnancy, blood, child birth, self harm, vomit, racism, child abuse, sexism, cancer*

The book has a slow build up, really building into the historical fiction genre here. It’s quite thought provoking. The real horror is the graphic detail of pregnancy and child birth! Not for the squeamish! It’s quite disturbing! The books does also appear to have a ‘magical negro’ trope that I have a gripe with. While I recognise that Hagar and Miriam’s work roles were ‘true to the times’, Hagar is portrayed as a ‘black sassy woman’. It’s only the second Grady Hendrix book I’ve read, but it also happens to be two for two where I’ve noted concern for the representation.

I did however find myself getting hooked around half way through and felt quite invested in their individuals journeys. It’s gritty and raw, I think this book will stick with me.

3.5/5

Pregnant and single, the ultimate sin in 70s America, young Neva finds herself shipped off to Wellwood's, a home for unwed mothers to be, to give birth out of sight and out of mind of anyone who knows her. Once there she's stripped of her name, rechristened Fern, and forbidden to talk about her life before the home.

Quickly making friends with several of the girls she settles into a routine of medical tests and drudgery, the only escape the occasional visits of the bookmobile and librarian Miss Parcae who introduces her and her closest friends to the wonders of witchcraft.

Grady Hendrix's latest Witchcraft for Wayward Girls may on the face of it be a coming of age horror about girls and witchcraft, but that's actually the weakest part of the narrative and selling it short.

No, it's greatest strength lies in it's depiction of the very real horror of how young girls and women who found themselves pregnant at that time were handled by family, friends and society in general.

It also contains one of the most brutal depictions of childbirth I can recall reading. I suspect it would dissuade more than a few young daughters if a read were prescribed instead of a parental sex education discussion.

Thanks to NetGalley, Tor Night fire and the author for an advance copy

Set in 1970, 15-year-old Fern finds herself pregnant, and her parents swiftly send her away to have the baby. When she returns home, she comes back alone; her parents put the child up for adoption.

While she's away, Fern is stripped of all control - adults around her make all the decisions, firmly believing they know what’s best. That is, until a traveling library introduces her to a book on the occult. Suddenly, power shifts in Fern's favor, but using it comes at a cost. Will the price be too high?

I was surprised at the book’s intense focus on pregnancy and childbirth (with some really really graphic scenes) and its lighter touch on witches and magic. That said, it reminded me of Haunted House in pacing and style, with a slow-burn, character-driven first half that builds tension until it’s batshit crazy.

The characters really shine here. Fern, Rose, Zinnia, and Holly are standouts, and the adult characters are equally well-written. The girls’ powerlessness is palpable, as supposedly well-meaning adults often end up making things worse. The librarian is especially intriguing, her sinister presence growing in influence as the story unfolds.

Warning: the hideously detailed vomiting scenes were torturous for me (phobia, anyone?), but that’s more personal than a criticism about the writing.

In terms of favourites, I’d rank this somewhere in the middle. It has a similar vibe to The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, so if you enjoyed that, this one is definitely worth a read too. Out 16th January, 2025 (UK)

A huge thanks to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book for review consideration.  All opinions are my own.

I was expecting full blown horror, having read Grady Hendrix before, but this book was far more subtle than that. To be fair, the start of the book had me wondering whether there was going to be any horror in it at all. Apart, of course, from the awful situation of the young girls sent to a home for unmarried, pregnant girls in Florida in the 1960s, where they would have their babies, who would be taken away from them, and then they would return to their former lives.

However, then the girls get hold of a book of witchcraft and want to change their circumstances. An interesting take on the subject, with a very definite price to be paid for using magic. I really enjoyed the book. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review of the book.

America, 1970. A very pregnant Neva ends up in a Home, a place where wayward girls go. It's a home for pregnant, unmarried girls where they can deliver their babies in secret and give them for adoption. Being on a strictly regulated diet and doing chores is boring for young girls, so when traveling librarian recommends Fern (Neva) instruction book for witches, what's the harm in trying few spells with her rommates? It turns out, pretty much everything.

In one of his earlier interviews, Grady Hendrix remember the first book that frightened him and it was an old book on folklore and witchcraft in England. It was illustrated and graphic and it installed in young Hendrix the notion that witchcraft is a brutal, bloody affair. Was that his inspiration for this book? I imagine it did play into it, so let's start there.
Witchcraft in this novel IS ugly. It's ritualistic, it's vindictive and it demands payment. Descriptions in the book of various requirements Fern and other girls should in order to get a spell or a hex to work are pedantic and complex, the villain is a proper witch with a lot of experience and scary powers and the stakes are off the charts.
But it's not really the horror part of the novel.
In a sense, I think that Hendrix wanted to interweave with the traditionally horror theme like witches a more recently conscious theme of mistreatment of girls and women in the time and place this novel is set up and specifically the unmarried, pregnant teenage girls. The judgement from society and the shame of their families, the existence of the Homes all over America where families can hide their shameful daughters and get rid of the problem. The girls can't even use their real names while they are in the House, they are given the names of the plants in a not so subtle proof that they are not just stripped of their rights, but their identity as well. The judgment these girls are met with constantly during their pregnancies from the figures of authority is infuriating to read. In that sense, I would say Witchcraft for the Wayward Girls a spiritual sister novel of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires where cloaked in a book about vampires was the horror of the racism and misogyny, but not as successfully done.
But again, all of that meta messaging fades from the memory of this reading experience because it's overshadowed by the thing that truly fascinates and, dare I say, horrifies Grady Hendrix and that is female body and biological ability to bear and give birth.
Let me be clear: every scary, chilling, gross, horror scene in this book is actually a body horror scene. Whether is the especially hard and difficult birth on a bathroom of a lavatory that was scream inducing or one slithery pseudo-birth scene akin to his previous book that was gag-inducing, nothing, nothing witches do in this novel is as scary and they will not stick in your mind. These graphic scenes of births are detailed, filled with blood and pain and above everything else, a primal fear of those who witness it and it's almost like author reveres women for going through something like that. Descriptions are repulsive, but you can't look away which is exactly how body horror works. And you realize that this fascination is present through point of view of Fern and other characters through whole ordeal of pregnancy: the coldness of doctor hands, the bodies that don't feel like they are their own, the morning sickness, the emotional state and confusing feelings about the child following unplanned pregnancy. It's projecting that THIS is really scary, witches are just there to make their lives even more difficult.
In my experience reading his books, Hendrix was always, in a broader sense interested in female perspective through the lens of horror and sometimes he nails it, sometimes he gets close. There were some great opportunities with this story left untapped:
-witchcraft as a theme is always strongly associated with female friendship and I was never convinced Fern, Zinnia, Holly and Rose were friends, but more like they were in the room and going along with the plan. Their convictions changed frequently, Fern went on her own often and they didn't think a lot of their plans through which fits because they are all teenagers. But it doesn't change the fact that I was never really fully convinced in their reason for doing anything.
Just think about The Craft or even The Witches of Eastwick. Female friendship is at the center, it's why the story works. And Hendrix didn't convince me into "coven" part of the witches, which is, I would argue, essential for these stories and something I would liked if he explored more in this novel. I wouldn't mind this as much if he didn't show me already he can write teenage girls and their friendship well the way he did in My Best Friend's Exorcism.
-Which brings me to Holly's situation. The whole thing about Holly hides the real monster(s) and it's one of those subtle underlying horrors he's done so well in TSBCtSV, but here it gets buried under visceral violence of birth scenes.

All in all, a well done, gory offering from Hendrix, but strangely focused on Wayward part of the story a bit too much for my liking and lacking the camp I am used to from him in Witchcraft part of the story where I feel would fit perfectly.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I'll start by stating that I don't think it's really of the horror genre though. There are a few yucky moments to but they're more linked to giving birth. This reads as more of a supernatural contemporary novel, albeit set in 1970.
The girls and their pregnancies are interesting and sadly indicative of a time when unwed girls and young women were treated disgracefully.
I chose this book because of the witchcraft element. I found it a little lacking but the girls and their experiences made up for it.

I do not do horror books and this is my third book by Grady Hendrix - if that is not a testament to how good a write Hendrix is, I don’t know what would be. This book left me speechless. I would give it more than 5 stars if I could. This book was not what I expected. I went in blind and honestly what a ride! Grady Hendrix absolutely nails all things horror. The tension was exquisite. The detailed graphic descriptions of scenes were honestly next level. Some books stay with you forever and I truly think this will be one I can’t shake. I loved the glimpses of history at the time the book was set which just added an additional layer to fully immerse you into the book.

Plenty of gory birth scenes and witches, but the real horror is the treatment of the wayward girls. I don't think I would describe it as an enjoyable read, but it surely packs a punch.

DNF at 50%

I have decided to DNF this book out of sheer boredom. I truly could not believe I still had 50% to go and I just couldn’t bring myself to keep reading. For context: I’ve given Grady Hendrix’s books everywhere from a 1 to a 5 star. How to Sell a Haunted House was my least favourite book of 2023, yet My Best Friend’s Exorcism is one of my favourites of all time.

In this book we follow Neva, a pregnant teen, as she is shipped off to a home for unwed mothers. Neva, who now goes by Fern, befriends a group of also pregnant and unwed girls. The girls, having been stripped of their identities and treated like inferior human beings, are in need of regaining some power and control. Until one day when a librarian, so conveniently, hands Fern a book on witchcraft.

The start of this book was so promising; with a focus on the real-life horrors faced by young mothers mixed with Grady Hendrix’s signature humour. And then the transition into witchiness felt so…clunky. We get to read some really poignant and heartbreaking moments that are interspersed between some very long and uneventful filler. I just could not stay engaged. I didn’t feel connected to the characters, who felt flat and underdeveloped. Nor did I feel connected to the plot, which also felt flat and underdeveloped. And with 50% of the book still to go, I couldn’t see where we were going and to be honest, I didn’t care to find out.

I was so excited to read this book and I am left feeling severely disappointed.

If you’re interested in reading this book, I would definitely check for content warnings - it does contain some upsetting scenes surrounding the topics of pregnancy and childbirth.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read this book.

Grateful I was approved to read this early, it was one of my most anticipated reads.

This is a dark beautiful story that touches on the sensitive issue of womens rights. The book is set in the 70’s and follows the character Fern who is 15 and sent to a girls home to give birth then give the baby up for adoption. It’s emotional, cruel and turbulent with some powerful bonds formed amongst the girls also in Fern’s situation.

The girls are given a book on witchcraft which they use to take back some of the power and autonomy they are deprived of during their experience. However, everything has a price and sometimes the price may not be worth the return.

This elicited emotions out of me I did not quite expect, it had true horror and cringe worthy moments. There’s beautiful bonds and friendships formed. You get to feel the true persecution of women in the 19th century, and how it’s not that much different from the days of witches.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Emoji synopsis: 🤰🏼 + 🏠 + 🤫 + 📕 = 🧙‍♀️ + 🌙 + 🩸

Review: I didn’t know if or how a book about pregnant teenagers in the 1970s, a home for unwed mothers, and witchcraft would work, but it did 🤩 Hendrix combines the topic of teenage pregnancy and the stories about how these girls got pregnant, with spells, sacrifices and spilt blood 🩸 I really enjoyed the seriousness of the original storyline, and the mystery/paranormal element 🌙

The character development of the young girls in the home was admirable and really added to the story. The girls are negatively perceived by society, but are good, strong people. The adults are held on a pedestal by society, but their true colours are shown as the story develops.

This was my first Hendrix book, and I can’t wait to read more of his work 🙌🏻

2.5 stars

I am so gutted that this wasn’t better, because in theory it had every ingredient it should’ve needed for me to eat it up.

We follow fifteen year old Neva Carter, with her new alias ‘Fern’, as she settles in at Wellwood’s Home to wait out her pregnancy in hiding, amongst a band of other young unwed mothers. Fern meets Rose, Zinnia and Holly (can you see a theme with the names?) then mostly spends her days doing chores, trading ‘bippies’ (cigarettes because, 1980’s), and hanging out with her new friends.

That is, until the mobile library comes along and Fern finds herself in possession of a book which may well be the answer to all of the girls’ problems. Yep, they’re gonna learn how to be groovy witches, and they’ve only gotta pay for their power with a little bit of blood here and there.

This book was boring. I didn’t connect to the main characters, and I didn’t feel a driving force behind the plot. I mostly felt like I was meandering through instead of reading with purpose. Some scenes were truly creepy and there’s imagery that will stick with me for a long time (hence the 2.5 rating), but you’ll read through a lot of filler to get to these nuggets that then pass all too quickly. The first 25% had Hendrix’s camp vibes and silly humour with some moments that made me laugh out loud, and then it just dried up entirely. But then while that first quarter had some laughs, it had absolutely 0 witchiness, so it was swings and roundabouts.

It was just a slog and it got so frustrating. Our MC, Fern, had no interesting qualities at all. Rose, Zinnia and Holly all had a bit more going for them, but it was Fern we were stuck with. There was never any explanation given as to why Fern was of special interest to the librarian other than ‘she read the book’; tell us why she deserves power, or even my attention! While you’re at it, please explain how you can change your mind so quickly and frequently about whether Holly is good enough for the coven. And then Zinnia, she changes her mind and goes back on her word so often that I barely understand her character at all. Rose was my favourite, though we spent the shortest amount of time with her so even she isn’t fully rounded.

I will say there were impactful moments reading about the real-world horrors these girls were facing, including the birth scenes, the dehumanisation and the epilogue catching up with some of them later in life (yes I cried, yes I’m an easy crier). For those reasons my rating comes in at an *okay* 2.5 stars. I won’t be rushing out to buy a copy of this one unfortunately.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC of this book for review.

I was so excited to receive a copy of Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix. This book had me hooked from page 1!
This book was really raw and really brutal. It didn’t shy away from controversial topics but also didn’t try to wrap them up neatly or answer them. The characters were fabulous and had a lot of depth to them, and I was really rooting for all of the girls. Their backstories were so sad, as was their treatment at the home, and it’s hard to believe that while this is a work of fiction, girls have been through similar experiences in the past. The occult elements were genuinely quite scary and the feeling of foreboding increased as the story went on. Highly praise this book and looking forward to picking up more by this author!!

Miss Wellwood runs a tight ship. Having taken over from her father the esteemed Dr Wellwood, she is now the owner of the tired but stately Wellwood House in Florida, a home for young girls of low morals. These girls have been placed in the home by their parents so that they are out of sight, out of mind whilst their “problem” is dealt with. Then, and only then will the wayward girls be welcomed back into the fold.

In 1970 Neva Craven from Alabama is one of these girls. Led to believe that boyfriend Guy was “the one”, at fifteen she is pregnant and an embarrassment. Firstly sent to live with Aunt Peggy in Montgomery, she let herself down, so her very angry father drove her to the home and deposited her in the care of the staff there.

Whilst not a physically cruel regime, the girls are expected to earn their keep, chores are allocated, and unkind words spoken. For Neva, now know as Fern, boredom soon sets in and it’s a relief when the mobile library start’s its fortnightly visits, and librarian Miss Parcae becomes a beacon.

Well!! This book certainly draws you in . Frustration and anger on behalf of the girls, loathing of the staff (Doctor Vincent, eeeekkkk!!!), the story is so graphically told. When Miss Parcae arrives, what a saviour! That is, until she isn’t.

I loved this book. Even without the coven aspect the story of what was considered the norm in those days for dealing with teenage pregnancy was brutal. In light of today’s political arena, it seems all the more relevant to remember and learn from past events.

One I didn’t want to end. First Hendrix book for me but I’m hooked, just have to read more.

A perfect 5* for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Pan Macmillan.

Thank you to the author, publishers Tor Nightfire and NetGalley UK for access to this as an advance reader’s ebook. This is an honest and voluntary review.

They made a mistake and are sent in secret to a house where they will live under a different name. Not returning to their normal lives until the secret they are growing has been born and taken to a new life. But, when girls are stripped of their power they can find a new source in each other.

This isn’t a supernatural horror story. Yes, there are witches. Yes there is magic, but the horror is in the reality of girls who are blamed and punished for pregnancy out of wedlock and sent away to protect the lives and reputations of the boys and men who fathered their babies.

Set in the 70s the story follows Fern, Rose, Zinnia and Holly. All brought to Wellwood House by their families to have their babies in secret.

Disempowered by being assigned a name and told to share nothing of their real lives, they aren’t even given details of what giving birth will really be like.

Is it any wonder that when a strange librarian gives them a book on witchcraft that they embrace a chance to exert some power over their own lives?

The characters are a strength of the book, the balance of naivety and shame with the freedom of gaining strength from each other.

The witchcraft element I’m in two minds about. Obviously there are a lot of layers in the way women are treated, either witch or virgin, sinner or saint. But, I’m fairly sure the story could have survived with all the witchcraft elements removed and not have lost anything really meaningful to the plot. The darkness of the price of magic never feels like a real threat compared to what the girls are being out through by their own families.

The true horror woven throughout this book doesn’t come from witchcraft or the supernatural (though the pages do contain plenty of both), but from the awful way young, unwed mothers were really treated in the 1970s.

With almost no knowledge of their bodies or the process of childbirth, they were abandoned to ‘homes’ and forced to give away their children, doomed to face the pain alone and convinced they were unfit to be mothers. Grady Hendrix, cleverly as ever, uses the story of young witch Fern to shine a light on this terrible truth, expose the abuse and champion the resilience of women who survived it.

I love the way this author captures atmosphere, manipulation and suspense, and uses horror tropes and scenes to make a point about society. That being said, I didn’t connect with this tale as closely as Grady Hendrix’s previous works. It takes a while to get going and remains at a slow pace even when the scarier elements kick in. It’s well-researched, deftly written and the characters’ rage and betrayal are believable, but it doesn’t have the same knife-sharp wit and tension I’ve come to expect.

There are lots of trigger warnings, especially around birth and abuse, so do look them up beforehand. But if you’re looking for spooky magic realism more rooted in history than horror, this might be for you.