The first Grady Hendrix book I’ve read and I am not disappointed.

“We were girls... bad girls, neurotic girls, needy girls, wayward girls, selfish girls, girls with Electra complexes, girls trying to fill a void, girls who needed attention, girls with pasts, girls from broken homes, girls who needed discipline, girls desperate to fit in, girls in trouble, girls who couldn’t say no.”

Set in 1970 Florida, in a home for unwed mothers where girls are sent away to have their babies in secret, have them taken away and move on like nothing has ever happened.

Restrictions, monitoring, unable to maintain their own identity or have concerns taken seriously. The girls who are sent to the Home are told what they can and cannot do and what they can and cannot eat. Until enough becomes enough.

The only shining light in the darkness of being a young, pregnant women, sent away from home to take on the hardest journey of their lives, is the regular library bus where they can throw themselves into fictional stories to escape the reality of their lives.

The main character, Fern, a 15-year-old girl who is pregnant, abandoned and alone, is given a special book by the bus’s librarian. This book, of the occult, provides Fern and her housemates, Holly, Rose and Zinnia the power that they have lost since arriving at the Home.

“Everything they told them was evil was good. And everything they told them was good was evil”

Desperate times call for desperate measures and the girls throw themselves into the world of witchcraft to help right the wrongs that have been committed and make the approaching end of their journey more bearable. But with power, comes a price.

“Magic is the opposite of intellectual thought. Magic springs from your emotions, unrestrained by the rules of the everyday. Logic says you cannot, you should not, you must. A witch obeys only one command: I will”

Hendrix throws us into the world of what the time was like for unwed mothers, during the Vietnam war and the rise of serial killers and Manson. How scary the world was and how desperate people can get. It’s a dark and powerful read that has you weeping for each girl and her backstory, hoping for a happy ending for them and their babies.

The concept of friendship and found families, the need to rely on those around you to get through the day brought a level of understanding to the story that I didn’t expect. This book broke my heart, stitched it back together and broke it all over again.

This is one that will stay with me.

The only reason this is not 5 stars is because it felt lengthy, and although the story is dark and detailed, I feel that if it was shorter, the haunting scenes would have been more effective.

Thank you NetGalley and PanMacmillan for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

I’ve really enjoyed everything from this author and this did not disappoint.
It was fun, engrossing, dark and atmospheric with good pacing which makes it read quickly. The characters felt very realistic and I found myself rooting for the girls in the story
Highly recommended

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

3.5 stars


To be honest, I was expecting a bit more horror, but apart from one particular scene, the most horrific thing here is the way these children were treated.
Awful stories of teens, how they got pregnant, and the roll on effect from that.
There's some witchy business, but my favourite part is the bonds that form between these girls, and the lengths they go to for each other.
Quite touching really.

Wow. I don’t know what was more horrifying. The witch part, those calling themselves ‘carers’, or the child birth.🧙🩸🦴

I need you to understand what they did to us when we were girls. That's the important thing you have to remember. We were unsocialized girls, fast girls, loose girls, emotionally immature girls, girls who grew up too fast.
We were girls. That's what they called us in their articles and their speeches and their files: bad girls, neurotic girls, needy girls, wayward girls, selfish girls, girls with Electra complexes, girls trying to fill a voil, girls who needed attention, girls with pasts, girls from broken homes, girls who needed discipline, girls desperate to fit in, girls in trouble, girls who couldn't say no.

After getting pregnant at 15, she is sent to a Home in disgust and secrecy and renamed Fern, disconnected from her previous life until she gives birth.

Set at the start of the 70s, Hendrix is always masterful at showcasing the issues of the time. From the stigma surrounding pregnancy, racism, religion and morality, the changing values and increasing violence, the health system, the failing support system…

Per usual, Hendrix’s writing is addicting. Even though the true ‘witchy’ part doesn’t get introduced until page 116, there is a constant horror at the treatment of the girls, the attitudes and the perceptions of their changing bodies.

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.

Should a man be writing about experiences only women have?
Personally, I don’t think authors should be limited to narratives otherwise stories that need to be told won’t be. It is clear that he has done a lot of research.

At the start, I was disgusted by the way Fern described her own body. After finishing the book, I believe this is deliberate. There wasn’t enough communication, information, or sharing.

"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. Power is the ability to act and that must always be taken, for no one will ever give that power to you.
Those who have power wish to keep it, and those who want power must learn to take it?"

This wasn’t an edge-of-your seat, gritting your teeth all the time horror, yet it was a more realistic horror; a portrayal of the realistic nature of a dark part of American history which isn’t that far in our past.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire for providing me the best PR box I have ever received (check out my Instagram and TikTok) in exchange for a review!

Love love loved it!! I knew I would there isn’t a Hendrix book I haven’t loved yet and I think this may just be my new favourite !!

I enjoyed this read. It si perfect for the upcoming Halloween season and I really loved the plot

It is dark and funny and gave me a St Trinians school of horror vibe.

This is the first book by this author and i like the writing style. It is an easy to read tale which made me laugh at times.

The girls were fun and I saw a little of my younger self which made me both cringe and laugh.

its a fun book

Unfortunately not for me I struggled to connect with the writing style of this one. Intriguing premise and good execution , I just did not connect with the story.